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I think nostalgia tends to corrupt our memories somewhat, but the peak usefulness of my phone really was my last blackberry. There are certainly modern convenie

I think nostalgia tends to corrupt our memories somewhat, but the peak usefulness of my phone really was my last blackberry. There are certainly modern conveniences that are game changers and I would not want to live without, such as Google maps and audio players (music, podcasts, audiobookshelf), but as far as a communication device for text messaging and email, my blackberry with keyboard was insanely productive. The soft keyboards on modern smartphones are just terrible. Google's latest speech to text has gotten pretty good, probably to the point where it is equivalent to where things were with the blackberry, but if you are writing something that can't be easily spoken or if it gets punctuation incorrect, it is a pain in the ass to fix it with the soft keyboard.

afandian 3y ago
Before my iPhone my previous two phones were a BlackBerry KeyOne (android) and BlackBerry Passport (BlackBerry 10). Not enough time has passed for nostalgia to set in. Those phones were the high water mark. This iPhone is generally fine but the keyboard is an awful compromise IMO. I don’t think I’ve ever typed a sentence correctly first time, or as fast as on a BlackBerry.
- walterbell 3y ago
  Seen the Fairberry, BB Q10 keyboard + PCB + 3D holder for modern phones? https://github.com/Dakkaron/Fairberry https://github.com/Dakkaron/Fairberry
  - afandian 3y ago
    I literally just bought one of these. It’s still in the post. https://www.tindie.com/stores/zitaotech/ https://www.tindie.com/stores/zitaotech/
    - walterbell 3y ago
      Looks great, thanks for the pointer to pre-assembled units.
      - afandian 3y ago
        It's arrived, and I recommend it!
ninkendo 3y ago
> The soft keyboards on modern smartphones are just terrible I find it’s best to think of the iOS keyboard[0] as being a single big touch area with no distinct buttons, which you type into by tapping your fingers in the general vicinity of where the correct keys are, and let autocorrect do all the work. I get confused by people who disable autocorrect, because for me it’s the only way the keyboard works at all. Just as I’m typing this, fully half the words I’m typing are wrong as I’m typing them, and the phone is figuring out my actual meaning only by looking back entire sentences and figuring out the correct words by looking at probabilities. I never stop to check whether it got the word right, I just keep typing. It figures it out eventually. (Side note, when it does get it wrong, I can’t imagine a worse system for correcting words than iOS has. I simply cannot ever get the cursor to go to the right place for correction. Whatever system is being used for placing the cursor in response to inaccurate taps, is fully and diametrically opposed to how I’d expect it to work. It’s criminally bad.) - [0] probably android too, but I only have experience with iOS so that’s what I’m speaking to.
- thomaskahabka 3y ago
  To your side note: did you know you can use the iOS keyboards space bar as touch pad control for the text cursor? Just press and hold. That makes positioning the cursor very easy.
  - natebc 3y ago
    FWIW the default soft keyboard on Android functions the same way. Remembering to use it is the big trick!
    - Tijdreiziger 3y ago
      This is true, but the UX is much nicer on iOS.
      - burntwater 3y ago
        I disagree, I find the total keyboard experience much better on Android. To each their own, obviously. But... yeah, IMO it's pretty bad on Apple.
jeffbee 3y ago
My Blackberry was the first platform on which I ever used Google Maps. By the way a Blackberry user need not go without GPS. They can pair with and use a standalone Bluetooth GPS peripheral that is about the size of a pack of chewing gum.
VelesDude 3y ago
This is something I highlight with the trend toward dumb phones. The input system on them sucks, it makes smart phone input look eloquent even though it is clumsy. The idea that a lot of the time the opposite of one bad idea is another bad idea. The Blackberry form factor is a reasonable middle way that could be explored again. Blackberry input systems but with the expanded functionality of smart phones - just adjust the app quantity/quality to your needs. There have been companies that have tried but their efforts have been clunky and with out native OS support and apps developed with it in mind, it is an uphill battle.

afandian 3y ago

Before my iPhone my previous two phones were a BlackBerry KeyOne (android) and BlackBerry Passport (BlackBerry 10). Not enough time has passed for nostalgia to set in. Those phones were the high water mark. This iPhone is generally fine but the keyboard is an awful compromise IMO. I don’t think I’ve ever typed a sentence correctly first time, or as fast as on a BlackBerry.

walterbell 3y ago
Seen the Fairberry, BB Q10 keyboard + PCB + 3D holder for modern phones? https://github.com/Dakkaron/Fairberry https://github.com/Dakkaron/Fairberry
- afandian 3y ago
  I literally just bought one of these. It’s still in the post. https://www.tindie.com/stores/zitaotech/ https://www.tindie.com/stores/zitaotech/
  - walterbell 3y ago
    Looks great, thanks for the pointer to pre-assembled units.
    - afandian 3y ago
      It's arrived, and I recommend it!

ninkendo 3y ago

> The soft keyboards on modern smartphones are just terrible I find it’s best to think of the iOS keyboard[0] as being a single big touch area with no distinct buttons, which you type into by tapping your fingers in the general vicinity of where the correct keys are, and let autocorrect do all the work. I get confused by people who disable autocorrect, because for me it’s the only way the keyboard works at all. Just as I’m typing this, fully half the words I’m typing are wrong as I’m typing them, and the phone is figuring out my actual meaning only by looking back entire sentences and figuring out the correct words by looking at probabilities. I never stop to check whether it got the word right, I just keep typing. It figures it out eventually. (Side note, when it does get it wrong, I can’t imagine a worse system for correcting words than iOS has. I simply cannot ever get the cursor to go to the right place for correction. Whatever system is being used for placing the cursor in response to inaccurate taps, is fully and diametrically opposed to how I’d expect it to work. It’s criminally bad.) - [0] probably android too, but I only have experience with iOS so that’s what I’m speaking to.

thomaskahabka 3y ago
To your side note: did you know you can use the iOS keyboards space bar as touch pad control for the text cursor? Just press and hold. That makes positioning the cursor very easy.
- natebc 3y ago
  FWIW the default soft keyboard on Android functions the same way. Remembering to use it is the big trick!
  - Tijdreiziger 3y ago
    This is true, but the UX is much nicer on iOS.
    - burntwater 3y ago
      I disagree, I find the total keyboard experience much better on Android. To each their own, obviously. But... yeah, IMO it's pretty bad on Apple.

jeffbee 3y ago

My Blackberry was the first platform on which I ever used Google Maps. By the way a Blackberry user need not go without GPS. They can pair with and use a standalone Bluetooth GPS peripheral that is about the size of a pack of chewing gum.

VelesDude 3y ago

This is something I highlight with the trend toward dumb phones. The input system on them sucks, it makes smart phone input look eloquent even though it is clumsy. The idea that a lot of the time the opposite of one bad idea is another bad idea. The Blackberry form factor is a reasonable middle way that could be explored again. Blackberry input systems but with the expanded functionality of smart phones - just adjust the app quantity/quality to your needs. There have been companies that have tried but their efforts have been clunky and with out native OS support and apps developed with it in mind, it is an uphill battle.