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I have used BlackBerry phones extensively when they were all the rage, and I was more productive on their keyboards than I ever was on any smartphone keyboard,

I have used BlackBerry phones extensively when they were all the rage, and I was more productive on their keyboards than I ever was on any smartphone keyboard, Android or iOS, that came after.

0xEF 3y ago
I definitely did not share your experience. Still don't with modern touch screen keyboards, which I am currently forced to use. I'd love to chalk it up to having large hands, but that is not the case, as my hands are not big by any standards. I've never felt it was natural to type with one or two thumbs, but we tend to trick ourselves into thinking this is fine because, lets be honest, what's the alternative? We can't all whip out a folding keyboard every time we want to send a text on our mobile. That said, when it comes to making a lilliputian computer/microcomputer, there are physical limitations to design if we want to keep typing with our 8 fingers as the keyboard gods intended, so I understand the resurgence of the Blackberry-esque keyboard for pocket devices. I just can't call it a comfortable way to compute.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
brk 3y ago
Same, FWIW. Just the other day I was thinking how it would be great if we could get back to real keyboards, now that smartphones have gotten so big, we have options for folding screens, etc. The pure touchscreen format made sense in the days of iPhone 1, but I'm not sure it still does today.
windexh8er 3y ago
I would agree. I make more mistakes on virtual keyboards for sure. I really enjoyed the original Motorola Droid [0] with slide out keyboard. Not only was the slider mechanism and keyboard excellent, but it didn't impact the portability of the phone at all. If we could get an updated phone in that exact form factor with vanilla Android support it would be very popular. Physical keyboard, removable battery, mSD card slot and headphone jack. All the things consumers "don't want" anymore. /s [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Droid https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Droid
- jeroenhd 3y ago
  Phones with QWERTY keyboards are still made, but unfortunately they're produced in such limited quantity that they're not built with high-end SoCs. The F(x)tec Pro¹ and the Unihertz Titan just don't take off enough to warrant big investments. There's a group of Android users who prefer physical keyboards (that I too belong to as well), but it's small. Even when physical keyboard died, people sold QWERTY keyboard covers and cases for some smartphones (I think the S6 Edge was the last one with an official keyboard?) but even those have died out because of lack of interest. In theory, all you need to add a sliding keyboard to a modern Android phone is a corner USB-C connector and a sufficiently sized case. Someone skilled with 3D printing and circuit board design may just be able to build one for their phones if they can get their hands on the keyboards themselves...
  - Moto7451 3y ago
    I’ve been trying to figure out how to do this with my phone when traveling but it’s hard to find a good quality keyboard that is small enough and reasonable quality, while also being worth the additional hassle compared to a folding keyboard. One “least worst” possibility might be using low profile Cherry MX style switches and keys for a small and light 60% keyboard that has a USB cable and slot for the phone to sit in. I haven’t used the pine phone and its keyboard but I’d love it if such an option was available for iPhones and run of the mill android phones.

I have used BlackBerry phones extensively when they were all the rage, and I was more productive on their keyboards than I ever was on any smartphone keyboard, Android or iOS, that came after.

0xEF 3y ago

I definitely did not share your experience. Still don't with modern touch screen keyboards, which I am currently forced to use. I'd love to chalk it up to having large hands, but that is not the case, as my hands are not big by any standards. I've never felt it was natural to type with one or two thumbs, but we tend to trick ourselves into thinking this is fine because, lets be honest, what's the alternative? We can't all whip out a folding keyboard every time we want to send a text on our mobile. That said, when it comes to making a lilliputian computer/microcomputer, there are physical limitations to design if we want to keep typing with our 8 fingers as the keyboard gods intended, so I understand the resurgence of the Blackberry-esque keyboard for pocket devices. I just can't call it a comfortable way to compute.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

brk 3y ago

Same, FWIW. Just the other day I was thinking how it would be great if we could get back to real keyboards, now that smartphones have gotten so big, we have options for folding screens, etc. The pure touchscreen format made sense in the days of iPhone 1, but I'm not sure it still does today.

windexh8er 3y ago

I would agree. I make more mistakes on virtual keyboards for sure. I really enjoyed the original Motorola Droid [0] with slide out keyboard. Not only was the slider mechanism and keyboard excellent, but it didn't impact the portability of the phone at all. If we could get an updated phone in that exact form factor with vanilla Android support it would be very popular. Physical keyboard, removable battery, mSD card slot and headphone jack. All the things consumers "don't want" anymore. /s [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Droid https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Droid

jeroenhd 3y ago
Phones with QWERTY keyboards are still made, but unfortunately they're produced in such limited quantity that they're not built with high-end SoCs. The F(x)tec Pro¹ and the Unihertz Titan just don't take off enough to warrant big investments. There's a group of Android users who prefer physical keyboards (that I too belong to as well), but it's small. Even when physical keyboard died, people sold QWERTY keyboard covers and cases for some smartphones (I think the S6 Edge was the last one with an official keyboard?) but even those have died out because of lack of interest. In theory, all you need to add a sliding keyboard to a modern Android phone is a corner USB-C connector and a sufficiently sized case. Someone skilled with 3D printing and circuit board design may just be able to build one for their phones if they can get their hands on the keyboards themselves...
- Moto7451 3y ago
  I’ve been trying to figure out how to do this with my phone when traveling but it’s hard to find a good quality keyboard that is small enough and reasonable quality, while also being worth the additional hassle compared to a folding keyboard. One “least worst” possibility might be using low profile Cherry MX style switches and keys for a small and light 60% keyboard that has a USB cable and slot for the phone to sit in. I haven’t used the pine phone and its keyboard but I’d love it if such an option was available for iPhones and run of the mill android phones.