Big Rant here... we're almost at half time this year, and there is NO QWERTY PHONES in sight!!! What the f**?
I'm using the Sprint Epic 4G, which is what I would consider to be the 2nd best QWERTY phone (1GHz A8 CPU, PowerVR 540 @ 200MHz) even though it is 2 years old.
Only the Droid 3/4 beats it, and that is based on 2011 technology, and spec wise they are not much of an upgrade (Dual Core 1+GHz CPU, Power 540 @ 300 Mhz), with only the addition of another core, but the GPU is identical except for the clock speed.
And what's in store for 2012? I can't find any news QWERTY phones. I want to upgrade both CPU and GPU, so at least a Quad Core A8 or Dual Core A9, with a GPU on par at least with the Samsung GS2 Mali-400. The only news I've heard of is the Motorola Photon, but there has been nothing concrete since the initial rumours!
Yeah, it's a shame. I guess there isn't nearly as much demands these days for a qwerty phone, or the OEMs are just obsessed on super sizing the phone's screen now. I doubt the Photon will have a keyboard too.
It's not so much that there is not a demand. It's more of a general feel the corporate big wigs have from not being in touch. They're so into making the screens bigger, they're not actually taking certain things into account. Like that some people don't want something the size of a tablet, as a phone. Or just because the screen is larger doesn't mean we don't want a physical Keyboard. I for one am not a fan of the virtual KB. Fat Fingers, and a virtual KB. Not a good combination. Not to mention the virtual KB ets up a good portion of the screen anyway. If they keep this up, those that do have real keyboards won't be able to keep the damm things in stock. IMO it's split about 50/50 those that want a Virtual KB, and those that want a real KB. I would suggest to the manufacturers to give us the Physical KB, and find a way to keep the thickness of the device to a minimum. That would work better in their favor.
prboy1969 said:
It's not so much that there is not a demand. It's more of a general feel the corporate big wigs have from not being in touch. They're so into making the screens bigger, they're not actually taking certain things into account. Like that some people don't want something the size of a tablet, as a phone. Or just because the screen is larger doesn't mean we don't want a physical Keyboard. I for one am not a fan of the virtual KB. Fat Fingers, and a virtual KB. Not a good combination. Not to mention the virtual KB ets up a good portion of the screen anyway. If they keep this up, those that do have real keyboards won't be able to keep the damm things in stock. IMO it's split about 50/50 those that want a Virtual KB, and those that want a real KB. I would suggest to the manufacturers to give us the Physical KB, and find a way to keep the thickness of the device to a minimum. That would work better in their favor.
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Agreed, phone manufacturers these days just want to make the phone as slim as possible. Reviewers love it that a phone is 1mm slimmer than a competitor, rather than sacrificing that a bit in order to pack some actual functionality... A keyboard just doesn't have the same wow-factor than a big shiny phone, unfortunately.
The stupidity of the masses (especially the iSheep crowd) in my opinion is probably to blame. Touch screen only phones are functionally useless especially when you want to get any work done. Try manipulating a spreadsheet in landscape mode... almost the entire screen estate is eaten up by the virtual keyboard!
I say this from experience having gone from HTC Hermes (has KB) to Omnia 2 (no KB) and now Epic 4G (has KB). I've also learnt of HTC recent defection from keyboard phones... and this touch-only and slimness obsessiveness is getting out of control.
Some rumours says that there will be a Xperia phone with QWERTY keyboard this year...
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I for my self can say i use to love the keyboard but got so use to on screen keyboard that when i use a keyboard its so hard to adapt (at least for me) back to it like on my droid pro i find my self using the virtual keyboard instead of the fisical one
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Qwerty's don't sell nearly as well. In addition, manufacturers don't want to spend the additional $$ needed to produce a device variant that also has a keyboard. Not sure why they don't offer them and just charge more for them....probably once again they simply don't sell the numbers required to make the same profit as producing full touch screen phones.
Phones are getting bigger and most don't want a brick in their pocket. You are unfortunately the minority.
The people that are used to them should squash the habit and dive into virtual keyboards. The selection is much greater. Most keyboarded devices are sub par in comparison to modern day super phones. And things don't seem to be changing anytime soon. The Droid 4 has a beautiful keyboard. Probably the best on the market. But the device itself is horrible. Not sure which I hated more, the screen or blur. Probably a combination of both. It comes down to economics. When you add a keyboard, the hardware suffers. The manufacturers have budgets to keep within.
The people with sausage fingers, hopefully will at least have the option to get the biggest screen device on the market to help compensate.
Adapt or be unhappy with every device you buy.
