*Smartphones* is a physical keyboard important to you?

[yRaz]

I bought my LG quantum a few months after WP7 was released, the thing that sold me was the physical slide out keyboard. Having used it for so long I find it is more comfortable but slower than the on screen keyboard. The problem with the on screen keyboad is that it is harder to fix type-o's and takes up valuable screen real estate. Unless I am writing a lengthy email on my phone I hardly ever use the keyboard. While I'm happy to have it when I need to use it, I don't like the extra weight and thickness that comes with it.

Over all, it's not nearly as important to me as it once was.

What are your thoughts about physical/onscreen keyboards?

 

[davislane1]

Personally, I don't care for a physical keyboard when it comes to phones. While the on-screen keyboard can be problematic sometimes (especially with long messages), I find it's a reasonable tradeoff from the added weight/volume and mechanicals of a physical keyboard. If a situation arrises where I would benefit from a physical keyboard (typing something in excess of 250 words, for example), chances are that, 99 times out of 100, it'll be written from a computer. For that 1% of the time I don't have access to a computer... I'll just wait until I do, haha!

 

[Zilpha]

Before Swype I'd have said I needed a physical keyboard every time. Now? Gosh I don't even know how I managed to type out messages without it.

 

[Tony Turner]

A physical (slideout) keyboard is very important to me. I have what is called an 'Essential Tremor' & while I continually say that I don't consider it essential, it still leaves me quite visually entertaining when having soup with my meal & totally frustrated by accidentally touching the wrong spot on my touchscreen or double-tapping when I had no intention to do so. I need a physical keyboard & having it slide out keeps the form factor small enough, with big enough keys, to work for my needs. A BB-style keyboard is useless. QWERTY slideout for me, please. A smartphone is great, keeps track of meetings, app't's, events, lists, etc. & I wouldn't be without one. It's got a better memory than I have at 61. I can touch, slide & pinch as needed, but for typing I need a real keyboard.