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Honest opinion on the keyboard

S

spottyelephant

Android Enthusiast
I'm currently looking at Droids on ebay (well milestone, im in Ireland). Anyway, before i go and blow a wad of cash on it (what with certain new phones coming out), I'm just wondering whether i actually will use the keyboard or not...

I know it's v flat, and theres countless reviews giving out about that - so how is it compared to the on screen in all honesty? If someone texts, would you pull out the keyboard, or would you tap away on screen?
 
I have no problem using the physical keyboard at all. It's definitely best if you go to the store and try it out, though...some love it, some hate it.
 
I use the physical keyboard and have no issues with it, but you also have the other 2 and they are also very accurate. If you have fat fingers then I would recommend that you use the horizontal onscreen keyboard. And for that fact avoid any cellphones with a physical keyboard on them because most provably you will have many problems with them.
 
Well......that's really hard to say. Because different people have different preferences. I feel like sometimes I even go to phases......'hard keyboard only phase', 'Swype phase'

One thing I LOVE about the Hard keyboard is the fact that you can type full screen!

Right now.....I don't find myself using it since I got swype. Swype significantly speeds up typing out smaller notes......but for larger emails.....I still find myself using the Hard keyboard
 
Love the physical keyboard and that's not because I own it. Perhaps, I'm not really picky when it comes to physical keyboards. Liked the BB keyboard, old Samsung Alias keyboard and I like this one.
 
i pretty much never use the physical keyboard, but it's a nice option for certain things (like cutting and pasting). i like the landscape virtual keyboard a lot though.
 
I'll type on screen for quick couple-word entries, but the rest of the time it's the hardware keyboard for me.

That being said, I don't think anyone is going to say it's one of the top keyboards out there, it's really not that great relatively. But it is entirely usable, especially with practice.

The biggest benefit to me is freeing up screen real estate. I like to see all of what I'm doing on that gorgeous wide screen display. In fact when you find yourself playing on it for extended periods of time (you will), just opening it up and having more phone to grip makes the experience all the more agreeable. Nice comfy handholds without accidentally activating things on the edge of the touch screen. That's where the true value of the hardware keyboard is to me.
 
At first, I, like many others, did not like they keyboard at all. It took at least a week before I got used to it, but now I'm completely dependent on it. It's awesome if you give it time.
 
I use the pullout for web browsing and some normally for forms because it leaves your screen open to view stuff.

Otherwise, I have fat fingers and the auto correct on the small QWERTY when you hold the phone up and down is more than enough to compensate. You can butcher a word pretty badly and it'll pull it up 9 times outta 10. I downloaded Swype on it, and I can type really really fast on that. Much faster than the pullout. Normally the only things that slow me down are numbers and such.

I'd go with the pullout keyboard, its not a bad thing to have. It's nice to keep the screen from locking out too. That's coming from somebody who normally types with one hand holding the phone vertically.

My $.02
 
spottyelephant said:
I'm currently looking at Droids on ebay (well milestone, im in Ireland). Anyway, before i go and blow a wad of cash on it (what with certain new phones coming out), I'm just wondering whether i actually will use the keyboard or not...

I know it's v flat, and theres countless reviews giving out about that - so how is it compared to the on screen in all honesty? If someone texts, would you pull out the keyboard, or would you tap away on screen?
Click to expand...

It isn't that bad as people make it out to be. By the way, is there a reason why you can't check it out at the store for yourself before blowing a wad of cash on it? That's what I would do. :D
 
I actually use both. If I'm texting and surfing I use the on-screen keyboard in landscape. If I'm creating documents in apps or on Google, then I'm all about the physical keyboard.
 
I prefer the on screen keyboard much more. I like the auto correct feature it has, and the feel of the slide out keyboard I do not like, feels way too flat and kept hitting the wrong keys.
 
It's not the best, but for typing long messages, it's pretty good. I would suggest investing in the TalkToMe Keyboard, pretty good, and the suggestions also work on the physical keyboard.
 
What I dont see mention here or other forums much is that EACH droid comes with a different slightly better RAISED keys. I have looked at many of them since I know someone..... and I can tell you that when a person says "I love my keyboard, it works great for me" that person got one of the "fair/good" keyboards.

The droid I have right now is one of the flatest one that I have seen/used. But because everything else is working great I dont want to go an exchange it. The one I had before this one the keys on the KB where RAISED much more than this new one I got.

So to the OP, Just hope you get one of those RAISED keys! If you dont I will say this. Open up a note app and just PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE using the keyboard and it WILL be fine for you after you get used to it.

TIP: If you put a piece of (the size of the keyboard) clear tape, the keyboard will feel much better and typing is easier.
 
I thought that I would like the physical keyboard better, but the keys on the onscreen keyboard are much bigger so for me it is easier to type on. Physical keyboard is a must for games though.
 
spottyelephant said:
I'm currently looking at Droids on ebay (well milestone, im in Ireland). Anyway, before i go and blow a wad of cash on it (what with certain new phones coming out), I'm just wondering whether i actually will use the keyboard or not...

I know it's v flat, and theres countless reviews giving out about that - so how is it compared to the on screen in all honesty? If someone texts, would you pull out the keyboard, or would you tap away on screen?
Click to expand...

In all honestly, my Samsung i760's physical keyboard was better than the Droid's, but it wasn't hard to get used to, and I'm just as fast on the Droid as I ever was on the i760.

As with all things, practice makes perfect.

I only use the portrait mode one if I'm on the train going to/from work, where I have to hold on for dear life with one hand, and with the other I hold on for dear life to my Droid, lest I drop it (God forbid!). I've never bothered to use the landscape on screen keyboard because you lose a lot of real estate on the screen itself when you do.

Just my humble two cents. ;)
 
Looking at things from a different angle, the physical keyboard and D-pad make it very easy for me to play my old nintendo and sega genesis games. Something else to consider.

For the record, I like the physical keyboard when viewing web pages. It allows you to view the entire page, plus the d-pad allows you to highlight all the links and click on them easily, which helps when there are tiny little links that are hard to hit using the touch screen.
 
I actually use all three keyboards but the physical the most by far. If I am using AIM, writing an email, or know I'm sending out a bunch of texts I'll switch to the physical keyboard (which is awesome btw). I think the fact that the buttons are so flat and that they don't push down too far make typing a lot faster than other physical keyboards. The auto-correct can be kind of iffy though.
 
I have gotten totally used to the physical keyboard. I have no problems with it any more except that there is no dedicated number line.
 
Right, well thanks all!

No carriers have it in Ireland (and i'd be surprised if there were more than 5 handsets in the whole country) so that's why I couldnt test it.

Anyway I went ahead and bought it sim free...bit pricey but i'll sell my Galaxy and perhaps the dock it comes with and it shouldn't cost me more than €120 total in the end which is acceptable.

Cheers again.
 
Something that I didn't see mentioned, was the fact that not only are there 3 keyboard to choose from, but also you can do voice to text as well. There are a few threads floating around here debating the accuracy of them, but I think its pretty decent. Also, you can download a few keyboard updates for the virtual keyboards. Thats why I love my droid..soo many options!!!!
 
jmt9779 said:
i pretty much never use the physical keyboard, but it's a nice option for certain things (like cutting and pasting). i like the landscape virtual keyboard a lot though.
Click to expand...

Pretty much this. I would just add that even though I don't use the physical keyboard much, I am very slowly getting more accurate and faster on it.
 
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