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samsung india has released a qwerty phone last month. its a low/mid range phone. wid dual camera n dual sim . but its armv6 chipset
http://m.samsung.com/in/consumer/mobile-phone/mobile-phone/dual-sim-phone/GT-B5512HKAINU-features
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Probably because no one really shows interest in them. Android enjoys a good screen size, adding a keyboard hurts that a bit(IE: Evo 4G Slider or w/e it was).
It seems all of the new phones this year have super large screens and no keyboards. I already have a tablet, the point of a phone is to be portable, anything over about 4.3" seems like overkill. My Droid 3 may be a little thicker due to its keyboard but the other 2 dimensions I care more about when holding it. I held a friend's Droid RAZR and it felt a little too big for a phone and its only 4.3".
For just typing words, Swype can be faster than physical keyboards, but for typing symbols and having arrow keys a physical keyboard can be nicer.
Keyboards are slowly becoming a thing of the past..imo with phones coming
out with massive screens, manufacturers wont want to add to the bulk with a physical keyboard.
Aerocaptain said:
Qwerty's don't sell nearly as well. In addition, manufacturers don't want to spend the additional $$ needed to produce a device variant that also has a keyboard. Not sure why they don't offer them and just charge more for them....probably once again they simply don't sell the numbers required to make the same profit as producing full touch screen phones.
Phones are getting bigger and most don't want a brick in their pocket. You are unfortunately the minority.
The people that are used to them should squash the habit and dive into virtual keyboards. The selection is much greater. Most keyboarded devices are sub par in comparison to modern day super phones. And things don't seem to be changing anytime soon. The Droid 4 has a beautiful keyboard. Probably the best on the market. But the device itself is horrible. Not sure which I hated more, the screen or blur. Probably a combination of both. It comes down to economics. When you add a keyboard, the hardware suffers. The manufacturers have budgets to keep within.
The people with sausage fingers, hopefully will at least have the option to get the biggest screen device on the market to help compensate.
Adapt or be unhappy with every device you buy.
Sent from CDMA V6 SC GNexus w/Liquid & Franco.kernel
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Click to collapse
Wow really :what: "
Adapt or be unhappy with every device you buy " . " The people that are used to them should squash the habit and dive into virtual keyboards " . this the same kind of thinking that says everyone should own a Prius. because they're good for the enviroment. Reality is they're not. It takes forever to recoup the enviromental impact damage from producing one. Also it's called choice, I don't want a virtual KB. As for the statement " When you add a keyboard, the hardware suffers " . I'd say your off on that one. Example the EVO Shift. The manufacturers listen to the people. But if we're all lemmings, then we get what they give and smile.
alunral said:
Probably because no one really shows interest in them. Android enjoys a good screen size, adding a keyboard hurts that a bit(IE: Evo 4G Slider or w/e it was).
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Adding the KB affects the size a bit. But that's more of a manufacturers choice than anything else. But it's still worth the trade off IMO to have the KB.
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MikROMs Since 3/13/11
I for one am not a fan of virtual keyboards. I may be naive but I think that the keyboard makes a phone look distasteful, but that's my biased opinion.
Nevertheless, lets be honest here. Virtual keyboards are no longer very popular and even the company that was most famous for its creation of Qwerty phones has moved into the path of full touch (Blackberry). That's not to say that there will NEVER be a Qwerty phone coming out (Black berry has confirmed that they will still continue designing new Qwerty phones) but it will most definitely not be flooding the market like other full touch screen phones are.
I have the xperia pro now, but already I'm looking to see what is coming next.
It really surprises me that there are now no QWERTY phones out this year, this is a worrying trend.
For those who say "use the on screen keyboard and shut up", trying using one with your eyes closed, not so easy to use now is it, no right then, that is why I need a physical keyboard, because on screen ones are too small and I can not see or feel what letters I am typing.
I do realise however that this is becoming rather a niche market, so I guess fewer and fewer suppliers will be releasing phones with this facility.
Its a shame Motorolla didn't release a GSM version of its Droid 4, a trick missed I feel.
Well at this rate, when my contract expires, it seems I'll be looking at a Blackberry or going back to a 'feature' phone, sad days
Well, physical keyboards add weight, volume, and cost to the phone. The slide-out function also introduces at least two more potential points of failure (the sliding mechanism itself, and the connecting data ribbon), which means more time and money has to be spent on QA.
I think the net result of all this is that for a keyboard phone to be technologically and structurally competitive, the price skews high, and it looks like there's just not enough relative demand for that feature. If manufacturers try to make a cutting edge, high-priced keyboard phone, they run the risk of having a whole bunch of product (with especially high manufacturing cost) that sits in the warehouse... cell phones don't age well, so that's a scary thought for them.
