Which Android phone with physical keyboard?

[HadouGhost]

I still have iphone envy. no lie

I really want one just so i can say i had one and it either a) was awesome or b) sucked anus
plus i just really want to have some knowledge on it.

 

[mrqs]

Apparently the United States disagrees, and Samsung is the top selling mobile manufacturer in America.

mobile phone != smartphone
dumbphone users don't expect firmware updates
also, i haven't a clue, but i'd guess their support is better for bada etc

I don't even do that with Apple, I at least *look* at the product first.

did you even read my post? it has nothing to do with the product itself


damn, this is going off topic again

 

[grainysand]

Apparently the United States disagrees, and Samsung is the top selling mobile manufacturer in America.

Hoho. And Nokia's the top-selling mobile anything in the world (that thing beyond the USA's map, you know?), yet their smartphone market share is... uhm... yeah.

@mrqs: I don't think there's any phone with Bada out yet. Right now, all Samsung smartphones run WinMo or Android--am pretty sure Samsung Wave will be the first Baduh phone. Not sure why they even bother, to be honest; the smartphone OS field is severely oversaturated as it is.

 

[mrqs]

I don't think there's any phone with Bada out yet.

in that case, i'd guess they will have better support
they seem to have marketed bada a lot more aggressively anyway

Not sure why they even bother, to be honest; the smartphone OS field is severely oversaturated as it is.

agreed

 

[KlaymenDK]

Thanks for bringing this back on an even keel again.

So, are there any Droid users who would like to shed some insight? As in:
Q: Is the Droid terribly slow (in comparison with not only the Nexus, but also the more modestly-equipped phones such as the Galaxy?
Q: Is the Droid keyboard really too flat to be of real use, or can one get used to it? If one were to insist on having a keyboard, would the G1 be better even though it's older and has less ram (never mind the storage)?

 

[sc98007]

Thanks for bringing this back on an even keel again.

So, are there any Droid users who would like to shed some insight? As in:
Q: Is the Droid terribly slow (in comparison with not only the Nexus, but also the more modestly-equipped phones such as the Galaxy?
Q: Is the Droid keyboard really too flat to be of real use, or can one get used to it? If one were to insist on having a keyboard, would the G1 be better even though it's older and has less ram (never mind the storage)?

I've been using Droid since January and it seems fast enough, although as with any computer you have to be reasonable with multi-tasking

Regarding keyboard, I should say that it works ok for my purposes (I do quite a bit of GTD too). In my opinion just about any physical QWERTY keyboard beats a virtual one, just because it's utterly non-ergonomic to tap a glass screen for any prolonged amount of time. And, by the way, I did use quite a bit the Ipod touch (supposedly the gold standard of touch technology), only to be making way too many mistakes while typing on it, and hating the whole process.

By the way I am bewildered why HTC will not make devices with physical keyboards anymore. For me lack of a physical keyboards is deal-breaker , why is it not for many more people ?

 

[katbear50]

Regarding keyboard, I should say that it works ok for my purposes (I do quite a bit of GTD too). In my opinion just about any physical QWERTY keyboard beats a virtual one, just because it's utterly non-ergonomic to tap a glass screen for any prolonged amount of time.
By the way I am bewildered why HTC will not make devices with physical keyboards anymore. For me lack of a physical keyboards is deal-breaker , why is it not for many more people ?

I have had my Samsung Moment just shy of 1 month.
Was liking the Instinct, but the idea of only a Virtual Keyboard
didn't settle too good with me. {on this number I totally agree}
My complaint against the Moment's slide keyboard is that when
it's open there's a shadow cast on the top row of keys
which makes for very low visibility of the characters above the numbers,
and the way the keys are crammed against the top half,
I would think a larger person would have a problem accessing them.

My eldest g'son has the HTC Hero, which I also concidered,
but yet again the Virtual Keyboard.
And like you said, from the looks of it Virtual is all I see in their future.

 

[phirefaux]

I just moved a bunch of off-topic pedantic posts.

Please go for the ball, not the man, allright? Now then ...

It seems the only options are:
-- Motorola Droid

-- Motorola Devour (hadn't heard anything about that until now, maybe not launched outside of US?)

