How to dial phonewords on a Blackberry?

Friday, June 26, 2009

On phones with a regular keypad (left) on every numbered key there's three letters as well, allowing for the use of phonewords or vanity numbers. Think 1-800-flowers or 1-800-rent-a-car. In the US, advertisers often only list the phoneword (as in the photo below). But I was just wondering: how do you enter a phoneword number on a Blackberry keypad (pictured right), where the distribution of letters and numbers over the keys is different? As it turns out, you need to use a workaround.

5 reactions:

trhaynes said...: Is that really a workaround? That's how I would expect it to work...; 3:51 PM
Jasper (uselog.com) said...: Using the SHIFT key while punching in the letters and then hitting 'call' was the first thing that came to mind when you read this? Maybe you're a natural?

Do you have a Blackberry by the way?; 3:56 PM
trhaynes said...: Yeah, the SHIFT part is a little obscure.

I don't have a Blackberry.

I'm trying to think of some better solutions to this problem (other than not designing the keypad like that).; 3:59 PM
that mullen guy said...: Score one for the iPhone. Much easier.; 1:55 AM
Giancarlo Colfer said...: Thank you very much for the link. Good example with the 1-800-rent-a-car picture, I think I might use it also.

lol @ trhaynes "the natural"; 9:06 PM