[android] phones with physical keyboards

[localzuk]

Noticed last night that my contract is up in January, and as such will be looking to replace my now ageing G1.

 

I dislike typing on a touchscreen, I just don't understand why someone would want to.

 

So, I have my eye on something like the HTC Desire Z, which I can get on Vodafone (direct) or other providers via a third party seller.

 

Are there any other phones with physical keyboards around?

Edited April 21, 2011 by ZeroHour

[Ric_]

Motorola used to do a couple of handsets but I think they may now be discontinued. One thing I noticed about the Desire Z is that it uses a 800MHz processor rather than the 1GHz one in all the other Desire handsets. It seems a random choice to me but it may make it sluggish.

 

From Internet reports, there's also liely to be some exciting new handsets in Q1 of 2011 so you may be just as well holding off for a little while.

[stickyfoot]

exciting new handsets in Q1 of 2011

 

Does anything in particular stand out to you?

 

I've ummed and ahhed for a long time about migrating from my first gen BB Pearl to an Android phone but have been unwilling to lose the physical keyboard. I thought the Desire Z was the answer but I wasn't impressed with the mechanism when I was playing with one in a shop.

[nile_c]

I had heard Motorola will be releasing the Droid 2 as the Milestone 2 here in Europe, but I've not spotted a release date yet.

[steveg]

I went from a G1 to a desire z about a month ago, took a little getting used to because the keyboard layout is very different (numbers are alt functions on top row of letters now, not thier own keys) but once I got used to it its fine.

 

The phone sorts pretty much all of the problems with the g1 - like a flash for the camera now, and is very very quick. Only thing i'm not sure on is the keyboard slip mechanism, and if its going to last!

 

Steve

[Ric_]

Exclusive: LG's 4-inch Android phone with dual-core Tegra 2 and 1080p video coming in early 2011 -- Engadget sounds exciting if only for the geek factor of dual core processor (no keyboard mind)

 

The only ones I've seen recently with keyboards are the Droid 2 and the Samsung Intercept.

[Haptic]

I've got the Sony Ericson Xperia X10-mini Pro, would have preferred the full size X10 Pro with keyboard but couldn't get my hands on any. It's not a bad phone though the inability to keep it on function when typing numbers on the pad is a bit of a pain (think double the number of presses to enter a number). OS is nice, not done much major with it as yet but it seems to run well day to day.

 

Have to say though, only time I actually use keyboard is if I’m out and killing time penning lengthy tomes on Facebook- I had similar thoughts as yourself regarding pure touchscreen phones, I’ve always hated touch screen (dam my sausage fingers!) but have found that it’s not as bad as I first envisioned and is quite usable for SMS etc.

 

Mark

[mac_shinobi]

I dunno - people with fat finger syndrome who can't use touch screens, pffffttt

[edutech4schools]

Google are bringing out a new system for touch screens, you only need to touch a letter near the one you want and the software works out what you are typing. It was called drunk type or something like that but Google have renamed it to something else. I really like the touch type but only on the quality phones, its a very different experience on cheaper hardware.

[mac_shinobi]

I really like the touch type but only on the quality phones, its a very different experience on cheaper hardware.

 

What's your definition of quality phones ?

[gshaw]

It's so frustrating there's not many decent Android QWERTY devices out there... I didn't trust the build of the Desire Z after my track record with the Touch Pro (nothing wrong with the phone but it got some very rough treatment over the last year at times ) Also you don't get the AMOLED screen or the fast CPU so was a bit disappointed by it really.

 

Apart from that there's only the Milestone which has the problem of being a) Motorola and b) not offered through any network

 

I ended up with a Desire free from Orange and forcing myself to get used to touchscreen, already sent a few wrong texts and Facebook updates due to typos but it's getting there

 

Have to say the Desire flies, everything is so responsive and the screen is top notch, shame Google are trying to kill off Sense with the next-gen Android editions as it works really well on mine atm

[RyanBTBizDirect]

I've had the HTC Desire since April and my mate liked it enough to go for the HTC Desire Z, like you he prefers a QWERTY keyboard. He has had it for a month or so now and seems pretty happy with his decision. No complaints of lag despite the 800MHz processor.