Rant Are all smartphones losing their physical keyboards?

All right, I finally have to quit being an unconnected bum and get a phone. And, as I'm going to Verizon (geographical issue) I've been looking at the Android offerings. However, I see a trend here.

Where are the keyboards? Before anyone says it, the onscreen is NOT good enough if you cannot feel your fingertips and only seven of your fingers work on a good day. My hands are impaired, my left one severely so and operating a touchscreen is a merry *****. The OLDER models have them, but the new ones don't.

I'm wondering if I shouldn't just save my pennies and buy an N900. It still has a keyboard.

But seriously, why are they doing this? The Droid Incredible would be just that if they had kept the keyboard/trackball setup my G1 has... (G1 has no CDMA hardware, boo.)

 

I think the reason behind everything switching over to touch screen is cos physical keyboards on phones aren't much better (the buttons are really small and rubbish) and they require a lot of physical space on the phone.

I find when I use mine sideways as a thumbpad it works well, you can also switch the keypad to be a big phone pad on my phone so you can type like on normal phones.

 

Small they are, but without the tactile sensation I get (what little there is) and the auditory feedback of click (a little less important) it's REALLY hard to type. No matter the size or whatever of the screen.

I may just be stuck with an older model, it seems.

I'm going to drop into the Verizon store, though. I'll have a bang around on some of the virtual keyboards.

 

A lot of the phones will vibrate when you push a button on screen, I know my Nokia 5800 did

Just, if that sways your opinion at all

 

I love my physical keyboard Bold 9700, main reason I got it over an iPhone was the due to the keyboard.

I have big fingers and hands (jokes aside) and find it far easier to depress a physical button that guess that im clicking an imaginary button.

 

Yeah. People seem to think that these physical keyboards are amazing, but I find that I don't type any faster on a Blackberry than I do on an iPhone. If anything, the fluidity of not having to press down and the auto-correct makes iPhone typing even faster.

From a design standpoint, it also means more screen space for more different UI types and also greater durability and hygiene for not having moving parts.

I think you just get used to virtual keyboards after awhile.

 

I know what you (OP) mean. I have fully functioning hands, and I still prefer physical buttons simply because they give some tactile feedback. I hate to have to look at they keypad to type something. Especially when typing a phone number while reading it at the same time (from another source).


But then again, I'm probably old fashioned. I still use a phone to call people...

 

Yup, it's insane how few smartphones have hardware keyboards. It's one of the reasons why RIM have a stranglehold on the enterprise market (and the fact they have great back-end software - something neither Apple nor Google seem to be taking seriously...).

No matter how many years I've spent using virtual keyboards, nothing beats the days of my old Blackberry. Whenever I pick up somebody's Bold, I get super nostalgic.

There are two ray-of-lights however, I just hope they both make it over to the UK!

First, the Motorola Charm. I will replace my work phone (Nexus One) with this in a heartbeat - even if I have to spend £500 eBay'ing one.

Android + BlackBerry style hardware. Look at that keyboard, pure sex. My precious...



Then there's the Droid 2. I'm not a fan of slide-out keyboards, I had the G1 and I found it to be bulky and awkward - especially when used 1 handed.

 

i don't think i will get another phone soon bcos of whole touchscreen obsession. (right now using HTC Touch Pro)

 

+1 for Droid 2.

I have the Milestone (EU version of Droid 1) and it's great, the 2 looks to be even better + brand new 1GHz processor.

Alternatively, cheaper ones include Moto Charm (mentioned above) and Moto Flipout.

 

I have a touch pro 2 and I swear that the keyboard on it should be a standard keyboard for all phones with a keyboard. Space between keys, great layout, 5 rows. I just love it.
I can still use the soft keyboard, but if i am in a hurry i use the actual one as i can go full speed on it.

 

I just don't like the sticky fingerprints that are left all over the viewing space by having to touch it for controls.

I like the 'board on my Sony X10 mini pro.

As I'm new to it (although it's QWERTY the size takes some time to adjust to) I'm a way off the speed that I used to be able to text on my old Sony K800i, with predictive text. I didn't need to look at the screen either as I generally knew which word options were where in the list. Maybe that's a sign I used to text too much.

 

Well, having used a LOT of phones in the last few months, I can say the in spite of the alck of tactile feedback, the iPhone has one of the best keyboards... in the world. The visual guide to what your fingers are on, and the fluidity of it all makes it so.
However, having no idea how bad your handicap is, I'd suggest trying one first and seeing how well you get along with it.
Other than that, I liked the Nokia E75, even though that can hardly be classed as "smartphone" (thanks, Symbian) with it's wide slide-out keyboard.
If you prefer the Blackberry type of thing, There's the obvious Blackberry options, as well as a Nokia E72, which I haven't tried yet. I do however own an E71, and love its keyboard.

 

I will never, ever, be buying another phone that isn't either equipped with at least a T-9 keypad, and a couple of buttons for menu navigation/phone call answering. Or, and this is a big or, equipped with the ability to be plugged directly into my brain, so I never have to actually touch it.

Touch screens are great, fantastic, lovely - Except when you have to quickly answer a phone call [Edit: I tend not to put phones in places they can easily be "borrowed" from or fall out of], or answer one with gloves on.

It does upset me that the trend is to capitalise on the fingerprint magnet craze.. Er.. touch screen craze*, because I like the designs of certain phones - I'd just like them more with a tactile set of buttons. Had the iPhone been configurable to answer incoming calls with the Home button, I'd have been laughing.

 

you'll get used to it. Now i type on touch screen keyboards faster than on any blackberry keyboard I've ever used.

And now that android has swyp in many phones, it could become even faster

 

Droid 2 is coming out within about 5 weeks, and is definitely having a physical KB, and it is supposed to be better than the keyboard on the original Droid.

LG Ally has a physical kb too, which is supposed to be good, although the other aspects of the phone are pretty lame, according to most reviews.

I've been spoiled so long (almost 4 years) by the LG "V" series of clamshell QWERTY feature phones having amazing keyboards that I am very proficient and comfortable with those style keyboards.

I'm sure that eventually physical buttons will go away, but for now, there are still a couple of good options. I'm sure I can learn touchscreen keyboards, but I am so acclimated to physical QWERTY that it's a hard transition to one without it. I wanted the Droid X, but figured the Droid 2 will have both physical and virtual keyboards, so I always have a safety blanket.

 

I like touchscreen keyboards, I find them much easier to use once you get the hang of it

 

While I sympathise with the OP, I'll never go back to a physical phone keyboard. For the majority of users, most of the time they are not using the keyboard and the extra space can be used for browsing, apps and videos. Only when they need the keyboard does it pop up. And you can type very fast on Android or iPhone keyboards with practice.

 

I want physical keys and can't stand the current scheme of things. I guess it's just a good thing I have no money to buy a new phone so I don't need to run around the world burning down the manufacturers' offices.

The droid 1/2 seems like a good choice.

 

My G1 was my first touchscreen phone and at the start I lived on the slide out keyboard, 18 months later and while I still use the physical keys for things like email addresses and url's I probably use the the on screen jobby more for general txt and messaging purposes.

I'm not too fussed about losing it next month on the Galaxy S, 4" of screen real estate should be a pleasure to use.