Does Verizon have a 4g android phone with a qwerty keyboard in the works?

Supposedly the HTC Merge is coming out with a sliding keyboard but I'm not sure if its with LTE.

There is a 100% chance that there will be a 4g slider for verizon. Motorola is probably going to call it the droid 4g or droid lte.

Well, still waiting here on that "100% chance" to materialize. So far they don't even have anything in the pipeline. I'm seriously about to switch over to Sprint for 4g with a keyboard... that plus the tiered data at Vzw vs. non-tiered on Sprint and... man... I have loved the Vzw service and signal and been with them over a decade, but the epic failure in 4g device diversity is driving me away.

Why do you want the physical QWERTY keyboard?

I had the same opinion as you till I actually tried the current phones. Both Motorola's Swype and HTC's native keyboard are excellent and I can type on either of them faster than I could on the crappy Samsung slide out keyboard I had for 2 years.

Go to a store and spend 15 minutes actually typing on the phone and then decide if you want to downgrade to a physical keyboard. Start with HTC, that way you do not have to torture yourself with using MotoBS.

55pilot said:

Why do you want the physical QWERTY keyboard?

I had the same opinion as you till I actually tried the current phones. Both Motorola's Swype and HTC's native keyboard are excellent and I can type on either of them faster than I could on the crappy Samsung slide out keyboard I had for 2 years.

Go to a store and spend 15 minutes actually typing on the phone and then decide if you want to downgrade to a physical keyboard. Start with HTC, that way you do not have to torture yourself with using MotoBS.

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I can see why someone would want a real keyboard. I type faster on a touchscreen keyboard but at a cost of half of the screen. If I am browsing the web I would rather have the keyboard then not. Its really annoying when the soft keyboard pops up when you don't want it. Either way soft keyboards are the future so its easier to just accept them and get used to them. I don't really have a preference either way because I can type fast either way but having the actual keyboard is great for Android. Not only for expanded screen space but for the shortcut jumps you can do while multitasking.

Aaron Kester said:

I guess its just a matter of preference but I can type way faster on the physical keyboard and make fewer mistakes. I've had my droid for quite awhile now and believe me I've logged way more than 15 mins and I have yet to come any where close to my keyboard speed and have yet to have anyone outype me on a touchscreen phone. So hardly a downgrade IMO.

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I do not know which "droid" you have, but since you have had it for "quite a while" it most probably does not have the latest and greatest input technology and your experience is based on outdated data.

My comment was based on my personal experience with Swype on the Droid-X/Droid-X2/Atrix and HTC Sense on Inspire-4G/Incredible-2/Sensation-4G which are all fairly recent phones, all except Droid-X being released in the last 3 months.

And I am not even taking into account after-market technologies like 8-Pen (http://the8pen.com) which can leave my methods in the dust, but require a couple of hours of practice to get proficient.

My dad is stronger than your dad! So there!

I have noticed with smartphones verizon doesnt seem to like slider phones. THey have what the OD, D2,Devour(not much of a smartphone) and I cant think of any other. My wife like the slider phone and has a devour when it first came out. I hope verizon gets more of a selection of sliders out. She dont like the D2 so thats out.

if you need to type just a few words at a time to many texts, or emails, onscreen is no problem.

However, if you need to respond to an email with say a few paragraphs, and editing it after you write it before you send it, I can't see how to do this onscreen. Without having hard cursor keys, getting the cursor in the position you want with your fingernail takes more time and frustration than I care to use.

Ok, SERIOUSLY? Touch screen keyboards are better than slider ones?!? First, boatman is right. When you're USING an on-screen keyboard, it takes up at least a THIRD of the screen. And THAT'S if you have in portrait orientation, where they keys are almost pinpoint-tiny! Turn it to landscape orientation where the keys are ALMOST reasonably-sized, and say bye-bye to most of your screen. Kind of miserable to type a real email or fill out a form when you can only see one line at a time...

Then there's of course the fact that with a tactile/slider/QWERTY keyboard, you can FEEL where one key ends and the next begins. That was my favorite feature of the LG V/enV phones... so far, the technology does not EXIST to do this on a touchscreen. And without the tactile keys, it's impossible to accurately type without looking at each key you're pressing.

There are plenty of times when I keep my phone closed and try to use my on-screen keyboard... but unless I am typing VERY little text, and am feeling VERY patient, I generally end up opening my keyboard, because I can type WAAAAAY faster on it, and make WAAAAAY less mistakes. I don't have any facts to prove my opinion is any more than just that, but I don't know ANYONE who can type accurately on a touch screen keyboard, no matter HOW well they claim they can type on it. Trust me, with the dearth of keyboard phones out there, I've been DESPERATELY trying to convince myself to just give in and succumb to the touch screen craze. No matter how hard I try, though, I can't type as quickly and accurately on a touchscreen keyboard.

