The Physical Keyboard: Is it really THAT difficult to use?

[wuyanks]

after an (admittedly) long learning curve of about 2 weeks... i type on it just fine... 30 wpm'ish with no errors. but at first i could barely type 5 wpm

 

[imiller913]

I don't find it hard to use at all, it's not the best keyboard ever but it gets the job done

 

[nitsuj]

It's not a bad keyboard, but I prefer to use the virtual one. Specifically the virtual keyboard in landscape mode. The keyboard on my LG EnV was WAY better than the Droid keyboard. I can't put my finger on what actually made it better, but it was. Maybe I just needs to get used to the KB on the Droid. Either way, between the choice of 3 keyboards I'm happy with the performance. I just installed Swype, so I'll be interested to see how that changes my texting, if at all.

 

[crspang]

I don't use the physical keyboard too much, and to be honest I'm not that impressed with it so far. I'm using it right now to type this and I could be going so much faster with the stock onscreen board in landscape mode.

 

[gardobus]

The reason the EnV type keyboards feel a little better is the spacing between keys. It gives your fingers the feeling that every key is separate. The Droid keys don't have much depth to them and almost no spacing between them so its harder to feel the difference between any 2 keys. Plus they are kinda rubbery.

But thats fine with me, if they weren't like that then the phone would be fugly fat like a TP2 lol

 

[M1dnite]

I've used touch devices since 2001. My first iPaq had a near standard-sized keyboard that I could attach to the data port and take notes and create documents. Even then I knew that doing work on a small screen was difficult at best and that using a physical device was much simpler than a virtual one.

Fast forward to just a few months ago and here I was making excuses for my HTC Touch, it's small screen and its virtual (on-screen) keyboard.

Since getting the DROID, I have not looked back, nor have I had ANY desire to use ANY on-screen, virtual keyboard at any point.

When I take the DROID out of my pocket, I don't even touch the power button. That's far too difficult. Instead, since I'll probably be using the keyboard anyway, I just slide the keyboard open, which turns the screen on. For me, that's the same amount of steps that it takes to locate and press the power button.

How easy is it to just slide the phone open and it's on??

As far as usability goes, I think the size is slightly awkward, but my average sized, man-hands (size large glove) seems to thumb the keyboard just fine.

I send text messages at teenager speed and am able to play emulators as if I were on a PC with no joystick. Web browsing has never been more enjoyable and I feel like I don't have a need for a laptop any longer as the DROID does everything I could ever want as far as mobility goes.

It works well. I love it. No problems, I always use it.

 

[HolyGrail]

Well I had to get my phone replaced and came to the conclusion that both physical keyboards don't have the same feel to them, even tho they look the same. My first one had a terrible feel to it. Stiff and felt as the keyboard would flex when I hit a key. To the point I stop using it in favor of the landscape keyboard. On the replacement I was shock to see this one was much more easier to type on, the keys give and there is no flexing. I went back and forth to make sure and even lets a verizon store employee check it out. She said she noticed it too with some of new shipments the keyboard had this change, so I'm not crazy. I'm now back to liking the keyboard again and stopped using the landscape keyboard as much.

 

[MrTommy]

Now loving the virtual keyboard

My only real complaint about the physical keyboard is that the enter key is right below the backspace/del key, and I have more than once hit the enter instead of backspace and sent a message before I was done it.

That is exactly my biggest complaint about the physical keyboard.

I came over from an enV2 where I had a great keyboard. I loved it, and thought I'd love the keyboard on the Droid just as much. Well, the 'expert' at the Verizon store that installed my Body Glove put the top cover on 180° off. I could hardly reach the top row of keys at all. So I quickly migrated to the virtual (vertical) keyboard and have grown to love the hell out of it. I especially like how it presents you with words to pick from as you type so you can eliminate many strokes, particularly on larger words.

Meantime, I found out by accident that the top cover was on wrong when I took both covers off to clean the phone and pull out the SD chip. I noticed the difference in shape and put the cover back on, right this time. But now it's too late. I'm in love with the virtual keyboard. I only use the 'real' keyboard when I need to move the cursor a bunch of spaces and don't want to have to delete everything in the process.

I notice if I sight down the 'real' keyboard at board level, it sure looks flat to ME... At least on my enV2 there was a slight bulge in each key, which I personally liked.

 

[ice456789]

The one reason I never really use the HW keyboard is that it does not have word suggestions. If it popped up a suggestion and you could just hit space to use that suggestion and move to the next word I would never have used virtual. And yes I know about the HTC keyboard hack but I'm not willing to go that route.

And now that I've got swype, I'm not going back. I can type much faster on swype than I ever could on the virtual keyboard.

 

[homemadehitshow]

Love the keyboard but someone needs to add auto correct. Why did they not include that?

 

[640k]

like i said before, coming from a physical keyboard, word suggestions just didn't cut it for me. i was making excuses just to use it.

it takes longer to scan and find the word than it does to actually type it out and if the word is not in the dictionary, forget about it.

i'd rather abbrev a long word than go through the trouble of lifting my fingers from the keyboard and selecting it.

 

[frbooker87]

I use the physical keyboard for 2 reasons.
1. The screen reminds me of a flatscreen tv it looks best to me widescreen. Maybe I'm a little weird but its a little "skinny" in portrait mode.
2. It feels lighter(obviously because I'm holding it with 2 hands) but it feels more comfortable especially when reading something to rest my thumbs on the keyboard.

 

[homemadehitshow]

like i said before, coming from a physical keyboard, word suggestions just didn't cut it for me. i was making excuses just to use it.

it takes longer to scan and find the word than it does to actually type it out and if the word is not in the dictionary, forget about it.

i'd rather abbrev a long word than go through the trouble of lifting my fingers from the keyboard and selecting it.

So you are saying no one should have the choice ??

I have to disagree with you, programs such as WORD have auto correct and auto-text etc. T9 uses the keyboard to select words. There are lots of ways to make auto correct work without it being a burden.

 

[Geofferson]

The physical keyboard works fine for me -- although I use it less and less with swype.

 

[frbooker87]

Oh and my thumbs are too large for swype ;-p