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reidzor · Nov 22, 2008, 03:09 AM

Hey everyone, I've been itching to ask this question for a bit, but I just got the itch to do so. Ok, Apple pretty much has the best touchscreen phone out in the iPhone 3g. However, why don't they combine the wicked awesome touchscreen they have with a small slide-out qwerty keyboard? If they found a way to do this, they would have the game locked up tight. I don't think anyone could compete with them. I know that the form factor of the iPhone is near and dear to Steve Jobs, but the fact is, if they could slip that qwerty in, adding MAYBE a grand total of 1 to 1.5 mm to the thickness, they would in my mind, have the best phone, not just touchscreen, music, and mobile internet phone, but PHONE out on the market.

Oh and btw, please get rid of the AT&T exclusive! Nothing against their employees, or the company itself, but share the love. Other people want the iPhone aside from those out there that like AT&T's service. Make an unlocked GSM/CDMA model already... please!

reidzor · Nov 22, 2008, 03:10 AM

Sorry for all the run-ons. I was just really excitable as I typed that.

Ted L. Nancy · Nov 22, 2008, 10:32 AM

So you want... 2 keyboards... for your iPhone? Gee, my 8-core Mac Pro only has one. Sorry, but I continue to fail to see the advantage/appeal to having a clunky "mechanical" kb pop out of the bottom of the iPhone. Also, it's gonna take a little bit more engineering than just gluing it onto the bottom of the phone. For all we know, the entire phone may need to be redesigned to accommodate a keyboard.

Have you tried using an iPhone's touch kb? As with most new user interfaces and input concepts, I'll admit it takes some getting used to, but as you learnt o trust the correction system more and more, its intuitiveness becomes unparalleled. Out of curiosity, what exactly is appealing about a physical/mechanical kb to you other than the run-of-the-mill reasons such as "I'm used to my blackberry" or "I like to feel the keys" or "I know I can type faster on it"??

Not to let you down, but you'll never see what you're suggesting. Apple seems to be steadily gaining more and more market share here, and it really doesn't seem as though the keyboard (or lack thereof) is preventing people from getting an iPhone. Apple seems to have the right idea that continuing to add more new features and more marketing of the Apple Store is what will attract more and more customers.

Now the ATT exclusivity, that may be holding a lot more people back, but you've got to give ATT some credit for landing the iPhone contract. Consider switching carriers. It's only a two year contract, and it seems that the contract isn't due to expire for at least that long.

reidzor · Nov 22, 2008, 03:39 PM

I have to say that I just don't feel that the touch keyboard on the screen is as intuitive as it could be. If Apple made a landscape touch kb for mms messages it would make things a bit easier. You can type in landscape in the web browser, why not in the mms? As for being exclusive with ATT, I refuse to switch cellphone carriers. One, I work for Alltel, and "B" I've been on ATT before, and they screwed me out of $600. I could live without a physical kb, but I could not live with ATT.

Mrjinglesusa · Nov 22, 2008, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by reidzor

I could live without a physical kb, but I could not live with ATT.

Then unfortunately, you'll have to learn to live without an iPhone 3G for a few more years or get an unlocked 1st Gen.

Rumor · Nov 22, 2008, 05:32 PM

Originally Posted by reidzor

I have to say that I just don't feel that the touch keyboard on the screen is as intuitive as it could be. If Apple made a landscape touch kb for ~~mms~~ text messages it would make things a bit easier. You can type in landscape in the web browser, why not in the ~~mms~~ text mode? As for being exclusive with ATT, I refuse to switch cellphone carriers. One, I work for ~~Alltel~~ Verizon, and "B" I've been on ATT before, and they screwed me out of $600. I could live without a physical kb, but I could not live with ATT.

Perhaps you should try out the Storm then.

gradient · Nov 22, 2008, 11:26 PM

I love the touch keyboard. I also don't get why so many people seem to think that they need landscape mode to type fast. I use landscape for typing as little as possible because I type waaayyy faster in portrait mode. There is a much farther distance that your fingers need to move in landscape making it slower by far in my books unless you have abnormally large hands.

Rumor · Nov 23, 2008, 03:44 AM

Originally Posted by gradient

I love the touch keyboard. I also don't get why so many people seem to think that they need landscape mode to type fast. I use landscape for typing as little as possible because I type waaayyy faster in portrait mode. There is a much farther distance that your fingers need to move in landscape making it slower by far in my books unless you have abnormally large hands.

Maybe you have abnormally small hands?

reidzor · Nov 23, 2008, 01:46 PM

I've looked at the Storm. I feel it's a good competitor to the iPhone, but there is one major flaw. The screen "clicks," or depresses, but it only does it so fast. Therefore you are limited to how fast you can type by how fast the screen clicks up and down. I know for a fact that Noah from phonedog.com has already addressed this issue, and I fully agree with him. If RIM put out a firmware update that allowed you to turn the "clicking" feature off, it would make it a lot easier for people with warp speed texting skills to enjoy the phone much more.

JKT · Nov 23, 2008, 06:14 PM

The Storm has a far bigger flaw than that - no Wi-Fi.

reidzor · Nov 23, 2008, 11:44 PM

This is very true. no WiFi is a huge flaw. Good call.

gradient · Nov 24, 2008, 04:24 AM

Originally Posted by Rumor

Maybe you have abnormally small hands?

Nice one, but I have to say that I have decidedly average sized hands...

reidzor · Nov 24, 2008, 11:55 PM

Has anyone read any rumors or seen any pictures of Apple discontinuing its iPhone exclusive with AT&T?

danbrew · 09:48 AM

I wonder how much the "average" iPhone user types vs. the "average" blackberry user? I'm guessing, of course, but I'd bet that there are more blackberries & windows mobile devices hooked up to corporate email systems than there are iPhones. While all of us do email, I'd bet that the "average" corporate email user does a lot more email than those of us with iPhones. My fingers are fat... the virtual keyboard doesn't work so well. I like the slideout keyboard (and, being a phone junkie, have four or five phones with physical keyboards) and seem to be able to type much faster on them than on my iPhone.

I doubt we'll ever see an iPhone with a physical keyboard. It's just not cool.

Also, looks like the ads at MacNN don't want us to have an iPhone either...

heh

philm · Nov 25, 2008, 12:32 PM

What I would really like on the iPhone is handwriting recognition done with the finger. I used to type very fast and very accurately on a Palm via handwriting recognition. I would think this could be very nicely implemented on an iPhone. Maybe HR is just too 1990s for some reason.

Ted L. Nancy · Nov 25, 2008, 12:34 PM

Originally Posted by philm

What I would really like on the iPhone is handwriting recognition done with the finger. I used to type very fast and very accurately on a Palm via handwriting recognition. I would think this could be very nicely implemented on an iPhone. Maybe HR is just too 1990s for some reason.

If Apple was gonna do this I think it would have already happened. (After all, they've done it before.)

JKT · Nov 25, 2008, 07:37 PM

They already do it for Chinese characters.