Sprint's HTC Hero scroll wheel on the Pre II

likeobama · 11/04/2009, 09:45 AM

I was able to play with the Hero the other day and one thing I loved about it was the scroll wheel. It was unlike anything I've experienced before. It would totally eliminate the need for directional keys IMO, something I occasionally need when trying to edit text. I was wondering how many people would like this feature implemented into the next Pre?

Bujin · 11/04/2009, 10:11 AM

I think the Pre should have as few buttons as possible - I'd rather they take the button off (a la Pixi).

Elysian893 · 11/04/2009, 10:17 AM

No way. Trackballs suck. If anything, the Moment's optical pad is a better solution.

likeobama · 11/04/2009, 10:22 AM

What about editing text? How does that pan out for you guys without a dedicated directional key?

Bujin · 11/04/2009, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by likeobama

What about editing text? How does that pan out for you guys without a dedicated directional key?

I think the "gesture + drag", and "shift + drag" are pretty slick solutions for moving cursor and highlighting.

Shado.F · 11/04/2009, 10:50 AM

Since the Pre already has a center button; it would have been diligent if they had also made that the trackball for optional navigation.

turbooxide · 11/04/2009, 11:01 AM

Instead of Palm Pre II, they should call it the Palm Post.

THETRUTH · 11/04/2009, 11:31 AM

the trackball is 100% better than that optical pad on the moment. I have full control of the slightest swipes. The optical is clumsy and usually misses the mark. I really don't think webos needs either. They should implement a area on the phone where you can move you finger, turning into a laptop mouse pad. The phone would have to be bigger though.

likeobama · 11/04/2009, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bujin

I think the "gesture + drag", and "shift + drag" are pretty slick solutions for moving cursor and highlighting.

I disagree for myself and I'm pretty sure whenever that WebOS version of Docstogo comes out others will agree and realize editing text on a Pre is not as easy as it could have been. I mean you basically have to pray that you tap the right portion of a word or sentence for your editing needs. I immediately realized this coming from a Centro.

Its not a huge issue but to me its something I have noticed on daily basis. I mean I would have been cool with a mini directional key on the keyboard if Palm knew a slick way to implement it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shado.F

Since the Pre already has a center button; it would have been diligent if they had also made that the trackball for optional navigation.

That's what I'm saying. What does that center button really do? Nothing serious. You click it to get out of apps but it would be a whole lot more useful if it doubled as a scroll wheel making the Pre have the best of both worlds. I find it strange more people don't think so.

lolthisismyname · 11/04/2009, 12:48 PM

I totally agree that the Pre needs hardware buttons to move the cursor around. Palm seemed to have tweaked the way the touch selection works but it's still a nightmare.

An easy workaround for this would be to bind shift-space and shift-period to right and left and command-space and command-period to up and down for the purpose of text editing, selecting individual links, etc.

Additionally, doubletapping on either side of the gesture pad would be a good way to go forward and backward.

All this could be done through software.

In the future, a hardware clicker, wheel or trackball would be nice. Touch has a lot of limitations. I liked Palm's previous products because they did not rely so heavily on touch. A hardware camera button would be nice too.

likeobama · 11/04/2009, 01:13 PM

You know what, I called the trackball a scroll wheel, in the title, poll and my post. lol. Hopefully people know what I'm talking about.

davis.rob · 11/04/2009, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by likeobama

I mean you basically have to pray that you tap the right portion of a word or sentence for your editing needs. I immediately realized this coming from a Centro.

You do realize you can scroll your cursor around the screen/document by just holding the "orange" key? No tapping necessary. Takes a bit of getting used to, but works pretty well.

mu7efcer · 11/04/2009, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davis.rob

You do realize you can scroll your cursor around the screen/document by just holding the "orange" key? No tapping necessary. Takes a bit of getting used to, but works pretty well.

I agree with @likeobama. It is way harder than it could have been. I too often feel that I'm flipping a coin as to whether or not I'm going to get the cursor where I want it. I've had a Pre since release day and I have not gotten used to it, despite moderate -> heavy daily use.

Frankly, I find a lot of the Pre's gestures to be better describes as "guesstures" in that you've got a fairly high probability that your guess at where you were supposed to execute that thing was wrong. The ones that work well are the onscreen swipe up (e.g. to close a card) and the side to side swipe (to switch apps in card view or switch days in the calendar). But I'm extremely frustrated with the menu, back, & cursor position gestures. They have a frustratingly high error rate.

likeobama · 11/04/2009, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davis.rob

You do realize you can scroll your cursor around the screen/document by just holding the "orange" key? No tapping necessary. Takes a bit of getting used to, but works pretty well.

Wow! I seriously didn't know this. It works well too. Thanks for this! I should have read my manual like I was supposed to. But still, you wouldn't mind having a trackball instead of the single use button on the Pre, right? I mean they might as well just remove this button completely and make WebOS take up the entire front screen.

Elysian893 · 11/04/2009, 03:50 PM

Have you ever used a trackball to do that sort of thing? I had the trackball on my Pearl, it didn't make anything easier, I've also used the Android phones as well, not really better than the Pearl, I really don't see the point of one on a touch screen phone. Maybe Blackberry's have just forever soured me on the trackball, but I feel it has no place on a phone.

NickDG · 11/04/2009, 04:04 PM

I would prefer having the least amount of moving parts possible. No trackball for me.

mu7efcer · 11/04/2009, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elysian893

Have you ever used a trackball to do that sort of thing?

Interesting. I loved the trackball on my work BB Curve. And I like it on the Hero, although I don't need to use it as much on the Hero as I did on the Curve.

What, specifically, do you dislike about trackballs?

Elysian893 · 11/04/2009, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mu7efcer

Interesting. I loved the trackball on my work BB Curve. And I like it on the Hero, although I don't need to use it as much on the Hero as I did on the Curve.

What, specifically, do you dislike about trackballs?

The inaccuracy of every one I've tried, especially bad on BB's. The sensors don't last forever, but they also didn't work well brand new in the BB's I've used. Considering you can get better accuracy with optical, why would anyone use a trackball on a cell phone?

mu7efcer · 11/04/2009, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elysian893

The inaccuracy of every one I've tried, especially bad on BB's. The sensors don't last forever, but they also didn't work well brand new in the BB's I've used. Considering you can get better accuracy with optical, why would anyone use a trackball on a cell phone?

Interesting. That's specifically why I like them. I feel like I'm a *ton* more accurate than w/the Pre's tap or orange+swipe. And, I didn't feel very confident when I tried the moment's optical dealy. Granted I spent (at most) 15 minutes playing w/it. I liked it better than the Pre's mechanism of placing the cursor but worse than a trackball.

To each their own, I guess.

bmbriefs · 11/04/2009, 07:04 PM

I have the hero and I don't like the trackball- I'd prefer something more clickable.