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I gotta admit that I did like typing on the Passport. It was actually a pretty good UI. I really wish someone would do a phone UI that is a lot more text focu

I gotta admit that I did like typing on the Passport. It was actually a pretty good UI. I really wish someone would do a phone UI that is a lot more text focused.

frosted-flakes 7y ago
The UI was fantastic. It was extremely well thought out, consistent, and easy-to-use once you learned it. Even the swipe up to go home was super natural. > I really wish someone would do a phone UI that is a lot more text focused. It has to be consistent, otherwise there's little point. BB10 had one-button keyboard shortcuts everywhere—it was baked into the OS, and it worked really well. Part of the reason it worked well is that there were standards. Backspace was always "delete", C was always "create" or "compose", I/O was zoom in/out, T/B was scroll to top/bottom—you get the picture. Keyboard shortcuts typically corresponded with menu items, and the shortcut would be shown in the menu. It's not like desktop multi-key shortcuts that are super hard to remember. Mostly because BB10 shortcuts were contextual. On the home screen, long-pressing a key would also open an app, which you could customise at will.
rchaud 7y ago
I liked the Passport, but the 3 rows of keys made individual keys a pain to type on, as they weren't spaced apart enough IMO. I still miss my Bold 9000 and Bold 9700, which had by far the best ever keyboards. I remember typing entire college assignment papers on those while on the bus or train. Their Docs app exported to .docx, so I'd email a copy to myself and open it on my desktop to pick up where I left off.
- protomyth 7y ago
  Yeah, they did screw up with the three rows. It would have been interesting to get the better keyboards hooked up to the new UI.
rbanffy 7y ago
BB10 was a delightful OS to use. And QNX under it was the most rock-solid OS I ever used (I learned C on it, in the late 1980s).
wyre 7y ago
KISS Launcher is a really nice UI you might enjoy.

I gotta admit that I did like typing on the Passport. It was actually a pretty good UI. I really wish someone would do a phone UI that is a lot more text focused.

frosted-flakes 7y ago

The UI was fantastic. It was extremely well thought out, consistent, and easy-to-use once you learned it. Even the swipe up to go home was super natural. > I really wish someone would do a phone UI that is a lot more text focused. It has to be consistent, otherwise there's little point. BB10 had one-button keyboard shortcuts everywhere—it was baked into the OS, and it worked really well. Part of the reason it worked well is that there were standards. Backspace was always "delete", C was always "create" or "compose", I/O was zoom in/out, T/B was scroll to top/bottom—you get the picture. Keyboard shortcuts typically corresponded with menu items, and the shortcut would be shown in the menu. It's not like desktop multi-key shortcuts that are super hard to remember. Mostly because BB10 shortcuts were contextual. On the home screen, long-pressing a key would also open an app, which you could customise at will.

rchaud 7y ago

I liked the Passport, but the 3 rows of keys made individual keys a pain to type on, as they weren't spaced apart enough IMO. I still miss my Bold 9000 and Bold 9700, which had by far the best ever keyboards. I remember typing entire college assignment papers on those while on the bus or train. Their Docs app exported to .docx, so I'd email a copy to myself and open it on my desktop to pick up where I left off.

protomyth 7y ago
Yeah, they did screw up with the three rows. It would have been interesting to get the better keyboards hooked up to the new UI.

rbanffy 7y ago

BB10 was a delightful OS to use. And QNX under it was the most rock-solid OS I ever used (I learned C on it, in the late 1980s).

wyre 7y ago

KISS Launcher is a really nice UI you might enjoy.