Android phones physical keyboard watchlist

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get quad

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 14, 2005
Messages
406
Having a hard time finding out when the next great phone with a physical keyboard is coming to Verizon, as a result am not giving up my original Droid just yet and not too wild about Motoblur on the Droid2. Waiting anxiously on further info about Droid3 but it's still a little early.

Please post up what details you may know about phone with physical keyboards coming to any carrier. I'll likely stick with Verizon, so any info there also much appreciated.
 
To my knowledge the D3 is the only phone on Verizon right now that Android community knows about that will have a physical keyboard. I know of no HTC phone coming with a physical keyboard. In fact does HTC even have a physical keyboard phone on Verizon right now?

Looks like D3 (if the phone talked about is the D3) just passed BT certification...

http://www.droid-life.com/2011/04/1...hen-it-just-received-bluetooth-certification/
 
I am also holding out for the Droid 3. Its a shame that physical keyboard Android phone seems to be on the decline. :(

I've heard rumors it will have a qHD screen of 960x540 and dual-core. Some websites have said it'll have LTE, some have said no. It is has LTE, I'll dump my Thunderbolt for it in a heartbeat. :)
 
No direct info here, but I can tell you that my wife held onto her g1 clear until the g2 came out (and she was a tmo employee). She lived the keyboard for about a week. Then she discovered swype. Since then the physical kbd was just extra bulk. Traded the g2 for amt4g and she couldn't be happier.

Moral is force yourself to use swype for a few days then see if you still feel as strongly about the kbd.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
Just an FYI, whatever version of blur is on the D2, will most likely be on the D3 as well.
 
bastage said:
No direct info here, but I can tell you that my wife held onto her g1 clear until the g2 came out (and she was a tmo employee). She lived the keyboard for about a week. Then she discovered swype. Since then the physical kbd was just extra bulk. Traded the g2 for amt4g and she couldn't be happier.

Moral is force yourself to use swype for a few days then see if you still feel as strongly about the kbd.
Posted via Mobile Device
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I know that swype was on my Samsung Epic 4G, but I don't seem to have it on my Thunderbolt, can I get it seperatedly?

I still want a physical keyboard especially for games, such as emulators and RPGs on the market. And I still like it better than swype for text-entry, but swype certainly isn't useless.
 
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The HTC Merge should be available shortly, or you can get the Alltel version now and use it on Verizon. It's basically a worldphone version of the G2/EVO Shift.
 
bastage said:
No direct info here, but I can tell you that my wife held onto her g1 clear until the g2 came out (and she was a tmo employee). She lived the keyboard for about a week. Then she discovered swype. Since then the physical kbd was just extra bulk. Traded the g2 for amt4g and she couldn't be happier.

Moral is force yourself to use swype for a few days then see if you still feel as strongly about the kbd.
Posted via Mobile Device
Click to expand...

Sorry, but swype still involves looking at the phone while typing. Once you get used to your physical keyboard you can type without looking which is my major reason to NEVER own a phone with on-screen keyboard only.
 
get quad said:
Sorry, but swype still involves looking at the phone while typing. Once you get used to your physical keyboard you can type without looking which is my major reason to NEVER own a phone with on-screen keyboard only.
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I have the original Droid which has a keyboard and I never use it for short (SMS/IM messages). I use Swype for that. Swype doesn't require you to look at the keyboard. You can just move your finger over the general area of the keys you want it it usually picks the right word. But if you were truly concerned with not looking at the screen while typing, you would use the voice keyboard, which I use exclusively while driving so I'm not looking away from the road at all. So having said that, I only like the keyboard for longer messages, like typing on this forum. But I think I can live without it and I will when the Xperia Play launches here soon.

To anwser OP though; the only QWERTY phones I can recall coming up on Verizon is the Droid 3 and HTC Merge. The Merge has been delayed a few times, but should be out in the next month or so. The Droid 3 probably won't be out until at least July or August. I can't recall any phones coming up on other carriers, but I'm sure there's a couple more. I'm guessing the Droid Pro doesn't do much for you either..? It doesn't for me just due to the small screen.
 
get quad said:
Sorry, but swype still involves looking at the phone while typing. Once you get used to your physical keyboard you can type without looking which is my major reason to NEVER own a phone with on-screen keyboard only.
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Uhmm typing in general requires most people to look at the text appearing on the screen. Tours the case reguardless of medium though including pc's. That said its pretty rare to find a physical kbd that is ready to do one handed where swype is best done one handed leaving the user a free hand to do whatever else.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
I know it's old, and not current, and not all that powerful but, the HTC Touch Pro 2 (on T-Mobile; on AT&T they call it the Tilt 2) has one of the very best physical keyboards I've ever had the pleasure to use, and the speakerphone on this thing is like something you'd use in a high tech boardroom with a huge conference table - it's really that good, seriously.

I bring it up - even though it's a Windows Mobile device - because I bought one last night, in somewhat banged up condition cosmetically, from a pawn shop for (get this) $13 cash... and within 30 minutes of having it at home I had Android 2.2 aka Froyo up and running on it (off a microSD card, of course). Pretty amazing that almost everything is working, but I won't end up keeping it for long.

But, good old HTC products... pretty amazing things, and this keyboard on this TP2 is Titan-tier, I swear. ;)
 
Just wish every phone provider would stop assuming everyone wants a touchscreen-only phone.
 
I wish there were more gamepad phones like the play, but in lieu of that keyboards could work.
 
bastage said:
That said its pretty rare to find a physical kbd that is ready to do one handed where swype is best done one handed leaving the user a free hand to do whatever else.
Posted via Mobile Device
Click to expand...

