A lot of new developments have occurred in the past day or so regarding the BlackBerry 9500 Thunder, so I thought it would be a good idea to wait a bit to give you a consolidated post. And boy is this news fascinating and well worth a read.
Kevin at CrackBerry reported yesterday that the Thunder will feature haptic feedback (a vibration or buzz from the screen and an audible noise) and the ability to emulate your choice of QWERTY or SureType keypads depending on whether not the phone is being help vertically or horizontally. Haptic technology is not new in the cell phone industry, but it has recently become more popular with the release of many LG touchscreen devices, such as the Voyager and Dare.
Unfortunately for us BlackBerry nerds who want to try this device out ASAP, not long after the above was posted on CrackBerry, the Boy Genius reported that the Thunder is a long way from production as there are major issues with, amongst other things, the screen which serves as the device’s keypad.
Citing a reliable RIM employee as an informant, this is what the Boy Genius went on to post:
“Thunder is in no way shape or form market-ready. If Bold was any indication, Thunder won’t be ready for at least another 4-5 months.” Our source goes on to tell us that the keyboard is incredibly annoying to type on, and the screen actually shows ripples even when pressed ever-so-lightly. There is an accelerometer in here, but it goes “bonkers” when the device is moved. In its current state, the UI blinks and lags when you try to scroll, and for every key press, you have to wait half a second until you get a response. Our guy, when talking about haptic feedback, said that the screen “clicks.” We were informed there are “buttons” on each corner, so when you press the screen, you might feel one click, two clicks, or four simultaneously. We’re told these four independant buttons actually press, so you do “click” the screen. RIM implemented a touch-and-drag approach which is the only way to select on screen buttons at this point. We were also told this was the latest build of the software, and to quote him, “Most of the people who have handled it thinks it’s a joke.”
Although the reputation of Boy Genius is of a very high standard, he has been nearly pinpoint accurate over the last few months with regards to BlackBerry. If there is one saving grace is the mention of November as a likely release target.
Don’t forget to keep checking BlackBerryNews for all of the latest Thunder developments.
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