Desktop/laptop virtual keyboard? That will work well for the hunt & peck typists i.e. the slow people will hold the faster ones back. Virtual keyboard works best for handheld because of the heavily constrained size and the small distance between screen and keyboard.
I can't see any reason it would hold anyone back, or not be useful for touch typists if combined with haptic feedback (which it certainly will be). If anything, it will speed things up. The advantages of being able to reconfigure the "keyboard" to task will, I think, far outweigh the resistance to giving up physical keys.
...Never used the iPhone's touch keyboard, but the touch keyboard on my phone (an LG) sucks tremendously. Sort of doubt that an iPhone would be much different.
And you would be wrong. Nice that you can admit your ignorance, but you should do it at the beginning of your post - let people know ahead of time that you're criticizing a phone you've never used.
You guys are hilarious in your critiques of the Droid's QWERTY keyboard. People are familiar with the QWERTY keyboard all over the world. Even in a country like Japan, whose language is far removed from the roman alphabet, they use and are quite familiar with roman letters and QWERTY keyboards. It's not the physical keys that matter; most phones outside the US that are produced for cultures that don't utilize the roman alphabet have software input menus that pop up, similar to when you hold down the "a" key (example) on the iPhone and it brings up a list of other "a" letters that are used in other languages. It was the same deal years go when people had to use their dial keys to txt. The QWERTY keyboard is the de facto keyboard around the world, and on phones too.
You guys are hilarious in your critiques of the Droid's QWERTY keyboard. People are familiar with the QWERTY keyboard all over the world. Even in a country like Japan, whose language is far removed from the roman alphabet, they use and are quite familiar with roman letters and QWERTY keyboards. It's not the physical keys that matter; most phones outside the US that are produced for cultures that don't utilize the roman alphabet have software input menus that pop up, similar to when you hold down the "a" key (example) on the iPhone and it brings up a list of other "a" letters that are used in other languages. It was the same deal years go when people had to use their dial keys to txt. The QWERTY keyboard is the de facto keyboard around the world, and on phones too.
You beat me to it...All my Japanese friends and myself included type Japanese on QWERTY. The keyboards are the same. Same goes with other friends around the world as well. Don't know what crack these posters are smoking but I'll take a hit on Halloween
it doesn't look bad bad, but whats with that lower edge sticking out that says "verizon" that's wierd. Other than that, if it ALSO supports a on screen keyboard for various languages that would sweet. Considering it's "open source" (notice the quotes) then a software keyboard should be so hard.
flip out a touch screen with the keys, or be able to use it for more screen space, build a larger battery, i don't need a credit card to talk into. who cares if it weights another 6 oz.
what they have is great for 12-21 year old kids, but let's get real for the business traveler.
know what would be cool, if they slide out keyboard was really just another screen, with a software keyboard. AH HA.
It would slide out, then flips around. That would make taking photos pretty cool. You could see from the lens side what was in picture and from the viewfinder side whats in frame. you could play 2 player games like battle ship on one phone. just prop it like a tent.
IIRC, the Super NES came out shortly after these ads, and it absolutely creamed the Genesis. I wonder if that's foreshadowing near future of the Droid / iPhone.
That's cause Nintendo had the games everyone wanted. Sorry, bad comparison. iPhone is the one with an app base to beat.
I certainly wouldn't call Apples militant grip on what we the great unwashed masses can and can't get on our iPhones and iPod touches Nazi like... No no no.. they are much closer to the actions of 'His Excellency' Benito.
One of the main reason people face typing on the iphone virtual keyboard is that they use the same apporach of selecting the key as for the hardware keyboard, which is wrong. Apple iphone key detection software is pretty smart, for instance when you press a key you don't have to worry about touching the adjcent keys, as long as when you place your finger, key the you want to press should be in the center, the key will be selected all the time. This apporach also works for people with fat finger (works with finger of any size), you have to think of iphone key size as that of three keys (if your finger can be fit in three consective keys you are good ( I cannot find any smart phone that has that big size keys...). Software is smart enough to know that you wanted to touch the key that covered the most of the surface area. This means that you have to change the apporach towards typing on iphone instead of trying to touch only one key, you touch the group of keys with the key in the center is the intended key... This apporach increase my tying speed on iphone alot, after that I can type on iphone faster than any other smart phone or PDA. The other advantage is that on iphone you don't have to press you can glide through the glass that also speed up the typing....
