The Best BlackBerry Controller: Trackball or Scroll Wheel?
May 5th, 2008 by Joanna Stern
CounterPoint: The Wheel Still Turns
By Jeffery Wilson
Ms. Stern, I hate to say this, as you’re a swell lass, but this verbal lashing I’m about to deliver is for your own good: You’re one of the reasons why I despise this new generation of BlackBerry users. You admittedly hopped on the wagon with the introduction of the Pearl; you “ballers” didn’t endure the early BlackBerry hell. We “wheelers” endured the chunky bodies that you practically needed to grease up in order to slide into a pocket; we wheelers made due with the dull displays in the early models; we had to cough up the heavy coin to bring those puppies home. Yet you have the audacity to chastise one of the most defining BlackBerry elements. The nerve! We scroll wheelers were able to appreciate the excellence of the device, even when it was in full Ugly Betty mode.
The Scroll Wheel is King: You want to talk ergonomics? Stretching your thumb across the face of the handset to fiddle with a wheel isn’t exactly the most comfortable position for my strong (yet sensitive) hands. The scroll wheel, however, just feels right. When my thumb is aligned along the side of the scroll wheel, I have a solid grip that harkens back to my Little League years when I would choke up on my Slugger. Besides, who controls their scroll wheel with their index finger except Ballers with little wheelin’ experience?
While it’s true that you can type and manipulate the trackball with one hand, who types one-handed? The bottom line is that BlackBerry users spend the bulk of their time reading e-mails and surfing Web pages. A scroll wheel is more practical for skimming through long messages and online articles.
Superior Control: I’ve tried to like the trackball. I really have. But the little orb lacks one vital function: pinpoint control. When I scroll through menus with the trackball, I feel like I’m playing a game of Centipede. That setup works fine for slaying giant bugs, but when I want to quickly access menus, I want the steady control that comes with the scroll wheel’s grooves. I’ll take accurate control over four-way directional movement any day.
Wrapping It Up: All in all, your trackball is a fine device for BlackBerry novices, but we traditionalists prefer the purity, the sweetness, that is the scroll wheel. Prove me wrong.
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May 6th, 2008 at 7:07 am
i Like the trackball infact…its easy to use..Dont know about the wheeler thing.When you get used to the trackball, you dont feel a thing
May 6th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Love the trackball it is a lot better than the wheel. I have used the 7250, 8703e, 8830 and now have the 8330.
May 6th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
The wheel was also a lot better if you needed to scroll deep into a long email or webpage.
May 6th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Why not add both? I´m a BIG fan of the scroll wheel, for accuracy, etc…
Also, I´m not interested in a smaller form factor that a scroll-wheel can impede. I use my BB for writing, websurfing, keeping track of appointments, etc… not looking sexy.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:21 am
I can not believe that RIMM doesn’t just come out with a device that has a scroll wheel and a scroll ball. I have not bought the pearl or curve because it doesn’t have a scroll wheel. I demo’d the pearl hoping I would like it, but I lost productivity that the scroll wheel gives me. Reading emails and news articles is way more efficient with the scroll wheel. That’s my primary purpose of the device.
May 27th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Although I like the trackball better the track ball has its down fall I am leaveing this comment with a crippled trackball this morning I was useing my pearl and I was not able to select with the trackball I have to use the enter botton which works but is slowing me down luckily. Tmobile if they can’t talk me through fixing it they are going to replace it but I wish they could do something about keeping dust out of the track ball since that is the problem
July 11th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Mine broke also - they definitely have an issue with the trackball. T-Mobile wouldn’t help me with anything!
But I ordered a new one on http://www.BlackberryTrackballs.com and it came instructions on how to fix it really easily. I ordered FedEx so it arrived so quickly and was shipped the same day I ordered. I totally recommend it.
August 29th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
I hate the trackball. I absolutely, positively, hate it more than I’ve ever hated any aspect of any phone I’ve ever owned. It’s quirky, sometimes it’s hyper sensitive, sometimes you have to roll it all day to get it to move. Sometimes the cursor just hovers in place. It’s a good idea, but the implementation is absolutely abysmal. Not a day goes by that I don’t curse it. I will never buy another blackberry so long as the scroll wheel endures… unless it’s SERIOUSLY redesigned. Give me the click wheel any day. OR… make the volume buttons work for scrolling. They sit idle as it is.