Physical Keyboard and Verizon

Girth

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Am I the only person that wants a new phone with a physical keyboard and an unlocked bootloader? I have seen literally nothing mentioned in the past few months about anything like that coming out aside from the merge, but by the time that thing comes out it will be ancient. So there must be someone out there who is in the same situation I am in.
 
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northbanker

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Am I the only person that wants a new phone with a physical keyboard and an unlocked bootloader? I have seen literally nothing mentioned in the past few months about anything like that coming out aside from the merge, but by the time that thing comes out it will be ancient. So there must be someone out there who is in the same situation I am in.

Count me in! I *really* like physical slider kb's.

I was poised to get a Moto Droid 2/Global but once I heard about the problems w/ MotoBlur, ActiveSync, etc... I held off. Phew!

So I wonder if HTC Merge might do the trick. And maybe Sense UI is less problematic than MotoBlur? (haven't researched that... I'm just guessing/hoping)

Ideally I'd like stock Android (to avoid the many skin problems I've heard of and to get faster updates) but it doesn't seem like VZW is likely to do a stock OS phone anytime soon.

Anyone else want to chime in? Anything in the pipe other than HTC Merge?
 
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mercury694

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I'm in the same boat. I'd really like a physical kb, particularly on a HTC device. I'm pretty anti-moto so there aren't really any good choices at the moment. I will try Merge when (if) it's released on Verizon. The age of the device doesn't bother me, but there are deficiencies that do. (5mp camera [with one LED flash],no FM, no LTE, Bing) Honestly, I can live fine without LTE, but I don't see why HTC would downgrade the camera. I was really hoping for an outstanding camera, as I need to carry 2 phones and a camera now. I also like FM radio for weather, I work outside.

Samsung doesn't seem promising, maybe LG? At this point I'll probably buy one of the millions of DInc's off of craigslist the day after TB is released and give that a whirl while I wait for something better.

I highly doubt Verizon will ever release a stock android phone. They seem far too content neutering every device they sell to some degree. It's all about control, and Verizon isn't about to give control to you. The stars couldn't possibly align well enough to give us a VZW android powered slider developers device with stock google.
 

Girth

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As long as the bootloader isn't encrypted I am patient enough to wait for root and roms. Still super said that there has been zero news on this front though.
 

ADa#AC

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I am a big fan of the physical keyboard design as well, but I would put it aside if the HID Bluetooth profile is integrated into the next OS release.
 

cmorty72#AC

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Supposedly from the rumour mill... the upcoming D3 (whenever it's released... thinking 3Q) will be sporting one.
But as always with rumours... seeing is believing.
 

Brett

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If the rumored Droid 3 is real then I would have to guess it will have a slide out keyboard since that is 1 of it's standout features. I wonder if the screen size will be bigger than both the Droid and Droid 2. I wish Motorola would follow the same patterns that made original Droid so great. Vanilla Android, top specs when it was released and unlocked boot loader. The Droid 2 always seem like a combination of both the originial Droid and the Cliq. There is a reason the Cliq did not sell well.

I am waiting for a manufacturer who listens and has listened to the consumers and puts out devices follow that suit. I always question why manufacturers seem to build devices with skinned OS's that 'they' think we will love instead of releasing a type of OS that is based from research on the user.
 

lafester

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there really aren't many options for you. the merge will be like the shift/g2/desire z. not bad at all and should be plenty fast. sliders are fading away it seems... always coming out last. the epic is probably the highest spec slider out if you want to switch to sprint lol.
 

dwaynewilliams#WN

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I had the EVO and Droid X and I like my D2G better than both of them mostly because of the physical keyboard. I don't think sliders are going to be going anywhwere. I would love to see the D3 with stock Android, but to be honest, motoblur isn't bad at all. I don't mind any of the skins on Android phones. I really don't care about the look of the UI so much. Its more about the functionality. The physical keyboard shall never die.
 

kil187

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The entry level LG phone, I forget what its called. I'm in the same boat too, the wife and I really want physical keyboards but dislike moto. We were really hoping on the Merge but you know what ended up with that. Seriously considering switching to Sprint for the Shift or the Epic for the moment as there seems to be no new physical keyboard phones on the horizon for big red.
 

shamefulzero

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lol i'm not a huge fan of physical kb's but i am of stock android! id love for carriers to release more stock android phones. and if that meant a physical kb attached than so be it. thats why i'm preying the D3 is in fact stock android and not moto blur. even though moto blur on the DX was not bad at all. my favorite skin out of them all. but stock FTW
 

Raptor007

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The D2G is listed as "while supplies last" in the spring/summer flyer for Verizon, and if the current leaked photo's are right then the D3 (or D3G) will have a 5 row keyboard with the top row being a dedicated numeric row and 4" in size. At this time I am looking at the DX2 and the D3, but no firm date on the D3 yet.
 

fjfisher601#AC

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Well I for one vote for the D3 as I really like the idea of a physical keyboard and a 4" screen- I think the 4.3's are too big. with a keyboard- PERRRRFECT ! I've just switched form a Droid Pro to an Incredible to see how I like the virtual qwerty- it's ok- but my typing is much slower given my usual bad typing and fat fingers!
 

Raptor007

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I decided to skip the Charge, and wait it out for now at least. The D3 (since I'm paying retail) looks to be a good overall phone and will carry me until I decide what to get next. So now that the DX2 is out on 5-26, when do we expect the D3 to arrive? They are both in Best Buy's Celebrite system but I dn't really know what that means in terms of lead time to release.

Has BMX post anything about the D3 on twitter or elsewhere yet?
 

jleasure

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I'm definitely with you guys, I want a physical keyboard. I'm really looking forward to the Droid 3. Physical Keyboard and dual core...if it has 4G I'll definitely pick one up.
 

nerdydesi

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I'm definitely with you guys, I want a physical keyboard. I'm really looking forward to the Droid 3. Physical Keyboard and dual core...if it has 4G I'll definitely pick one up.

Unfortunately, it looks like 4G will be lacking, unless Motorola releases a 4G version shortly afterwards. With 4G, this would be my perfect phone.
 

mayflower

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I have the same feeling about the keyboard. maybe the touch looks like cool, but I still feel that the keyboard is more convenient.:)
 
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I need a physical keyboard.

I really like the HTC ChaCha but it's only on AT&T and I'm on Verizon. I'll never switch but that really seems like the perfect phone for me.

Droid Pro seems to be hit or miss so I am not looking into that at all.
 

northbanker

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It's excruciating!

The HTC Merge, if it ever makes it to VZW is only going to be through 3rd party retailers. And it'll be a year old at that point!

I have an ancient Samsung (i760) which has a terrific slider keybd. I've generally been happy w/ various Samsung phones so why can't Samsung just bring a good Android slider to market??

Why do the phone companies think that everyone wants to lug around some giant screen without a physical keybd?????

p.s. I find the rumored Droid3 to be a pretty scary proposition, with all the recent horror stories about Moto/Blur/Droid/ActiveSync/Updates/etc .
 

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