This debate of hardware vs software key board is same as that of GUI vs terminals in 1980s... Geeks still like to work on GUI less terminal (all the software development is written in languages that are written on terminal rather than GUI, that's way they like that environment), but consumer usage is very different... Text cannot win from GUI, animation form of presentation in consumer space... Hardware keyboard will remain for the older generation that don't want to learn the touch interface, but wide varity of consumer have already going in the direction of touch (keyless ) UI...
Wow, typical fanboy nonsense arguing form over function. Oh god, a keyboard that looks like a keyboard! The horror!
Really don't see how it looks much different than iPhone's "ugly square shape" and "plain" gray button.
What gray button? I don't have a gray button on my iPhone 3GS.
Quote:
Never used the iPhone's touch keyboard, but the touch keyboard on my phone (an LG) sucks tremendously. Sort of doubt that an iPhone would be much different. If I'm not typing something really short, I'll switch to the internal keyboard where I can type extremely fast.
Thanks for letting us know you've never used an iPhone keyboard. But as one who has used both an LG (which I used for 6 months before passing it to my son) and an iPhone (2months), there is an unbelievably huge difference between the two. I wouldn't even type on the LG, but on the iPhone, I can do about 25-30 error-free words a minute now.
iDon't support concurrent web access and voice calls.
iDon't support international network standards (like GSM).
iDon't have over 85,000 APPs (at least not yet).
iDo want complete control of all hardware and Apps on your smart phones.
iWill disable features that do not benefit my bottom line.
iWIll nickel and dime you for everything.
iWill bash the other guys..until my network fails under the same pressure when it is finally tested.
Nice, very true. Having come from Verizon to AT&T (and having left AT&T to Nextel to Verizon) really all cell companies are exactly the same!! They all rip you off, they all tell you their coverage is the best & all of them truly suck (even Verizon).
For me I switched to the iPhone because it was the best in the following categories I cared about.
1. Good coverage where I live & descent phone coverage most places I go
2. Solid OS & solid hardware
3. Unparalleled apps as well as unbeatable prices
4. Good battery life
When I first switched I was a little turned off by lack of tethering (not that my BBerry was of any use tethering to my Mac, slow as tar). However, because of the power of the networking apps I've been able to get for my iPhone I now have almost no reason to tether & infact rarely ever take my laptop with me anywhere. This is huge, seeing as I am a network admin, as I am on-call 24/7/365 & it's a little annoying to have to haul a laptop everywhere all the time (talk about ball & chain).
People tell me BBerry is better for business all the time, yet I just don't see it. I guess if all you ever do for business is e-mail from your phone then that might be right, for me the BBerry was a useless piece of garbage I couldn't wait to get rid of.
Comments
No number pad
Desktop/laptop virtual keyboard? That will work well for the hunt & peck typists i.e. the slow people will hold the faster ones back. Virtual keyboard works best for handheld because of the heavily constrained size and the small distance between screen and keyboard.
I can't see any reason it would hold anyone back, or not be useful for touch typists if combined with haptic feedback (which it certainly will be). If anything, it will speed things up. The advantages of being able to reconfigure the "keyboard" to task will, I think, far outweigh the resistance to giving up physical keys.
...Never used the iPhone's touch keyboard, but the touch keyboard on my phone (an LG) sucks tremendously. Sort of doubt that an iPhone would be much different.
And you would be wrong. Nice that you can admit your ignorance, but you should do it at the beginning of your post - let people know ahead of time that you're criticizing a phone you've never used.
You guys are hilarious in your critiques of the Droid's QWERTY keyboard. People are familiar with the QWERTY keyboard all over the world. Even in a country like Japan, whose language is far removed from the roman alphabet, they use and are quite familiar with roman letters and QWERTY keyboards. It's not the physical keys that matter; most phones outside the US that are produced for cultures that don't utilize the roman alphabet have software input menus that pop up, similar to when you hold down the "a" key (example) on the iPhone and it brings up a list of other "a" letters that are used in other languages. It was the same deal years go when people had to use their dial keys to txt. The QWERTY keyboard is the de facto keyboard around the world, and on phones too.