I'm afraid it's looking like keyboards (as they exist now) are being mitigated to the role of "smart phone training wheels", which means fewer and fewer high-end offerings down the road.
Just my (somewhat depressing) 2 cents.
leona said:
I have the xperia pro now, but already I'm looking to see what is coming next.
It really surprises me that there are now no QWERTY phones out this year, this is a worrying trend.
For those who say "use the on screen keyboard and shut up", trying using one with your eyes closed, not so easy to use now is it, no right then, that is why I need a physical keyboard, because on screen ones are too small and I can not see or feel what letters I am typing.
I do realise however that this is becoming rather a niche market, so I guess fewer and fewer suppliers will be releasing phones with this facility.
Its a shame Motorolla didn't release a GSM version of its Droid 4, a trick missed I feel.
Well at this rate, when my contract expires, it seems I'll be looking at a Blackberry or going back to a 'feature' phone, sad days
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Your telling me that the on screen keyboard is too small? Try a Galaxy Note, If your telling me you can not see what letters you are typing you seriously need an eye examination.
prboy1969 said:
It's not so much that there is not a demand. It's more of a general feel the corporate big wigs have from not being in touch. They're so into making the screens bigger, they're not actually taking certain things into account. Like that some people don't want something the size of a tablet, as a phone. Or just because the screen is larger doesn't mean we don't want a physical Keyboard. I for one am not a fan of the virtual KB. Fat Fingers, and a virtual KB. Not a good combination. Not to mention the virtual KB ets up a good portion of the screen anyway. If they keep this up, those that do have real keyboards won't be able to keep the damm things in stock. IMO it's split about 50/50 those that want a Virtual KB, and those that want a real KB. I would suggest to the manufacturers to give us the Physical KB, and find a way to keep the thickness of the device to a minimum. That would work better in their favor.
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If the world were split 50/50 over a hardware keyboard Apple wouldn't hold such a large market share, considering they offer zero phones with physical keyboards... just saying. Your estimate might just be really far off base...
leona said:
...trying using one with your eyes closed, not so easy to use now is it, no right then, that is why I need a physical keyboard, because on screen ones are too small and I can not see or feel what letters I am typing.
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Why would you close your eyes & type? Nevertheless, if you can't see the letters, go see an optician.
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Did it ever occur to you he might actually suffer from some form of visual handicap?
I'm surprised by the replies some people give on xda nowadays.
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I am seriously thinking of getting an Lumia 920, but one thing I worry I would miss leaving Android is custom keyboards, specifically AI Swiftkey. Anyone been down this path before? How does Lumia keyboard compare?
Thanks!
It's not too shabby as compared to the stock Android keyboard, but Swiftkey (and Swype) are way better, IMHO. One of things you will miss moving from Android is the choice of keyboards. One thing that really annoys me is not having numbers and punctuation marks on the main keyboard (need to press another key to get those symbols up).
I have to agree...I just came from sgs3 and only thing I dislike is the kb For wp8
jivy26 said:
I have to agree...I just came from sgs3 and only thing I dislike is the kb For wp8
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+1, I really miss swype. Also, not too sure if it's possible, but right now my Lumia doesn't have haptic feedback on keypress, which bugs me a lot too, especially if I'm typing and not swyping or using word prediction.
No fix for this
The keyboard issue is one of the 3 or 4 things that will probably cause me to turn the Lumia in this week. I didn't realize how dependent I had become on those freakin arrow keys. When you type as bad as I do, those things are a blessing.
If a more capable keyboard is a big deal for you, go Android.
I haven't had any issues with the keyboard. I can still type super fast and don't have to worry about the Swype feature. I came from the gs3 as well, but don't mind not having all those keyboards that may or may not work faster.
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I have also used both, never really got used to swape though .. the predictive keyboard and the machanisms it uses to determine the next-pressed-letter is very good and I actually hardly ever have any typing problems neither in German or English layout.
WP8 even predicts the follow-up word and I have come to notice that this seems to get better over time and actually saves a lot of typing alltogether
Keyboard is not a huge issue but you do misses having the option to pick keyboards which suit you. However wp8 stock keyboard is not bad I quite like it, auto correction Is not bad at all.
I came from swiftkey on sgs3, and i havent lost any typing speed really. The WP Keyboard is quite good.
