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Learning SureType

When trying to decide which BlackBerry model to choose, say, a Pearl versus a Curve, a key factor is size. The most distinctive feature of the Pearl is its smaller size enabled by its smaller keyboard. Rather than use a full QWERTY keyboard (where every letter and number usually has its own key, where there are two shift keys, etc.), the Pearl uses a modified QWERTY keyboard where one key is shared by up to three letters, numbers, or punctuation marks. But how can this work? The keyboard is designed to be used with either SureType® or Multitap. Whether you master SureType or not will play a big part in how happy you are with choosing a Pearl. In this article, I hope to show you how easy SureType can be to learn.

Learning to Ignore the Screen While You Type

Let’s try to jump right into SureType with an example. Let’s watch SureType in action as a user types “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.” The animation loops forever, so wait for the “Ready?” screen, then pay close attention:

<– Typing with SureType

Here are some important points to understand:

1. The person typing was using the two thumbs method (highly recommended, but not absolutely essential). If you are a touch typist, you type pretty much like normal, but only using your thumbs.
2. The person typing did not look at the screen while typing. He/she was trusting SureType to get it right. That trust was merited because the typist was not typing any unusual or “difficult” words that SureType does not know. Later we’ll discuss how SureType can learn new words.
3. As each letter is typed, SureType tries to predict what the emerging word is going to be (the drop-down list shows all the possibilities SureType comes up with from its internal dictionary). Sometimes SureType is dead on after 2-3 characters; other times it has to wait for a few more characters to make a good prediction. There will be times when SureType is dead wrong. More on that later.
4. If you watch the screen while you type, you are tempted to stop and make a correction. It takes practice and some inner strength to just keep typing and ignore what’s happening on the screen. But that is one big secret to mastering SureType: develop the ability to ignore the screen.

I want you to practice now. Open the MemoPad application and start a new memo. Practice typing “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”* Don’t bother capitalizing the first letter of the sentence. SureType will do that for you. At the end the sentence, don’t type a period (.), press the SPACE key twice. OK–go practice…

Practice, practice, practice.

… So, how did you do? Did you feel the urge to look at the screen while you were typing? Once you master the ability to ignore the screen, you must then learn when it’s OK to peek at the screen. When you’re ready, move on to Tips and Tricks, Typing, Part 3, where you will learn how to use SureType under more difficult typing situations.

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* The sentence should have read “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” That short sentence has all the letters of the alphabet. I messed up and am too lazy to go back and fix the animation.