Blackberry Storm Keyboard Settings: Key Rate, Tap Interval, Hover Period, Swipe Sensitivity Explained

// January 15th, 2009 // Blackberry, Popular

Blackberry Storm Home ScreenThere are quite a few keyboard settings on the Blackberry Storm that are easily misunderstood. I’ll go over the most confusing ones here. These can be found in Options> Screen/Keyboard> Key Rate, Tap Interval, Hover Period, and Swipe Sensitivity.

Key Rate:

Key rate determines how fast the key repeats after holding it down. The two uses that I have found for this on the Storm include how fast it will capitalize a letter, and how fast it will delete characters. To test this turn it all the way up to fast, type something, then hold delete. I like setting this to fast to allow me to capitalize letters quicker. (Fastest:Fast, Slowest:Slow)

Tap Interval:

Tap interval determines the amount of time between clicks to register as a double tap, similar to double clicking on a PC. A higher value will allow you to double tap slower and still get the effect. Try using the browser and double tapping to zoom in to test this. (Fastest:100, Slowest:500)

Hover Period:

Hover period determines the amount of time you can place your finger on a hover object before it is registered as a hover. A higher value here will make the period longer, and require you to hold your finger on an object longer before the action takes place. An example of this is when you hover on a message in your inbox it will filter out all messages from that contact. You can also see the change when modifying text with the cursor. (Fastest:100, Slowest:1000)

Swipe Sensitivity:

Swipe sensitivity determines how sensitive the device is to flicking or swiping across the screen. You can test this by flicking or scrolling through images, or messages. A higher value will make this faster, and allow you to scroll and flick faster. (Fastest:(High)6, Slowest:(Low)0)

Recommendations:

What do I recommend to set these at? This is currently what I have setup:
Key Rate: Fast
Tap Interval: 100
Hover Period: 100
Swipe Sensitivity: (High)6

Explaination:

Fastest key rate, fastest double tap, fastest hover register, greatest sensitivity.

-DPollitt

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View Comments to “Blackberry Storm Keyboard Settings: Key Rate, Tap Interval, Hover Period, Swipe Sensitivity Explained”

  1. yakidk says:
    February 21, 2009 at 6:18 pm

    Thanks for the post!

  2. Jay says:
    February 25, 2009 at 8:50 am

    This is the best explanation for these features by far! Well done and THANK YOU.

  3. Ramkrushna says:
    February 28, 2009 at 4:03 pm

    thanks for the information.. it clears all my conflict regarding blackberry strom..!!!!!

  4. Kay says:
    March 7, 2009 at 5:07 pm

    Great Explanation until I read this I was lost trying to figure it out.

  5. Russ says:
    March 8, 2009 at 9:40 pm

    Thank you for taking the time to explain – WELL DONE!

  6. Jeff says:
    March 15, 2009 at 12:48 pm

    Kay….put the phone down. You will hurt yourself if you continue.

  7. Kam says:
    March 19, 2009 at 9:04 pm

    thanks for the post…i’ve had this phone for a week and was lost at how to set the keyboard settings…i even found a new feature for me that you can search emails by just putting your finger on the email…i would have never figured that out….i feel a little smarter with my smart phone now.

  8. Jim says:
    April 27, 2009 at 6:57 am

    good work.

  9. Suvendu says:
    May 8, 2009 at 6:52 am

    Really good analysis. Thanks for the post.

  10. Robin says:
    May 17, 2009 at 6:51 pm

    Thank so much about the information on hover period, tap interval and swipe sensitivity… for some reason Blackberry DOES NOT provide any kind of clear information on this with the phone instructions. Your summary was very helpful!

  11. Roberta says:
    July 2, 2009 at 1:16 am

    I NEEDED to read this because I was going to send this damn Storm back and stick with my trusty Curve. I will try out these settings. I, as the others have stated, couldn’t find a darn thing explaining hover/interval etc. I actually had the settings the opposite way. I kept trying different ways and NOW I get it! thanks!

  12. jewel says:
    July 20, 2009 at 9:10 am

    thanks, great info! these few adjments will make my storm a breeze to type on!

  13. BlackBerry Storm 9530 OS 5.0.0.140 Leaked | David Pollitt says:
    July 25, 2009 at 9:19 am

    [...] Pretty big news on the Blackberry Storm front.  If you have a 9530, and have eagerly been awaiting a leak of the 5.x software, it is finally here.  I haven’t had a chance to download it myself, but it sounds like you’ll want to delete some of the RIM specific reporting files, as well as change a few settings.  Default the OS will send out error report messages to RIM.  You also might want to update your keyboard settings via this post: Keyboard Settings: Key Rate, Tap Interval, Hover Period, Swipe Sensitivity Explained [...]

  14. Ranini says:
    August 21, 2009 at 3:22 am

    thanks! just what I was looking for!

  15. ian says:
    September 1, 2009 at 12:00 am

    thanks… great explanation… :)

  16. sergio says:
    September 2, 2009 at 8:18 am

    Thanks… I do’nt know why Blackberry mentions nothing about this on the users guide. Anyway, my 9500 is by far the most difficult piece of phone I have ever used, I may came back to my 9000

  17. J.S. Chancellor says:
    September 17, 2009 at 10:02 pm

    You just made my day. Now, if I can keep from throwing my storm against the fireplace because it is still so friggin slow, we’ll be good. But seriously, thank you for going over this. I couldn’t find this information ANYWHERE else. You rock.

