Do you prefer soft out physical keys/buttons?

[ZDroid1]

I hate soft keys. They're hard to see. It's hard to know whether I pressed them. I often press them accidentally. They add absolutely nothing to the phone. In short, soft keys suck.

 

[BigCiX]

When i had my sidekick III I enjoyed physical keys.

 

[Boldt]

My first touchscreen so it took getting used to, now I have no issues and have gotten to like it. Now if I just fix my OCD of cleaning the screen every 22 seconds......

 

[CrimsonPride]

My first touchscreen so it took getting used to, now I have no issues and have gotten to like it. Now if I just fix my OCD of cleaning the screen every 22 seconds......

i feel your pain

 

[TripsYou]

same here. I may rub my screen off one day....

 

[Mide]

After playing with a Droid X for a while I totally like those physical keys over that of the soft ones. That and they don't stay lit.

 

[artvandalay22222]

the only problem with physical keys is they wear out. Ive had phones become useless because the keys were bad

 

[chadbobb]

the only problem with physical keys is they wear out. Ive had phones become useless because the keys were bad

This is something I am actually really worried about.

The lock/unlock button on the captivate (also power button)

If this button wears out, the phone will be 100% useless. I probably hit that button 200-500 times a day.

I am worried that my warranty will wear out after the 1 year, and then that button will wear out, and I will be without a phone for a year....

 

[Manuelitoohno]

When i had my sidekick III I enjoyed soft keys.

lol you mean ruberized physical keys not soft keys lol

 

[fldude99]

If not for swype, I'm not sure an onscreen keypad would be as attractive. Swype is one of the true game changers for the future of mobile devices IMO

 

[sremick]

The soft keys would be fine if they were properly responsive and didn't suffer from lag. It'd also be nice if there was something on the screen that would allow you to feel when you were over the center of the key.

Oh, and actually having them stay LIT for more than 0.2 seconds would also be nice.

And yes: physical keys wearing out is a big problem.

Soft keys are fine. The Captivate's implementation of soft keys is awful.

 

[BookLover]

If not for swype, I'm not sure an onscreen keypad would be as attractive. Swype is one of the true game changers for the future of mobile devices IMO

+1

Swype rocks.

Either hard keys or Swype only from now on for me.

And I prefer Swype over hardkeys, as I can swype faster than typing on a phone's hard keys..

 

[NorCal Einstein]

I hate soft keys. They're hard to see. It's hard to know whether I pressed them. I often press them accidentally. They add absolutely nothing to the phone. In short, soft keys suck.

I hear you with the accidental press of the soft keys, but do you have feedback turned ON for when you press on the soft keys? It definitely helps with letting you know when they are being pressed or not.

 

[KonaZXIII]

If not for swype, I'm not sure an onscreen keypad would be as attractive. Swype is one of the true game changers for the future of mobile devices IMO

I've not been able to enjoy swype. I think I'm the one guy that doesn't like swype. lol


Neither has a preference for me. Back in the T9 days I did have key damage/wear ruin an otherwise good phone.

I went from a qwerty e71x to the captivate- they both have their own advantages/disadvantages.

 

[LimaI896]

I like the soft keys but it would be nice if they stayed lite a lot longer then they do or at least the option to delay the time out.

Only thing I would like for the captivate is to have atleast one physical key like they do on the vibrant just to simply wake the phone instead of the power key all the time... Maybe this is just an annoyance to me since I am coming from an iPhone

 

[BigCiX]

lol you mean ruberized physical keys not soft keys lol

fixed

 

[cmt074]

Are we just talking about the four keys at the bottom or the whole keyboard?

At first I thought I would hate the virtual keyboard but have grown to love it. With the auto-complete it makes typing up text messages and emails a snap. I have a good sense of when it's going to correct a typo for me, even if I typo the first letter of a word (thus not worrying about deleting to correct it). Also, most of the time I can just tap in the first 3 or 4 characters of a word and it will complete it for me or offer up the word on the suggestion bar.

As for the 4 soft buttons at the bottom they are a bit of a pain at first but you get used to them, even when the light isn't on. Personally I think the soft buttons make the Captivate look way sleaker than any other Android phone on the market.

 

[ZDroid1]

I hear you with the accidental press of the soft keys, but do you have feedback turned ON for when you press on the soft keys? It definitely helps with letting you know when they are being pressed or not.

I have that turned off to save on battery consumption.

 

[sremick]

I've not been able to enjoy swype. I think I'm the one guy that doesn't like swype. lol

I was that way at first too. It took a few false/failed starts and a concentrated, forced effort to learn... along with watching the tips and tricks videos... before I was converted. It's now my primary input method. Also tweaking the options a bit to my liking.

Nice thing is, you can tap-type in your words too with the keyboard when set to Swype. It works either way.