I too have been dying for a 4G QWERTY slider phone, or even a 3G Droid phone with a GOOD keyboard--I still can't STAND my Droid 2's keyboard compared to my enV3's, and can't type as quickly or accurately on my Droid as my enV3, even after having it for several months. And yes, despite ALL of the things VZW does right (best customer service, best service quality, etc.), their crappy handset selection compared to their competitors has always frustrated me. But I'd rather have a phone that I wish was a little more what I wanted than constant dropped calls, billing screw ups, network failures (calls misrouted, voicemail busy signals), or terrible hold times and incompetent service when you call customer "[I don't] care]"... and each of the 3 major competitors (all of whom I've tried) offer at LEAST one of the above, if not some or ALL.

So there you are. That's my 2,000,000 cents. Here's to hoping that VZW starts offering a much better selection of phones soon, especially ones with usable QWERTY keyboards.

boatman said:

if you need to type just a few words at a time to many texts, or emails, onscreen is no problem.

However, if you need to respond to an email with say a few paragraphs, and editing it after you write it before you send it, I can't see how to do this onscreen. Without having hard cursor keys, getting the cursor in the position you want with your fingernail takes more time and frustration than I care to use.

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Max, i picked up droid 3 off of craigslist while i wait. i had the og droid, and it just was dying every day. I didn't want to use an upgrade, I will hold out for lte w hard kybd. besides, at of this year to next year, new chips will be made on 32 mm process which will cut down on power dramatically, so lte can actually be used for a whole day!

Wow, I clearly don't keep in touch with technology enough these days... I didn't even know about the Droid 3! It says on the VZW site it will ship by 8/30, eh? And it looks like, not only is there actual discernible space between the keys, but it has the numbers on a separate row now! This looks like a substantial improvement! So is the keyboard a noticeable improvement over the other one?

Bummer about the 4G LTE though! Lame that there's ANY new phone coming out now without 4G...So weird! So do you have your eyes on any good upcoming 4G LTE phone that has a keyboard?

Maximillian said:

Wow, I clearly don't keep in touch with technology enough these days... I didn't even know about the Droid 3! It says on the VZW site it will ship by 8/30, eh? And it looks like, not only is there actual discernible space between the keys, but it has the numbers on a separate row now! This looks like a substantial improvement! So is the keyboard a noticeable improvement over the other one?

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Oh, and one more question--how much did you end up paying for the D3 on eBay?

Maximillian said:

Bummer about the 4G LTE though! Lame that there's ANY new phone coming out now without 4G...So weird! So do you have your eyes on any good upcoming 4G LTE phone that has a keyboard?

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droid 3 has been out for a few months. no lte, but world phone. enjoy it lots, everyone likes the keybd, especially having dedicated number keys!

i see them going about $300ish on craigslist.

it has 4" screen so it is bigger, and a bit heavier.

check out the droid3 forum section...

Don't know if you guys saw this, but there is supposed to be a Samsung slider coming to Verizon. The name currently attatched is the Stratosphere. It's around the same size as the Charge, but with a slider. There's still no release date for it yet, and they also haven't said if it was LTE or not, or even if it's a midrange or top tier phone. But just something for ya guys to look into. Good luck.

Here's a link
http://www.droid-life.com/2011/07/1...tter-not-be-their-version-of-the-galaxy-s-ii/

My wife is an accomplished smart phone user and has had her Droid2 w/slider for quite a while. Her love of the slider is almost completely related to the fact that she has some serious hand arthritis. The physical keyboard is much easier and more accurate for her to use. I just wanted to toss this out to this lively group (and hope that maybe a Verizon rep will read this ).

So the Samsung Stratosphere was actually released a few weeks ago, and I've had it since about week two. It's a pretty decent improvement over my D2G (which I still need to sell, grin), but it's also missing a few things that the D2G had, like a calendar widget, email widget, and the ability to sync multiple contact folders from Exchange, and keep the screen on all the time (because the AMOLED screens can get burn-in). But it's worth checking out!

bjminis said:

My wife is an accomplished smart phone user and has had her Droid2 w/slider for quite a while. Her love of the slider is almost completely related to the fact that she has some serious hand arthritis. The physical keyboard is much easier and more accurate for her to use. I just wanted to toss this out to this lively group (and hope that maybe a Verizon rep will read this ).

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Aaron Kester said:

Anyone Know?

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CNET.com had an article stating the Droid 4 will be LTE enabled.

The next Droid image - Verizon Wireless' upcoming Droid lineup - CNET News

Aaron Kester said:

Anyone Know?

Click to expand...

CNET.com had an article stating the Droid 4 will be LTE enabled.

The next Droid image - Verizon Wireless' upcoming Droid lineup - CNET News

I am at the Point that I am Considering the Droid 3 which has the 5th row of Number Keys

But it is not VZ 4g LTE so I I wouldn't be able to use the internet and talk at the same time which at the moment is only only available with the samsung Startosphere
which I hear is a battery drainer and VZ sales couldn't imediately tell me if there was an extended battery.

SO I am Looking for Feedback on the Following:

Droid 3 vs Startossphere or wait for a droid 4 with LTE or other new phone Recomednations anyone?

I have a D3 and really like it. That said, if I were getting a new phone right now I'd wait for the D4.

Sprint user here, but Slide Out keyboards for heavy email/text/keyboard inputters like myself is invaluable. I had the evo for quite some time but I switched back to the evo shift because of the keyboard. I can hit 60wpm+ on my evo shift, which saves time. Lets see you do that on a touch screen.