With the upcoming BlackBerry “Venice” supposedly packing Android and their famed hardware keyboard, things are looking up for those of us who miss having a hardware keyboard to type on.
Over the years, screen sizes have improved which makes ageing techies like me grateful that I can; 1) see the keys and what I’m typing, and 2) actually hit the keys without masses of mistakes that are “loosely” corrected by infuriating autocorrect.
Like many people, I miss a proper keyboard. Swipe is fast, and for many it’s great, but there are times when you just want to press keys and buttons, mainly because it is more natural.
Also, anyone who has tried to compose a typed message in a bumpy environment such as on speeding public transport will have discovered that a capacitive screen is just awful, and you’ll probably accidentally send a message when trying to hit backspace! Hardware keyboards help to eliminate this by providing your fingers somewhere tactile to feel and press.
Apart from a brief, unsuccessful trial with a BlackBerry a few years ago, I’ve always wanted a hardware keyboard. When I was using Nokia’s Symbian smartphones, I longed for a hardware keyboard and was gutted that the Nokia 6790 (Nokia Surge) never made it to the UK.
The Nokia 6790 "Surge" S60 smartphone was the QWERTY slider that I needed back in 2009.
I used to type out calendar entries on alphanumeric dial pads, and when resistive screens started to become popular I found that the built in stylus was great, but not as much fun as a physical keyboard.
When I moved to Android, I even tried the tiny Sony Ericsson x10 Mini Pro with its slide out QWERTY keyboard, but this was too small to type on and it was actually faster to tap out a message using the diminutive screen.
The Sony Ericsson x10 Mini Pro was about the only QWERTY Android slider to find its way into the UK market. It was a popular "fashion" phone, due to its teeny tiny size, which was also its biggest drawback.
The US have had a few Android phones with slide out QWERTY keyboards, but the UK and Europe have been stuck with touchscreens for a very long time.
Now Samsung is changing things, too: Their Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy 6S Edge are to get their own optional add-on hardware keyboard accessories. Even with touchscreens of this magnitude, manufacturers are realising that there is a market for physical keyboards. See Engadget's report on this news HERE.
Hopefully smartphones with physical QWERTY keyboards will make a comeback soon and usher in a new era of handset design which has been missing for too long.
