Android Phones: Love and Want Physical Keyboard

[Hidden425]

Hello Everyone,

It appears that there is a drive to no longer offer a robust selection of great android phones with physical keyboards. Manufacturers are saying that we the consumers do not want physical keyboards. I know there are a number of people that could care less about about a physical keyboard. But if you are like me and would like to have a decent choice of android phones with physical qwerty keyboards (landscape, portrait, or slider) let your voice be heard here.

I've gone back and forth between Blackberry and Android for past 5 years. I'm over BBM and I'm not over the form factor of the phones. I love the Android software and integration but want better phones for me (physical keyboards). I daydream about a device that looks like the blackberry torch slider or palm pre being powered by android. The touch screen keyboards are a big headache for me. I'm proficient at using them but my sincere preference is for a physical keyboard, and the touch screen for browsing the web and navigation the menus on my phone.

Hope to here from others that feel the same way.

 

[anon(94115)]

You are only going to see that in the mid to low end phones for awhile. Like the ones released today.

If you want higher end stuff, it is going to be like the droid 4

 

[Hidden425]

I agree only low to mid end phones are currently being produced for android with the physical keyboards. If people like me want the mid to high end phones will need to be more active on the forums, complain to the manufacturers, or find some other way to get their attention.

 

[anon(94115)]

no one wants to be compared to blackberry so I am pretty sure it will be years before anyone comes out with one. Everyone wants 4.3" screens in a 4.4" body, not in a 7" body

 

[Hidden425]

I'd prefer that Android finish the job and take away the rest of Blackberry's customers. With the amount of phone models that come out for Android there could be more differentiation among them, otherwise they might as well take Apple's approach. Is it too much to ask for 2 to 3 really nice Android phones with physical keyboards to be released a year. I'm not asking for half the phones to come with a physical keyboard. I just want a phone that will make me happy and others should have phones that make them happy.

 

[Kong9999]

Sad but true that phone makers now shun keyboards. There is a market for high-capability phones that also have physical keyboards so their users can enter significant anounts of text with minimal typos and (a point never mentioned in mainstram reviews) do so without obscuring any of the material on screen).

I was dismayed when my HTC Tilt 2 became flaky. Not only did it have a good keyboard, it also used the best OS for business purposes, Windows Mobile 6.5. After a lot of shopping in mid 2011 I bought a Nokia E7, whose hardware was visually beautiful and ergonomically excellent, but whose software was limited and unstable.

That went back and I returned to shopping. What I found, and what I heartily recommend, is the Samsung Captivate Glide (SGH-i927) sold by AT&T. The keys are not as domed as you might like but I soon adapted to them. The benefit is that the phone is quite thin and light. It is also rugged; five months of hard use have not caused any physical issues. It is also powerful and has a fine display and good cameras. It runs Android 2.3.5 with no as-yet-scheduled ICS upgrade. It does well on 3G (including HSPA+, with which it has served me well in several countries) but does not do LTE.

 

[add119]

Craigslist.com or ebay is your friends.

For tmobile
Htc g1
Htc g2
Mytouch 3g slide
Mytouch 4g slide
Sidekick 4g

Sprint
Htc evo shift
Samsung moment
Galaxy s 1 aka epic 4g
Now photon q

Verizon
Droid 1
Droid 2
Droid 3(recommend)
Droid 4(recommend)
Lg ally
Samsung stratosphere

Att
Samsung captivate glide(aka galaxy s2 with keyboard
Anything else on att is on good keyboard android..