Came from Note II and GS3 where I used both swype and swiftkey - no problems at all. My typing speed not changed at all - I think its because of better touch screen/keyboard accuracy. For me, WP8 keyboard is ok, but I want to able use punctuation symbols by long-press (and to setup it in milliseconds)
hello everyone,
i had previously asked about using an exterrnal keyboard here and found out that it was a no go. So started doing some research and came up with a couple of on screen keyboards that I like.
I really like swiftkey because it has excellent corrective and predictive algorithms. Only two problems that I have found :it doesn't play well with Google drive word documents, the shift and space bar are a little close to other buttons and those other buttons occasionally get pressed.
The other is logitype. I love the keyboard on that one and find that I type faster since the buttons change shape to fit style and frequency of use. It also plays well with Google drive. However the predictive and corrective abitkes don't even come close to swiftkey's.
With both I am learning how to type six figured instead of 10
There are others out there and others on the horizon (liquid something or other seems like it will be awesome especially with the 10 touch ability!)
Hope this helps others and feel free to refute and rebut me
Which SwiftKey version did you try? They do have a tablet specific version, if you didn't already try it. I wish they just had a tablet mode rather than buying both keyboards, but oh well.
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Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
Yep, had to buy both. Already had it for my phone and loved it there so got the tablet version. I really want logitype and swiftkey to mate and have the perfect baby
Hello
Im wondering if there are any modern (2014-2015) Android phones with a physical QWERTY keyboard.
Havent been able to see any, I dont care if they are chinese ones even.
Nothing????
I haven't seen one. The ones that are still available through carriers (and there aren't many) are 2-3 years old in specs.
No. Most have gone pure touch screen. The only recent device I have even seen with a keyboard is a blackberry. The days of keyboards are dead I'm sad to say
Nope.
The last major android qwerty out was the LG Optimus F3q in 2014. Its specs was more like 2013 though.
Nothing even on any manufacturer's plan for 2015 and after.
BlackBerry will be your only choice for modern specs qwerty smartphones. But no more from android or any other OS.
I have a NEC Terrain (late 2013).
I looked at the F3Q which is newer but I thought the NEC Terrain was still better.
The bad part= NEC is out of the cel phone business and no one has managed to root the phone yet.
The god news= you can get one fairly cheap.
I need the physical keyboard and I am hoping something comes up before my phone becomes too outdated.
This is quite the growing issue, physical keyboards are infinitely more convenient, faster, more accurate than those touchscreen things.
I'm currently using a droid4 which is the best ever.
My next phone will have to be a touchscreen only device I'm afraid.
But I've been looking into bluetooth keyboard which may solve your issue.
You are asking for an android phone with physical qwerty keyboard.
The answer is that nearly any android phone with bluetooth will support a bluetooth keyboard.
The only thing you should than focus on is a phone with a good enough battery that allows you to have bluetooth on for extended periods of time.
Also, finding a cellphone wallet where both the phone and the keyboard fit in is a challenge.
I'm personally thinking that I may have to produce one myself.
Shouldn't be too hard, buy one from China for my new cell, rip out the plastic insert thing and paste it on a wider case/wallet, the keyboard can also be easily pasted on.
Edit: You may also want to wait for project ara whereas you possibly will be able to stick on a slide-out keyboard.
I'm currently using a Surface Pro 2 for notes and other general computing. It's heavy though, and I don't find myself pulling it out that much to do work, and Windows just feels...clunky.
I'd really like to find a tablet type device with simple workflow that will allow me to take notes (onenote and evernote mostly), use it for interview notes, type up documents when I'm not in front of a computer, and perform other general computing tasks.
I went to Best Buy to handle the S3 because it seemed to be nearly perfect for what I need. I would have already bought it, but I found it to be a tad small (I wanted to get as close to 8.5 x 11 as possible).
Is anyone using this tablet for this kind of work, or does anyone have any insight that might be useful for me?
Thanks so much in advance!
Okay so I haven't technically bought the Tab S3 yet, but I've owned several tablets and an array of various keyboards in the past.
What I can say, especially if the size difference between the two is minimal (when compared to jumping from a 10.1 inch to a 7 inch), is if you allow yourself an hour or two of typing on it, your muscle-memory will adjust to the different layout.
That's what I've noticed anyway. I was concerned about the keyboard on the Yoga Book, but I bought it anyway it took about 3 hours of typing before I was touch-typing on it. Physical keys wouldn't take that long.
I have tab s3 and mostly use it for my language learning. I read in target language and have instant translate with the spen enabled and also I have samsung notes in floating window to take down word that I want to save for learning later. I use spen to take down the words. This set up works perfectly for me - I can read the content on any page, translate words I don't know and take notes. I also use keyboard case very often. Like the fact how easy it is to disconect the tablet from the case.
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