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Dear RIM,
Remember when you were little and you pressed the elevator button a hundred times because it made the elevator come faster?
Well what if one day your daddy was tucking you in and he said, "Son, the way elevators have worked for centuries is changing. When you press the button the first time, it will come--this much of our tradition has been preserved. But when you press it a second time, it changes direction and speeds to the 152nd floor. When you press it a third time, it comes back toward you again. The fourth time--away again. Why this change, son? Two reasons. The first reason is that we want to ensure your excellence in counting in pairs. And second, we just think its funny to take away simple pleasures and discourage inefficient behavior in children."
This is kind of like how the Flash function works on BlackBerry phones. Sometimes, when you press the green call button, it has mysteriously changed functions to the become Flash. This is unreasonable on a number of levels.
First of all, sometimes you're pressing Flash and you don't even know it. For example, let's imagine you are in the Call Log, and want to return a call you just missed. So you press the green Call button. That's logical. But lets say the call doesn't go through (yes, the BlackBerry has been known to lag), and you--having developed the master reflexes of the successful businessman--press the green button again. Well, now you're on the "other line" and the call you placed will be ringing away without you even noticing. But after a few seconds you notice (!), and thats when the mayhem of trying to remember the number of times you pushed the button begins, and you press Flash frantically until you hear a ring, which is harder than you think because of the silences between the rings... etc. It sucks.
Or what if you're in the middle of a call and the way you're clutching your BlackBerry desperately to your head makes you accidentally press the Call button? Silence.
I guess it doesn't seem like a big deal, but my main question is, as usual, WHY!? Why do we need Flash to be so readily accessible? There is no reason we would ever need it! When we have another incoming call, the options are clearly Answer or Ignore. So we don't need it then. Then when would we ever need Flash? Its not even like you can use it to place two calls at once and conference them. You have to go through the menu anyway to do that.
So, I don't realize why Flash exists on the phone. And if there is a reason, its certainly not obvious.
RIM, please move the Flash function off the Call button. To prevent separation anxiety, maybe add it to the ridiculously crowded menu.
Sincerely,
Tara Raffi
Consistency Enthusiast
P.S. Maybe this exists just on Sprint phones, but still, it should never be allowed. I know the US carriers are powerful, but assert yourself, RIM.
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