Small vs QWERTY keypad?

R

Rick Bruiser

New member
I compose one or two emails on my N80 every day, each on the order of 200 words, which is the approximate length of this post. I've developed some proficiency at this, taking advantage of the Nokia's good T9 feature - but still it's a slow, tedious process. So I thought I'd look at a phone with a full set of keys.

Any QWERTY phone I'd use must be small and light, no larger than my N80. I also want 3G. The only unit that fills the bill is the Samsung Blackjack, which I tested today. I found typing on this unit to be very awkward, with its tiny keys and their unfamiliar arrangement. QWERTY makes no sense when you're using your thumb instead of ten fingers, and I don't know why the layout isn't in straight alphabetical order. The thumb has to be moved over greater distances, even on this small phone, than on the traditional 12-key pad.

At any rate, assuming familiarity with the keypad and one-hand operation, I'd like anyone's opinion on how great is the benefit of a full keyboard? Does it shorten your time by half, more than that, or not much at all?
 
I thought the E61 offered a great typing experience as does my BBPearl. One was a full qwert and the other is BBC's version called suretype. Both are great for composing long test messages or emails....however, neither one have 3g capabilities here in the US.
 
Unfortunately with the small screen on the N80 you've got to press your nose to the screen for any sort of effective typing. I used it with mine and it was just too difficult to see the screen. I'm only keeping mine so I can control my N95 while it's plugged into a TV. That's the only real use for me as I'm keeping my Pearl for business....and replacing that with the E90 or E61i. Whichever comes out first I guess.....although I saw some sample pics from the E61i this morning and they look as bad as the E65's
 
Like everything the qwerty keyboards on devices like the E61, Blackjack, Blackberry, E70, etc. take some getting used to. There's also something subtle about the keyboard design in terms of usability - I suspect some combination of the force needed to press, and feedback to the user. For example, the Blackberry keyboard on a 8700 series Blackberry just seems better than the keyboard on the E61 in terms of being able to type quickly and accurately. One other issue is that if you get to the point where you can type quickly, the Blackjack will start dropping characters.

These miniature qwerty keyboards do take some getting used to, but after a week or two I was typing quite quickly. Still, not as quickly as on a full-size keyboard.
 
You bring up an excellent point...I was recently given a work issues BB Pearl and after a few minutes I pretty much gave up on the chance of me getting used to it. I used my E61 for so long that the suretype technology seemed impossible. Of course, after 5-6 hours of using it I was hooked. I'm quicker with my Pearl than I've been with any other qwerty/nonqwert i've owned. Point being: If you sample a mini keyboard at your local retail store it may not feel just right at first but after some time you will grow accustomed to it. I think you should go with the phone that best suites your needs as I'm confident that most modern designs can be learned quite easily.
 
What about the E70? I found myself typing and texting at amazingly fast speeds and got used to that thing pretty quickly.
 
Even without experience in the similar S40's I can see people picking that up pretty quickly. Very clever layout and I could fly on my old S40s as well. I think that's the easiest to pick up as their is so much spacing. Some qwertys have your fingers banging in to eachother.
 
I'll second the recommendation for the E70. Again, you have to get used to the split keyboard. On the other hand, they keys are nice and big.

The phone folds up into a reasonable size. I wouldn't call it "small", but it is almost exactly the same size as a Nokia 6800.

If you go to S40, then the Nokia 6822 is small, and has a QWERTY keyboard. It's actually quite a good phone, but doesn't have a lot of addtional functionality. One version of the 6822 also has BB connect. Be sure to get the North American version though if you need GSM 850. It is a smaller than any other QWERTY phone I've seen (in U.S. units 4.20 inches x 1.85 inches x 0.78 inch). Might be a bit hard to find one though - Nokia isn't making them anymore. http://www.nokiausa.com/phones/6822

and there is always the somewhat older 6820. No BB connect version of that one though.

T9 works reasonably well if you are typing actual words in the dictionary or that you are frequent enough that you can add them to the dictionary. I certainly wouldn't want to go back to it.
 
I appreciate everybody?s comments in this thread. They were very helpful. I think the consensus is that typing on a full keypad is faster. As always with cell phones, however, there are tradeoffs, and no single unit can meet a finicky user?s every requirement.

For me, small and light are paramount, because I carry my phone in my shirt pocket where it?s easily accessible, and impossible not to notice a call if set to silent/vibrate. This requirement rules out most qwerty phones. I don?t want to carry any attachments around, and that rules out the bluetooth keyboard. I need a GSM 3G phone because I do a lot of web browsing; but not many of these are available yet in any form factor. I also prefer one-handed operation, which rules out the E70.

The Blackjack comes closest, if I can get accustomed to the very small keys. On the other hand, I?m so comfortable with Nokia/Symbian that I hate to switch to any other OS. I?ll probably wait for the N75. It has a regular keyboard, but the keys are larger than the N80?s, so typing should be faster. It also has a 2.4-inch QVGA screen and an acceptable 2 mp camera.
 
From what Rcadden has posted on his blog, the N75's stills arent as good as the N80's. He was probably using an early proto model but who knows?..well...I guess he does. Afaik he's the only person with any hands on experience...on hofo at least.
http://symbianguru.typepad.com/welcome/2007/01/handson_with_ci.html#more
 
I have the N80 and a HTC TyTn (Orange branded M3100 here in the UK, I think its the Cingular 8525 in the US). The N80 is fine for the odd email and sms, but when I use it for work and on long-haul trips it becomes a pain to use it for regular emails. The M3100 isn't that much bigger than the N80 (I'll post a photo here if you're interested) and it features a full slide-out qwerty keyboard, 3G, etc. and is much better at handling emails. No doubt, it IS bigger, but I think you'll need to compromise.
 
it is simply not possible to have something small and still have a full useable qwerty...

the smaller the keys, the less it becomes useable and it will not be functional anymore...

look at the qwerty of P990i, imho, it is simply not very usefull coz it is too small, whereas the keys of E61, BB and others are still small enough, but functional...
 
Back
Top