***The Ultimate "Is the hardware keyboard really any good" thread!***

[zoukis05]

*Do you like the hardware keyboard?

Not at first, and not for a short reply, but when I'm banging out page long emails, it comes in handy, and after nearly a months worth of use, it's almost as easy as my old E71 was.

*Do you find tactile response and accuracy sufficient?

Sometimes, for the most part, I feel like I'm getting good feeling for the keys while I'm typing. Sometimes though, if I go back and read what I wrote, I'll get a few "b"'s instead of spaces.

*Do you find it comfortable with your size hands?

I have big hands and club fingers, I have no problems except for the aforementioned b's instead of spaces.

*Do you use it more than the software QWERTY?

No, but just because I like to keep my responses short when possible.

*Likes and dislikes about it?

Love the fact that it's there. I'd go absolutely crazy if I didn't have a physical keyboard.

*What other device would you compare it to positively and negatively?

The keyboard has the same layout as my former HTC Tilt. However, the rounded and larger keys made the Tilt easier to type on. Also, keyboard had a number pad layout on the right side while the "alt" key was on the left. (Maybe why I'm having trouble with the numbers on the Droid)
I must say though that it blows the keyboard of my old HTC S730 out of the water.

 

[Nepherim]

RESPONSES IN CAPS...

Ouch -- why?

 

[rockstar323]

i came from a Blackberry Tour. ive also had a Curve. honestly i like the keyboard on the Droid. is it perfect? no but after a few weeks of use im comfortable with it and can type almost as fast as i could on my tour. like with anything else thats new it takes time to get use to.

 

[eNons3nse]

I'd use it more if it had the same spelling & predictive word features that the onscreen keyboard does. It wouldn't have been difficult to incorporate the little grey word bar at the very bottom of the screen.

 

[chefboyardee]

I'd use it more if it had the same spelling & predictive word features that the onscreen keyboard does. It wouldn't have been difficult to incorporate the little grey word bar at the very bottom of the screen.

There's another thread somewhere on here about how to manually bring in the suggestion feature from another HTC phone, it seems to integrate OK into the droid, but not perfectly (little bit of lag and pixelation). But if that's something you really want, it might be worth a try!

 

[mrs.duck]

Mea Culpa in advance, in case this has been posted/addressed somewhere...but I'm not finding it. It's a basic "duh" question:

1.is there a way to go "forward", i.e., just like "back" works by hitting the delete button in keyboard, or the 1st icon (next to 'options' button) on the handset.
I don't know how to do this when I'm searching either phone or internet, or switching applications and/or application-specific tasks.

2. Also, I did find something related to this, but I'm expecting (hoping)someone's going to come up with some application to address it....
When not on physical keyb, how do i get the "cursor" back-or forward, to some other place in the text input?
I have small hands, and some nails, but i'm far from able to do so reliably.

As of today (12/3), anybody found an application with a more functional keyboard (particularly in the portrait position.

Thanks everyone!

 

[cdl]

I think the Droid is about balance. It is probably the thinnest phone with a keyboard by far.

Among phones with big screens and sliding keyboards (like the Nokia N97 and N97 mini) yes, it's probably the thinnest.

Among devices with blackberry-like (not sliding) keyboards no, the Nokias E71 and E72 are much thinner (approx 10mm vs 13.7mm).

Irrelevant if you put your phone in a purse, but not so irrelevant if you have to put it in the pocket of smart trousers that look horrible with bulky objects!

 

[darrin2520]

I like the physical keyboard quite a bit and the more I use it, the more I like it. I have quite large hands/fingers and it I really struggle with soft keyboards, so I generally always use the physical keyboard. If I can set the phone down and use my fingers, I can type quite fast, but I am proficient with my thumbs.

My biggest problems is that I sometimes turn on caps when I press the letter a and I sometimes hit the space bar when I go for the n.

I really like that fact that they put some common keys (namely ?, @ and /) on the main keyboard. That is a huge time saver in my opinion.

I know everyone raves about the blackberry keyboard, but it is probably what you are used to. I tried one out the other day and really struggled with it.