-- The Samsung Moment is disqualified on the grounds of it being from Samsung. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to let myself be fooled more than once.

I think I will be looking more into the Devour, but may end up with a Droid off of eBay. What's battery life like on that, assuming you are using only 3G (no 2G)?

reviews show the devour with a better physical keyboard than the droid, i would agree. mine has good battery life and motoblur is pretty cool with social networking. i would recommend it to anyone its made of metal and feels really nice in my hand.

 

[mpw]

...Anyone who says a product should be immediately dismissed shouldn't be taken too seriously...

Rubbish, you don't seem to be considering his statement in context.

...either a) was awesome or b) sucked anus...

What if it did some things better than other devices, and some things better; maybe the reason for it's success is that it's not an extreme device, but middle of the road, and aimed at the average user?

...For me lack of a physical keyboards is deal-breaker , why is it not for many more people ?

It's obviously not a deal-breaker for me, I bought a Hero, but I would love a good physical keyboard; the important point there being a good one.

The Nokia E90s keyboard was awesome, their N900s is far below that standard.

I would love to see hTC bring out something like the HD2, with a slide out keyboard and Android, even on something the size of a Hero there's a lack of space for a decent physical keyboard.

And for me the advantage of the physical keyboard is not just the ergonomics of typing, but screen space freed-up to be able to see more of the email/document your both writing and responding to. I even think about something with a slide out 2nd touch screen to do keyboard duties, allowing bigger targets for my fat thumbs, and even more screen space when not in use.

 

[sarpedon]

Update! Samsung Epic 4G. It has a pretty nice, 5 row keyboard and is lightning fast and 4" big. $250 with a 2-year contract through Sprint

The Samsung Galaxy S Pro also features a strikingly similar 5-row qwerty keyboard. Also from Sprint.

 

[tommy_ed]

i can't beleive everyone forgot about the LG Ally! it has by far the best keyboard out of all the verizon android phones in my opinion. true, the processor isn't as fast as droid 2 or samsung galaxy, but it's still pretty snappy.. you should go to a verizon store and check one out, we don't really have anyone come back with problems on them... more than I can say for the Devour!

 

[sarpedon]

i can't beleive everyone forgot about the LG Ally! it has by far the best keyboard out of all the verizon android phones in my opinion. true, the processor isn't as fast as droid 2 or samsung galaxy, but it's still pretty snappy.. you should go to a verizon store and check one out, we don't really have anyone come back with problems on them... more than I can say for the Devour!

Which phones? LG seems like a pretty good company. They make good mini fridges, anyway...

 

[tommy_ed]

the only one they have that runs android is the "Ally", it came out back in june (i think) it has around a 750mhz processor, (faster than original droid) 3.2 mp camera with flash, tempered glass touch screen, the launcher LG uses isnt too bad either. It gets pretty good customer reviews online, and we never have them coming back to the store with problems. (i work at verizon)

 

[EddieTheFish]

The best phone with slideout keyboard is the HTC Desire Z. I use it as a Sat-Nav as well (with Google Maps). It's got a decent sized screen for web-browsing as well.

Also, the Xperia Mini Pro has a slideout QWERTY keyboard, but is smaller if you want to put in your pocket.

Both of them are touchscreen.

Hope this helps.

 

[Rico ANDROID]

I've given up on AT&T ever releasing a decent Android phone with a physical keyboard. I purchased this keypad from Amazon. Really nice and small enough to carry with my phone in its case. Very handy and has a decent distance between the key pad and device:

 

[Rico ANDROID]

double posted. sorry.

 

[danaj]

The my touch 4g slide! High end phone and camera with a keyboard!

 

[chanchan05]

Necroposts. LOL. The OP has bought whatever phone he chose last year.

 

[Androidome]

Go for Motorola Droid 4 or samsung captivate glide. Droid 4 will give you ICS along with dual core 1.2 and 8 mp cam with 1080p vid. Its keyboard is also regarded as one of the best!

 

[joshrinella]

Mytouch 4g slide, comes in a slick khaki color and has a kick ass camera. Rootable