It's called the Palm Pre, and it's part of the reason I love the phone.
 
_cashel said:
It's called the Palm Pre, and it's part of the reason I love the phone.
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I really wanted a palm pre right up until the Moto Droid was released. The app support now makes this a no-brainer that I made the right decision.
 
get quad said:
Does anyone know if the D3 will have motoblur, aka motoblah?
Click to expand...

Vermillion said:
Current rumor is Yes, D3 will have Blur.
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I don't see Motorola making anymore (after the OG Droid) vanilla Android phones. They're determined to put their shitty UI on everything now, which is sad considering even professional tech blogs like Engadget published an editorial on how shitty it is and why they should stop using it.

_cashel said:
It's called the Palm Pre, and it's part of the reason I love the phone.
Click to expand...

Or the Droid Pro ;).

thumb_550_droid-pro.jpg
 
Yeah, all these tacked-on UIs are starting to really piss me off - esp when it results in certain phones getting newer Android flavors. No wonder so many people root Android phones. The best part of vanilla Android is the simplicity.
 
It's not the tacked on UIs, it's the BADLY DONE tacked on UIs. TouchWiz and Blur are fucking horrendous, and I always tried my best to get my customers off of them. Sense is bloated but actually useful and well designed. On the newer devices like the Mytouch 4G and the Inspire/Desire HD, it works QUITE well. LG's new UI on the O2x is pretty damn nice as well, along with their Optimus C/M/T/etc model. Dell's, of all companies, actually has a nice one on the Venue and the Streak (when updated). It's all about the effort put into it. Motorola and Samsung shit the bed once again.
 
hahaha the merge... i was waiting for that back in august and figured it'd be out by the time I could upgrade (Feb). Never happened. Ive totally given up by now, especially since the hardware may as well be obsolete. If anything, at least it'll probably have a mid/low range price when it comes out.

I used to be in the "nothing will replace a physical keyboard" camp, but I've gotten used to the fact that virtual keyboards are just as usable now. I mean, if verizon's pretty much only selling them now, they must at least work for the masses, right?
 
Nothing like being active outdoors and taking your ringing touchscreen phone out of your sweaty pocket and it doesn't respond due to the moisture. Absolutely, positively will hold out for a physical keyboard.
 
get quad said:
Surely someone around here has some insider Motorola knowledge of the D3?
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Not really much out there to go on right now. From what I have seen though, it'll prolly be here in June at the earliest, but I'd say it'll be late July or August before it's here. I'm still using my original Droid and can't wait to replace it with something with more RAM because running any GB ROM doesn't allow anything to run in the background due to lack of RAM. It's quite annoying. I'm still waiting for the Xperia Play to launch though.
 
My original Droid is so slow these days, runs like molasses. The power button has been getting harder and harder to press in order to power on the phone.

Decided to use the upgrade on my laptop's wireless card to get a Droid2 Global (faster CPU @ 1.2Ghz), esp since the Gingerbread Motoblur has been reported to be pretty slick. GB release for D2 should be coming out in the next few weeks.

Now here's to hoping the Droid3 will at least be 4G...
 
get quad said:
My original Droid is so slow these days, runs like molasses. The power button has been getting harder and harder to press in order to power on the phone.

Decided to use the upgrade on my laptop's wireless card to get a Droid2 Global (faster CPU @ 1.2Ghz), esp since the Gingerbread Motoblur has been reported to be pretty slick. GB release for D2 should be coming out in the next few weeks.

Now here's to hoping the Droid3 will at least be 4G...
Click to expand...

Last I checked D3 already confirmed 3G only like DX2. Droid Bionic still rumored to be first Motorola Droid with 4G LTE.
 
I could see how Verizon would be more likely to stick a 4G radio in the D3 down the line and call it the Droid 4G. Droid2 is actually QUITE the step up from the orig Droid in the meantime!
 
I got my droid 2 global about 4 months ago, i'm in love. I indeed dont have to look at the physical keyboard while typing (nice raised keys). Its fast enough that i acually have my cpu mostly running underclocked unless it needs the extra power, which is never. Batterly life sucked when i first got it but after a few tweaks lasts for about 1.5days without a charge and still has some juice to go. It also has swype, and i've tried it an gotten use to it, but its definitely not something you can do without looking at the keyboard without making tons of mistakes causing you to have to look down and then go back and correct them.

Only sour spot is cant load very many roms on my d2g, there are some hacks but they leave some functionality broken. I've just gone ahead and removed the blur from the stock 2.2 and its perfect. That said blur really isnt that bad as others make it out to be, although i can see why people dont like it, and it does put a strain on the battery a little more than i think it should.

my 2 cents
 
Reports are the new Motoblur is amazing, although I would like to see it gone altogether after using the D2 with all the pre-installed crapware (orig blur included).
 
Just to bump this thread, does anyone have any news on the Xperia Pro? I've been waiting for that phone to hit since it was announced back in February.

We have the Arc and the Play... I want the Pro! It was supposed to be released by June 1st... that date's came and gone.
 
I'm actually considering getting a phone with a physical keyboard at my next upgrade. I prefer to type on a virtual one most times, but there are certain instances where a physical keyboard would be preferable. Terminal emulators, for one. Ever try to use a terminal emu with an on-screen keyboard? The keyboard takes up over half the screen so you can't see jack.

Also, gaming.
 
Sprint XPRT is cool

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFQgo_8ezlw"]YouTube - ‪Motorola XPRT Angry Birds Commercial‬‏[/ame]
 
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