  18. Mahesh says:
    September 18, 2009 at 8:38 am

    Thanks a ton, i’m sure this change is going to make my life simpler, i have just done the setting, hoping to see the fruits

    Warm REgards
    Mahesh

  19. Al says:
    September 22, 2009 at 3:49 pm

    thanks for taking the time to explain. great summary, best one so far.

  20. Benjamin says:
    September 28, 2009 at 2:24 pm

    This was the best review on screen/keyboard setting thus far!! thanx a milli!

  21. Sam says:
    September 30, 2009 at 9:50 pm

    Man You are the man the best explanation so far

    Thank u

  22. Audi says:
    October 15, 2009 at 11:34 am

    I really appreciate you posting this. I just got a Storm and I absolutely LOVE the new settings and I actually understand what each setting affects. Thank you so much for taking the time to post this.

  23. iDigiDog says:
    November 10, 2009 at 9:51 am

    Great info. Of course, I first went to the BB documentation and found nothing useful regarding these settings. This was precisely the explanation I was looking for.

    Thanks!

  24. James says:
    November 11, 2009 at 1:18 am

    This was a great help! Thank you for alleviating so many frustrations with the touch screen. I had tried multiple settings and never felt it was set up appropriately…very helpful indeed!

  25. Frank Paolino says:
    November 16, 2009 at 9:00 pm

    Thanks! I just installed the 5.0 software and I am trying to love my Storm. 5.0 is a much better UX for me, a lot closer to the gold standard (iphone).

  26. Depper says:
    December 17, 2009 at 10:44 am

    this is the only explanation found…however…he should have posted various combinations to further explain the differences

  27. delvy says:
    December 23, 2009 at 11:08 am

    thanks uv really added value, i was so confused about the hover period thing

  28. GREG says:
    December 29, 2009 at 3:04 pm

    Thank you so much this made life so much easier for me. i am not sure why blackberry does not explain this anywhere.

  29. Vette says:
    January 17, 2010 at 2:41 pm

    Thank you, very helpful.

  30. Nance says:
    January 30, 2010 at 12:06 pm

    Is there a way to ‘quiet’ the tap?

  31. Mile Livingstone says:
    February 7, 2010 at 8:48 am

    Thanks A lot Mate.
    It really helped.

  32. deborah says:
    February 7, 2010 at 8:12 pm

    Just got the storm 2 and am going crazy. Is there a secret to typing because it took me 10 minutes to just put in an email address-I cannot get the correct letter to print with 2 letters on every key. what’s with that? any help much appreciated

  33. David says:
    February 8, 2010 at 9:04 am

    @deborah – Try going into the Screen/Keyboard settings again and change the setting for “Portrait View Keyboard”. Try Full Keyboard. It sounds like you are on SureType right now.

  34. deborah says:
    February 20, 2010 at 11:31 am

    thanks. It helps but it still takes me multiple tries to enter the right letters. Am actually pretty coordinated and it takes way too long to compose/enter addresses. I liked the bigger screen but not that much. This phone is going back.

  35. Steve says:
    February 22, 2010 at 2:23 am

    Thanks for posting this. Between updating with the 5.0 version of the software, and putting in your recommended keyboard settings – I swear, I feel like I have a new phone!

  36. rodrigo carrijo says:
    April 24, 2010 at 4:31 pm

    Meu touch nao ESTA QUANDO eu digito funcionando como teclas 1 2 3 0, Esse Problema de Ser PoDE configuração OU DE ATUALIZAÇÃO OU de soft Mesmo Tenho Que LeVar parágrafo Assistência Técnica .????

  37. dpollitt says:
    April 24, 2010 at 11:52 pm

    Sorry, my Portuguese is a bit rough.

  38. Ms.G says:
    May 4, 2010 at 6:32 pm

    Very helpful, thanks

  39. Tyler Stork says:
    May 6, 2010 at 10:54 am

    I have a question, it seems like my screen is way to sensitive. when i touch ever so softley it opens thing up, and calls people when im not trying to do it. is there a setting on my blacberry storm 2 that will make this less sensitive? I have resset my key rate to fast, my tap INTERVAL@ 100, hover periiod @ 100 and sensitivity @ high(6) please let me know tylerstork@yahoo.com

  40. dpollitt says:
    May 6, 2010 at 10:57 am

    I suggest simply locking your phone when you are not using it. To lock the phone simply hit the top left button once to lock, and again to unlock.

  41. Surangazz1 says:
    June 12, 2010 at 4:40 am

    cant blackberry work as a one touch like i phone??????

  42. Marcio Gastao says:
    June 22, 2010 at 10:44 am

    Did anyone answered??
    The question was : “cant blackberry work as a one touch like i phone??????
    “

  43. David Pollitt says:
    June 22, 2010 at 10:46 am

    No, you have to click the screen.

  44. David Pollitt says:
    June 22, 2010 at 10:46 am

    No, you have to click the screen.

  45. Mvpdex says:
    July 12, 2010 at 4:35 pm

    THANK YOU

  46. Mvpdex says:
    July 12, 2010 at 11:35 am

    THANK YOU

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