User Centered

1)The main menu. And BBs have pretty much always had this layout- so nothing new there really.

2) The "media" menu... although that's a stretch because we're only talking about 4 menu options

3) The Calendar

4)...and Maps


That's four out of a visible twenty (there are more applications that are not visible) Every other menu, or at least the vast majority of the UI, is setup for the traditional "thumb scroll" wheel- a linear menu system that looks like this options menu.


It's really a shame that I have to scroll through and select when I could be taking full advantage of the x-axis like I do with the four items listed above. It also makes it extremely noticable when you have a long linear list because there is no "acceleration" like you'd find in Window config menus for your mouse. You can adjust the overall sensitivity (horz/vertical independent!) but scrolling those long menus warrants quick acceleration to get to the end (close option) but picking an item or selecting text from a memopad require the skilled trackball manipulation of a Mayo Clinic surgeon. Which does bother me when I'm trying to move very discreetly, every so slightly moving the trackball just waiting for that single "click" to the next UI element or menu item.

I think RIM has more to answer to about all this than say... third party apps lik Opera. It's RIMs software, they know how the hardware should work with the software. You can't make a huge leap in your hardware UI and carry over your software* and expect it to marry seemlessly. But back to those third party apps, I have to admit it's disheartening to see Mini handcuffed by the fact that it expects a d-pad configuration when I've got a full mouse here at my fingertips. Sure, I understand why... it's by design, plus I don't really *need* horizontal scrolling due to the page formatting, but the trackball and Mini are still just too ill-suited for each other. Mainly because a click (on a d-pad) is much more discreet than a roll on a trackball. As I mentioned in my previous post, it's not unheard of for me to page down two or three pages due to an over-zealous trackball roll and forget exactly where I was before.

I'm not sure what Artemis, SideKick or any other mouse/trackballs are doing (actually Artemis also has a click/scroll wheel surrounding its mouse which seems nice), but I can't wait for RIM to wake up and think about the full potential of the UI. I'm not saying dramatic changes are necessary, I think just letting me accelerate my cursor if I move the trackball quickly versus finely would make a HUGE difference. From there, they could do the following- split Options and long menu screens to have "categories" in a horizontal nav along the top with the key/important options as easy to access as they are now. The available navigation options open up quite a bit by adding the other dimension to the UI- now BlackBerry's need to take advantage of it and break from linear thinking.


*As a new BlackBerry User, I'm not sure exactly what differences there are- if the Pearl OS is vastly different than clickwheel OS, I'd be happy to make a correction. But it does *seem* like its the same!