Notices

That looks to be the best one yet, also of note but not necessarily helpful for a game particularly is the little trackball style now used on BlackBerry Pearls, that thing is awesome.

I don't mind the D-Pad on the N800 but it is a bit stiff. I think the best thing for gaming would be a tactile mini joystick (like on the PSP). You would get the advantage of a D-Pad and joystick together, plus you could press down on it for the button.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...m_%26_lite.png
The knob in the bottom left corner.

A small excerpt from my review of the N800.

my only problem with the dpad is when it goes nuts repeating the direction I just pressed. I have to push the opposite direction to stop it. It only happens once in a while.

I'm not a big gamer though.

I have a N810 and a N800.

On the N810 the dpad is very difficult to navigate with - the short side scrolls presses are too think for using thumbs or fingers - have to use fingernails (and I am a thin guy with not too thick stubs of fingers either).

The N800 dpad on the other had is much better - firstly - better tactile feedback
and secondly the raised elemnts on the dpad allow you to "feel" the left and right presses without looking at it.

On the N810 the rectangular side press area and the middle button on th dbad are all nearly flush and hence cant make out the difference much by feel alone.

n800 only:
It's much too "clicky" if that makes sense...when you press it all the way down, it clicks. I'd rather have some kind of softer feeling when pressed. Also, it slides around way too much. I have to put my fingernail on one side and slide it back to the right every once in a while.

All comments apply to the N800 only...

I find it difficult to control the d-pad and center-click separately; the d-pad should be higher than the button, not lower, and it doesn't work all that much better holding down the center button and rocking the whole thing, even when the center is not used. (It gives me a sore thumb, too, after an hour or so of Tyrian...)

I actually think we'd do quite well with one of those little nublets they use on some digital cameras. I searched around on google images for 20 minutes, but can't find the sort I'm thinking of, and don't know what sort of camera it was, but way pleasing feel; with a bit of modification to support 8-way (and "rolling it" from one direction to another, just like an old C128 stick I remember...), it could be a great fit; even in the limited space on an N810-like design. (It stood out as a marked contrast to the nubs on a SE k810 and Rio Karma; the former was a pain, imho, and the latter was nice as a jog input, but not suitable for gaming. The more so since it was on a camera, where it was used only for jogging, and where such UI elements (not used while snapping pictures) are often bad.)

The zoom/fullscreen buttons on the N800 are OK, but a little small and continuous-feeling for gaming. (They don't bother me for much else...) Placement is right there, though!

N800 here.

I have to say, the DPad ranks among some of the worst i have used on a mobile device. This is mainly due to the fact that there is a great big button in the middle of it, which really tends to get in the way.

In addition, since the whole DPad is essentially one piece of plastic, i don't get any feedback as to which direction i am moving. Sadly not even the painted on markers help either.

I'd also like to add that the DPad going nuts and repeating the last direction issue adds to the frustration.

So to conclude, i would say that it is quite simply abysmal and ideally shouldn't have been put on the device in the first place.

More - kinda - tactile feedback would enhance it's use extremely. And on my device the down direction is more sensitive than the other directions. Sometimes it stucks and then you're scrolling all the way down... down... down...

But anyways better than a Joystick. What about optical sensor, known from the Everun?

It's a shame there is no analog control on the tablets, besides the touchscreen. Scrolling web pages with the D-pad is pretty lame and I find using the touchscreen tiresome for long surfing sessions.

I would like to see an analog rubber nub (like on IBM Thinkpads) on the front face of the device, with optional mouse cursor support. Also, rubber scroll wheel on the top left edge, or why not both edges...

All kinds of games would also benefit from these extra controls.