Phone with trackpoint *PIC*

[brchan]

Was there ever a smartphone that had a trackpoint similar to the ones found in thinkpads? I know old blackberry phones had a trackball, but this is a bit different. Sometimes I feel that having trackpoint on a phone would be quicker and more precise for web navigation.

Admin edit: Added PIC warning

[ajkula66]

Was there ever a smartphone that had a trackpoint similar to the ones found in thinkpads?

IBM did make a cell phone back in the 90s from what I recall, but no trackpoint on that one.

I know old blackberry phones had a trackball, but this is a bit different.

As someone who uses both the trackpoint and BlackBerry on daily basis, I'm tempted to say that BB is as close as you'll get to "the real thing" on a cell phone.

[ZaZ]

I'm thinking a phone with a trackpoint, while an interesting idea, would not be practical for most phones. Touch rules the mobile area and for a phone, the trackpoint, without a physical keyboard, would need to be somewhere near one of the edges of the phone as to not block the screen, at least for one handed use. That would mean you'd have to hold it somewhere by the edge to use the stick, which means it would be dropped more. Something like the BB where the stick could be in the middle of the device makes more sense, but BB is too small to move the market right now. Perhaps someone smarter than I will come up with a solution.

[brchan]

Thanks for the responses. Maybe there is no need for a trackpoint on a phone, but I just wish touch screens would be more accurate.

[ajkula66]

Maybe there is no need for a trackpoint on a phone, but I just wish touch screens would be more accurate.

I just hate typing on *any* touchscreen/virtual keyboard. Period. Hence the BB. And a plethora of Nokias prior to that...

[brchan]

My thoughts too. Even the little 'vibrate on touch' feature for typing is borderline useless. This is simlar to the result of removing the dedicated trackpoint buttons on the current generation thinkpad, but that is a whole other story (at least they are coming back). I do understand that getting rid of a keyboard frees up a bit of space for bigger screens or a smaller footprint.

[RealBlackStuff]

I was looking through a rarely used cupboard today and found what?
A cellphone with a trackpoint!
It's a Motorola E770v



I have the same one, it's unlocked and still going strong.
I'd be happy to sell this.

[tarvoke]

quite a lot of the wince/winmo5 back-when-gps-on-a-phone-was-new, had pointing sticks.

this one is still somewhere at the back of my desk


it's really difficult to tell from the photo, but it has an absolutely gorgeous rubberized-thinkpad-black finish on it.

the stick is not really a fluid pointer, more likd a D-Pad that can also single-click. but it was perfectly placed for thumbs and felt very natural.

(also it's very apparent how confused the industry was back then, the thing also has a (non-digitized)pen AND touchscreen. ha!)

[twistero]

Those are really 5-way d-pad / joysticks with discrete up, down, left, right and press actions, not TrackPoints. A lot of phones in that era has similar input devices. Off the top of my head I can think of several: Nokia N73, Sony Ericsson K710 / W710 / K800.

Also, apart from BlackBerry-style trackballs, there are also phones with optical trackpads. The HTC Desire Z / T-Mobile G2 comes to mind.

[Temetka]

My Samsung Blackjack 2 had a d-pad in it.