Nexus One Keyboard

[aviduser]

I am a long time Treo user and love the Treo's keyboard. I had been waiting for the AT&T Pre Plus, but lately have been looking at the Milestone (hard to get) and the Nexus One.

One of the big iPhone drawbacks is the lack of a physical keyboard. The Droid (my bro has one) keyboard is not great either. How do you like the on-screen keyboard on the N1?

This will be a business and personal device--lots of text and email.

Thoughts?

~aviduser

 

[qst4]

I don't think you'll like it. I had a centro and Palm pre before the nexus one and had grown accustomed to a physical keyboard and the lack of one has been hard to deal with. That said, I don't think the Nexus Keyboard is bad. I have gotten fairly comfortable using the Nexus Keyboard, I'm just not as efficiently as I would like to be using it.

 

[thecodeman25]

I am pretty sure it is exactly the same, but is the virtual keyboard any better on the Nexus one than the Droid virtual keyboard?

 

[johnny99]

After a few days, I got used to the Droid keyboard. I can type twice as fast and twice as accurate on the physical keyboard vs. the touch screen.

 

[aviduser]

Here is my BIGGEST issue. I am on AT&T. Right now, my Treo 680 is really getting OLD. It is fine for the basic stuff, but it lacks 3G, lacks decent web browsing, and lacks OTA sync.

My choices on AT&T are the iPhone 3Gs or the Nexus One. That's it. And there will be a newer iPhone in a few months. The Pre Plus is supposed to be coming "soon." When will that be? Plus (as much as I love Palm) Palm is circling the drain. What will become of WebOS? Who knows. This is sad, because I have been a Palm OS user for over 10 years and a Treo user for 6 years.

The Droid is CDMA. The Milestone is only available in Canada and, apparently, is locked down and is not a "Google experience" phone like the Droid.

So my choices of phones available now are the about-to-be-obsolete iPhone 3Gs or I can get the Nexus One.

I have been waiting for the Pre, but I am still not convinced that I want the Pre over an android phone. I have played with both and they both have merit.

And I am sick and tired of waiting--I have been waiting for the "Perfect Phone" since last January.

So . . . should I drop 5 bills (6, really, after accessories and some apps) on the Nexus One (which I could have in my hands tomorrow!) or should I have a drink and try to be patient for a few more months to see what is coming next?

One of my requirements has always been a physical keyboard, but I am starting to think that I could get used to an onscreen keyboard.

I guess I could always sell the N1 on eBay if something better comes along--I won't use my upgrade for AT&T, so I will be keeping my powder dry on that one.

HELP!!

~aviduser

 

[robsw]

For what it's worth, I've always been a strict physical keyboard person and traded an iPhone 3G and a 3GS to go back to a Nokia E71 and a Blackberry 9700 in part for that reason. That said, I have the Nexus on AT&T now and I love it. While I'm not, and likely never will be, as quick on the virtual keyboard, I'm getting pretty good with it now - particularly after switching to Better Keyboard and trying different skins until I found an optimal one. I say pull the trigger and give it a try.

 

[Kage_]

Yup, your in the same boat as I am. I have a jailbroken 2G iPhone that my wife really wants and I'm down to the same two choices. Go get a new iPhone or the N1. The thing that's really disturbing me right now about the N1 are the issues I keep reading about with it. The finish starting to degrade quickly on a brand new phones, phones that can't keep their network signal to save there lives, display issues, and now HTC has come out and flatly said that the N1 can't be carried in pockets. I would be willing to plunk down the change for an N1, but I want a device where I'm not the beta tester. I have no problems with tinkering with the software, but the hardware should be solid.

I have also been a Palm user for many years. Never with there phones, but there PDA's. I have devices going back 6 - 7 years with them. I also agree about the Pre, I've played with it and it has a cool OS, but they are up for sale so that's not a big endorsement to purchase a device.

 

[aviduser]

Well . . . I pulled the trigger. N1 arriving tomorrow.

I will let you know what I think.

Thanks to all who posted.

~aviduser

 

[spacecasespiff]

iv had mine for a month and ive not realy had any issues with it. the only screen issue is that its hard to see in the sun. there are a lot of keyboards yoy can get that might be good for you im typing thus with one called bettet keybiard and im thinking about buying the full version its that good.

 

[LCW]

HTC keyboard is much MUCH better than the stock Nexus kb (which frankly, sucks ass)

 

[Phil Nickinson]

Looking forward to see what you think. I went from the Treo 750 to the Q9h to the Touch Pro 2 -- all excellent keyboards -- to the N1. It's definitely a different experience, and I don't type as much as I used to because of it. But I think the rest of the phone makes up for it. Hell, it's what Dieter and I used exclusively in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress.

Well . . . I pulled the trigger. N1 arriving tomorrow.

I will let you know what I think.

Thanks to all who posted.

~aviduser

 

[Duvi]

I pulled the trigger as well (going on a month) and still have my 3Gs. The keyboard for me is still superior on the iPhone and have been going back and forth with a lot of keyboards. I can type faster on the iPhone than any device (except the Pearl as I was a beast with). This includes physical and touchscreen device. With that said, I will still be selling my 3Gs as there are a lot of positives and I've learned to live with the keyboard. I go back and forth between the android keyboard, Swype & using the speech recognition built in as well as Vlingo for a lot of my typing.

I bust out hundreds of text messages a day and can easily do the same with Twitter. One thing I thought could not increase was how much I used the browser. The iPhone is good, but the Nexus is excellent. I love the web even more on the N1 as it loads pages a lot faster and the screen looks beau--tee-FULL (beautiful).

Enjoy... I'm sure you'll love it.

 

[aviduser]

Thanks to all for your comments. I guess I am officially part of the Android Central Community now that I have an Android device.

So I got it last night and have been playing around with it. So far so good. LOVE the voice activated functions--though I would not have known about them if my brother had not showed it to me on his Droid.

A few observations:

Hate the contacts app. Why won't it let me sort by last name? Also, what happened to my categories/groups?

Love the availability of most of my favorite Treo apps AND most of the really cool iPhone apps.

Love the multitasking/quick switching.

Trackball usefulness not clear yet--still trying it out.

Love the haptic feedback.

Getting used to the keyboard.

Waiting for a better calendar app to appear.

Will need lots of advice & recommendations about favorite apps, etc. (I will make a separate post about this--after searching )

Probably gonna get the nutshell case--had one for my treo and it is really the best out there. Debating the sedio two-piece skin case (forgot name) that I have on there now. Like the extra protection, but it seems that I would not be able to use a cradle with it on. Plus changing batteries will be a pain.

BTW, removable battery is a huge plus. I loved this about the Treo--if you are on the go for a long day and can't plug in, you can still keep going.

So . . . those are my initial impressions.

And yes, I am having fun with my new phone--especially coming from the 2.5G Treo 680!

Cheers,

aviduser

 

[URPREY]

I've found the stock N1 keyboard to be great once I turned off haptic feedback and sound.

 

[anon(6936)]

I got a little effectiveness bump when I rooted and used the keyboard that came on Cyanogen's mod.

 

[hakoreh]

For what it's worth, I've always been a strict physical keyboard person and traded an iPhone 3G and a 3GS to go back to a Nokia E71 and a Blackberry 9700 in part for that reason. That said, I have the Nexus on AT&T now and I love it. While I'm not, and likely never will be, as quick on the virtual keyboard, I'm getting pretty good with it now - particularly after switching to Better Keyboard and trying different skins until I found an optimal one. I say pull the trigger and give it a try.

what skin are you using? i had the same exact story up till the skin.