HTC Artemis (HTC P3300 / MDA Compact III / XDA Orbit) Trackball Poll

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Now that the HTC Artemis variants are starting to come through to retail (HTC P3300, T-Mobile MDA Compact III, XDA Orbit), I thought i'd place a simple poll online.

As many of you will know, I didn't exactly take to the new trackball-based control method in my HTC P3300 review, but i'm interested to know the thoughts of others who own or have used an Artemis.

So, vote now!

Please only vote if you've actually USED the device though, rather than what you think it might be like :)

P

PS If you're viewing this item on the news page, click 'View Topic' to get to the poll!

[Guest richard_d]

Only used it for a few minutes but hated it.

[Guest cactusbob]

I like it :)

[Guest sporkguy]

Had a few minutes' worth of play with it in my old T-Mobile store yesterday, and I quite liked it!

Wasn't nearly as good as the jogwheel though, which gets my thumbs up.

[Guest andyturner]

Am I right in thinking that nothing is removed to make way for the trackball? So it's just a case of, it you don't like it, don't bother using it - or is its presence actually a problem? Yeah I agree that WM5 wasn't designed to be operated with a mouse... but it isn't forcing you to.. or is it?

Thanks

[Guest rhedgehog]

it isn't like you get a mouse arrow moving accross the screen, but instead of pressing the up, down, left and right buttons, you can roll the ball in the directon on swivel the wheel.

not the most intuitive i must admit, but after about 5 minutes of use, i hardly even notice the difference!

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

You give up a conventional dpad for the wheel.

P

[Guest richard_d]

I didn't mind the wheel (but prefer the VaroII style side wheel) but I wouldn't consider the trackball over a d-pad.

[Guest bradzki]

i love it its something new and makes a change, it does take some gettin used to at first but i'm liking htc's thinking on it so far.

Thumbs up!!

[Guest andyturner]

it isn't like you get a mouse arrow moving accross the screen, but instead of pressing the up, down, left and right buttons, you can roll the ball in the directon on swivel the wheel. not the most intuitive i must admit, but after about 5 minutes of use, i hardly even notice the difference!

I gotta say, I like the sound of that. The dpad on the TyTn certainly leaves a lot to be desired, I find myself having to use my thumbnail on it to avoid pressing adjacent buttons. I'd buy a P3300 today, but I'm waiting for the Orbit instead.

[Guest spangelsaregreat]

Hi,

I have been using the MDA Compact for a day now and I have found the Trackball excellent. There has only been a couple times where I have hit the wrong thing by the ball moving when I pressed it in.

I have set up an icon in iLauncher to switch between dpad emulation and the mouse point and may go for a hard button if I see a benefit in that over time.

I am less impressed by the scroll whee. It is alright but due to is position low on the device it can be difficult to operate one handed.

A scroll wheel on the side of the device with the trackball would be the ideal solution. However as we all know manufacturers rarely manage to get everthing right!!

Because of the above I am gravitating towards using the Trackball for all navigation.

Is it better than a dpad? Honestly it is about the same in most apps. However for me the trackball wins as the option of using the mouse pointer in certain apps saves taking the stylus out for everything except writing.

Regards

[Guest johnnystorm]

I wholly agree the wheel would be more useful if it were raised 20mm up the body or thereabouts. I'm getting used the the trackball, overall I think I prefer it to a d pad.

[Guest The Doctor]

I wholly agree the wheel would be more useful if it were raised 20mm up the body or thereabouts. I'm getting used the the trackball, overall I think I prefer it to a d pad.

Had a play in a Tmob store the other day, wierd when you first use it but great after a few minutes :) Wish my vario II had one now .....

Phil