I changed my on screen keyboard to the following settings (under Setup/Options/”Screen/Keyboard”.

Touchscreen:
Tap Interval: 500
Hover Period: 400
Swipe Sensitivity: (High) 6

This made the keyboard better in my opinion (It accepts text input quicker than default, but I’m a pretty fast typist).

In regards to your questions:
How do you move the cursor without deleting text?
The easiest way to move the cursor is to touch the screen (but not hard enough to make it click). The cursor will then “hollow out” (it will go from a solid blue box to a white filled box with a blue border). At this point you can drag your finger around the screen to move the cursor. (Until I figured this out I was infuriated when I had to modify text, pressing and clicking on the screen to move the cursor sucked due to my fat fingers)

How do you view previous calls?
Press the green “begin call”/send button. This should take you to the phone pad by default. At the top of the screen (above the area that shows you the number you are dialing) are three icons, from left to right they are Phone Pad, Call Log, and Contacts. Click the Call Log button (in the middle) to see your previous calls.

You can change the default display of the “begin call”/send button — press the green button (to bring up the dial pad) and then press the blackberrry button (the button to the right of the “begin call”/send button). Select Options from the pop-up menu and then General Options. Change the “Initial View” option (the options are “Dial Pad”, “Call Log”, “Contacts”, or “Previous” (whatever you had up the last time you used the begin call button).

I had a hard time with the on screen keyboard until I learned to take advantage of the screen’s unique feature — that it clicks. If you treat touching the screen differently than clicking the screen, the phone behaves alot better. Also, use the ability to touch (to select) and then click (to confirm) makes the accuracy MUCH improved. You can use your finger to select the item, then click once you are sure you have selected the correct item.

I was a heavy 8700 series user, and while I can still type faster on a real keyboard (when I have to support a non-touchscreen blackberry for work, as I am a Blackberry Enterprise Server admin) — I am still fairly fast with the onscreen keyboard. The changed settings and making the touch vs. click distinction really help.

Also, if you’re running the version of the software that came on the device, check if Vodaphone has an update. Verizon has updated the software (and it makes the on screen keyboard much more responsive). There are betas releases out there (which have significant improvements to the responsiveness of the keyboard, camera, and less user interface lag) but I would stay away from them unless you are a technical user (since your carrier will probably refuse to support your phone if you are not running their version of the Blackberry OS). Also, most of the betas have some small issues (the current one I’m running refuses to turn off the blinking LED when messages are read/bluetooth is disabled).

I hope the answers help — if you have any further questions post a follow up!

Laurence

The screen is horrendous – I have tried different ways to input my data onto either an e-mail or sms message.. As a woman I DO NOT HAVE LARGE fingers – have been using mobile phones since the early 1990’s and must say this has to be the worst phone I have used….

I had heard so much about the anticipated software options on the phone and went to purchase one before Christmas. I TO DATE am still trying to find my way around the menus……

Questions
How do you move the cursor left without deleting text??
How do you view previous calls??

Must say Vodafone had the cheek to ask me to pay a deposit of €150 which will be refunded into my credit card AFTER 3 month (no interest!!!) I do believe they have done this because there would be such a backlash of people returning these phones….

FRUSTRATED to say the least …. and ripped off