You beat me to it...All my Japanese friends and myself included type Japanese on QWERTY. The keyboards are the same. Same goes with other friends around the world as well. Don't know what crack these posters are smoking but I'll take a hit on Halloween
BTW what's up with that ugly gold directional area on the right of the keyboard. Talk about out of place color...
Everyone should have a little bling....
what they have is great for 12-21 year old kids, but let's get real for the business traveler.
what they have is great for 12-21 year old kids, but let's get real for the business traveler.
That's what blackberry is for.
It would slide out, then flips around. That would make taking photos pretty cool. You could see from the lens side what was in picture and from the viewfinder side whats in frame. you could play 2 player games like battle ship on one phone. just prop it like a tent.
IIRC, the Super NES came out shortly after these ads, and it absolutely creamed the Genesis. I wonder if that's foreshadowing near future of the Droid / iPhone.
That's cause Nintendo had the games everyone wanted. Sorry, bad comparison. iPhone is the one with an app base to beat.
That's cause Nintendo had the games everyone wanted. Sorry, bad comparison. iPhone is the one with an app base to beat.
good comparison actually. the iPhone has all the apps people want
Nazi?
Yea thats tellin em!
I certainly wouldn't call Apples militant grip on what we the great unwashed masses can and can't get on our iPhones and iPod touches Nazi like... No no no.. they are much closer to the actions of 'His Excellency' Benito.
This debate of hardware vs software key board is same as that of GUI vs terminals in 1980s... Geeks still like to work on GUI less terminal (all the software development is written in languages that are written on terminal rather than GUI, that's way they like that environment), but consumer usage is very different... Text cannot win from GUI, animation form of presentation in consumer space... Hardware keyboard will remain for the older generation that don't want to learn the touch interface, but wide varity of consumer have already going in the direction of touch (keyless ) UI...
Everyone should have a little bling....
Where did that guy come from?!!? I'll bet even the Swedes say "Woh!?! is that dude is WHITE or what?!?!"
How can they simultaneously criticize the iPhone and copy nearly every aspect of it? It rings hollow.
Next time pay more attention to the 'in party' political races...
Wow, typical fanboy nonsense arguing form over function. Oh god, a keyboard that looks like a keyboard! The horror!
Really don't see how it looks much different than iPhone's "ugly square shape" and "plain" gray button.
What gray button? I don't have a gray button on my iPhone 3GS.
Never used the iPhone's touch keyboard, but the touch keyboard on my phone (an LG) sucks tremendously. Sort of doubt that an iPhone would be much different. If I'm not typing something really short, I'll switch to the internal keyboard where I can type extremely fast.
Thanks for letting us know you've never used an iPhone keyboard. But as one who has used both an LG (which I used for 6 months before passing it to my son) and an iPhone (2months), there is an unbelievably huge difference between the two. I wouldn't even type on the LG, but on the iPhone, I can do about 25-30 error-free words a minute now.
iDon't support concurrent web access and voice calls.
iDon't support international network standards (like GSM).
iDon't have over 85,000 APPs (at least not yet).
iDo want complete control of all hardware and Apps on your smart phones.
iWill disable features that do not benefit my bottom line.
iWIll nickel and dime you for everything.
iWill bash the other guys..until my network fails under the same pressure when it is finally tested.
Nice, very true. Having come from Verizon to AT&T (and having left AT&T to Nextel to Verizon) really all cell companies are exactly the same!! They all rip you off, they all tell you their coverage is the best & all of them truly suck (even Verizon).
For me I switched to the iPhone because it was the best in the following categories I cared about.
1. Good coverage where I live & descent phone coverage most places I go
2. Solid OS & solid hardware
3. Unparalleled apps as well as unbeatable prices
4. Good battery life
When I first switched I was a little turned off by lack of tethering (not that my BBerry was of any use tethering to my Mac, slow as tar). However, because of the power of the networking apps I've been able to get for my iPhone I now have almost no reason to tether & infact rarely ever take my laptop with me anywhere. This is huge, seeing as I am a network admin, as I am on-call 24/7/365 & it's a little annoying to have to haul a laptop everywhere all the time (talk about ball & chain).
People tell me BBerry is better for business all the time, yet I just don't see it. I guess if all you ever do for business is e-mail from your phone then that might be right, for me the BBerry was a useless piece of garbage I couldn't wait to get rid of.