What I now require before I buy another Android Handset w/ physical keyboard

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inNout4ever!

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I was first in line for the G1.



The keyboard is fantastic but lets face it... The phone is, and always has been, slow. I still cringe when I exit my browser and have to wait up to 30 seconds before I can make a phone call. 30 seconds doesn't seem long, but it's an eternity when you're running late for work or get in an accident and need help or just when you wanna call your girlfriend and tell her NOT to mess with the DVR while LOST is recording. The ram is skimpy and the processor is shamefully slow. Worse still is the fact that Android itself is a bit of resource hog.

Then came the Droid.



The Droid is faster. But still has lag. I just feel like we're at a point where I shouldn't have to worry about excessive lag on a top-of-the-line phone. And while it is noticeably smoother, the operating system is now even more demanding. On top of that, the keyboard sucks compared to the G1. Why could the G1 have a five row keyboard with separate keys and the Droid (with a bigger screen) can not?

Then came the Cliq (or was it the other way around?)



The Cliq keyboard was a little better, but even worse spec wise. On top of that you've got MotoBlur hogging resources.

This is my point.. When will a phone like the Incredible or EVO (which can actually handle running Android as smooth as God intended it to be run) come in a version with a decent keyboard? Am I waiting for something that will never happen?

Is it too much to ask for? A 1ghz or up phone, with 1gb ROM and at least 512 of RAM? Maybe a 3.7 to 4.0 inch screen? I've gotten so used to bad battery life that I don't even care about it anymore. I think most smartphone users I know keep two chargers in their house, one in their car and one at work!

I thought the MyTouch 3g Slide would be the answer to my prayers.



But once again... the processor speed was disappointing.. even with the RAM boost.. and WORSE, the keyboard is even smaller than the G1's.

As a person who requires a smartphone with a physical keyboard, am I doomed to have to run a mid-level Android phone forever? Or is the DROID 2 (likely the HTC Shadow) going to meet all of my expectations and more? Either way I'm getting sick of the wait.
 
G1 owner here too... and I purchased it because it had a keyboard.

Do you mean the Motorola Shadow? http://rabroad.com/google-nexus-two-with-qwerty-is-the-motorola-shadow-20100118/

That looks good, but as it's a Motorola its keyboard may be just as bad as the Droid. Notice the only Android phone with a good keyboard is made by HTC. Bit of a generalisation I admit...

One thing I have learnt, is that the virtual keyboard on phones with bigger screens, like the Nexus One and the HTC Desire, that run Android 2.1 are a LOT better than the virtual keyboard on the G1.

The Sense UI virtual keyboard on the Desire is much better than the stock virtual keyboard on the Nexus One.

Some people say third-party keyboards are good too. The current world record for speed typing text on a mobile phone was done using Swype, for example [source].

Have you tried using the virtual keyboard on the HTC Desire? It's pretty good. I can type just as fast on there as I can on my G1's physical keyboard.
 
I've has the N1 since January, don't miss the keyboard at all. But I'm running the HTC keyboard, one of the best I've ever seen.
Side note, anyone know off-hand if you need root to install the HTC keyboard? I can't remember.
 
There are the rumors of tmobile coming out with an HTC made sidekick.... The rumored specs are great and the sidekick has always had one of, if not the best keyboards.
 
The thing I'm going to miss most about the lack of a physical keyboard on current all decent (i.e. Nexus One, HTC Desire, HTC Evo) Android phones is not whether I can type well one it, I can, it's that it uses up a lot of screen space. I use VNC a lot to connect to my PCs and half the screen would be taken up by the keyboard.
 
I feel for you, i have just taken the plunge and bought a Desire. To its credit the virtual keyboard from HTC (Sence) is brilliant and i can type as fast on that as i could with a physical keyboard. I do get the old MS Windows 3.1.1 text lag,the text appearing after you have typed it, but it is really good and as the text correction it so fantastic it is a rarity if i have to go back and correct its suggestion.

i am a little bummed that this 'desire with a keyboard' hasn't come out sooner as i am now not due for an upgrade for 18 months! argh.

I'd be interested to see how thick that model is, i really like how think the desire is and it wouldn't be very pocket friendly if it got any bigger... your thoughts?
 
That's one reason I'm pondering sticking to 1 month contracts. Three, for example, has a ?5 a month contract (1 month contract), that gives you the best 3G coverage in the UK, 500MB allowance (like all but T-Mobile in the UK which gives 1GB), but no free minutes or texts.

Total cost over 18 months would be ?380 for the phone + (5 * 18) for contract: ?470.

I find it very hard to beet that total cost in the UK on any provider. If the phone is free and you're on ?30 a month you pay ?540. The cut off point is ?27/m with a free phone. If your monthly cost is any more than that then you're paying more AND you're tied into the contract for ages.

I got an 18 month contract on my G1, and I've been crawling up the walls waiting to get a Desire for the past 2 months. Still got another 2 months to go on my contract. I really wish somewhere did reasonable 1 year contracts for people who never make any calls or send any texts.

Thoughts? Phone width has never really bothered me. They're all thin enough for me. It won't be any thicker than the G1 and I'm fine with that. If it has an OLED screen like the Desire it'll be thinner still.

Thickness also has some advantages... like if you sit on your phone in your pocket, or leave it on the sofa and sit on it, it has more strength.
 
LOL

See, I saw that one coming (stop there ), which is why I wrote "phone thickness has never really bothered me" instead of just "thickness has never really bothered me" in the paragraph above.

Reminds me of a time I was in PC World (a chain of computer stores in the UK) with my partner a few years ago. We were looking to buy her a netbook for use at Uni. Now I've always been the kind of guy who goes for stupidly big monitors and TVs, so I was not impressed by the tiny small screens on the netbooks. Anyway, my partner zeroed in on the first pink netbook she sees (I'd already dismissed it because it was utter crap), and she shouts down to the other end of the the isle where I am:

Her: "What about this pink one?"
Me: "Is 10 inches going to be big enough for you?"
Her: (referring to my laptop, honest) "Your's is 15 inches right?"
Me: "Yep"
Her: "Hrmmm, 10 inches sounds a bit small, I'd have to try it I guess."
(sound of laughter from all around the entire store)
 
Haha, that's hilarious

My wife will occasionally say "that's what she said" while we're out and about, and I'll just reply very loudly with: "Don't act like you're not impressed"

One mother at a department store pulled her children away from us for just an exchange like that one
 
I once thought that I NEEDED a physical keyboard on my phone, but after quitting cold turkey and moving to a good non-physical keyboard, I can't see myself ever going back.
 
So many people say exactly that.

It's just the screen real-estate a VK uses up. When I use VNC to remote desktop to my PC I sometimes answer people who are chatting to me on MSN or whatever on my PC. If I pop up the keyboard half my screen has gone and you're already limited to viewing a very small section of your PC's screen on the phone.
 
yeah.. if i do end up getting a new phone without a hard keyboard, it's gotta have a big screen (3.7" at least). i like the smart keyboard pro for the g1 (mixes sense keyboard with stock android keyboard, and gives it some added customization), but the small screen makes it kinda irksome.
 
I understand your situation. Yeah, the real estate issue is still valid, but not worth the sacrifice of weight and breakable moving parts for me. That may be different for some.

Also, when texting, I found it annoying to have to either keep the keyboard open during the entire conversation or closing and reopening it every few seconds.
 
Looks like it will be a 5 row keyboard like the G1 too.
http://rabroad.com/forums/f27/htc-vision-marries-the-htc-desire-with-physical-qwerty-keyboard-35204/
 
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