Why isn't there more choice of QWERTY smart phones

Is the Droid 3 going to come out in the UK? Qwertys are still pretty popular over here thankfully no doubt due to the crappy pre-smart 'textphones' that were popular here that never really took off on the UK.
 
I can honestly type faster on the iPhone 4 keyboard than on the Nokia E7 or Bold 9900. I could no doubt get a bit better with practice, but not so much that it would make a big difference.
 
Has anyone seen this? Linky

It looks.. Interesting. It seems to be about 15cm long, but I can't find the dimensions anywhere.

I'm tempted to get one actually, although it's probably more suited to use with a tablet than a phone.
 
Sorry to be resurrecting this thread but my contract is coming up for renewal in Jan currently have a nokia N900 and have no idea why anyone would ever use a touch screen. Personal preference I suppose but I have to agree more so with Richdog, the iphone is such a status thing in the uk that people buy them regardless!

If BB sell sooo many phones to teenagers then surely a HW keyboard is not in the total minority? same goes for people who text a lot being in the minority, it seems the younger half of the Uk population spend all of their time on facebook or texting friends as it's the cheapest form of communication...

The crux of the problem is why it effects the UK so much, there are loads of awesome keyboard phones out in the US but none make it to the UK?!?!?! It's so annoying that the milestone 3 is not coming out over here, WHY??? I find myself reading articles about how "x" phone with keyboard is "great" and how it's such a shame it's not coming to the UK, the Register is always bangin on about the lack of HW keyboards on mobiles but then I found this one lonely thread on the net, try and google it I couldn't any other real conversations regarding the reason for a lack of HW keyboards. It's like an entire population of zombies, gona be forced into getting a sony xperia mini pro :(
 
There do seem to be a lot of BB phones for sale though... seems like there is a model for each week of each month!

I totally agree that BB keyboards do suck, hence I personally would be going for a slide out keyboard. My thought lean to the fact that HW keyboards have been ruined by Nokia... both the N900 and N97 flopped thanks to Nokia's terrible business skills!

AS previously mentioned I just hate the thought of loosing half my screen to a virtual keyboard, plus i play loads of games on my phone and I like the fact I can use the keyboard.

Tried to have a google regarding the BB sales and i can't really find any news on the sales falling... around the world yes but it appears they are still doing very well in the UK. Beside the point though as I would never buy one! The shortage seems to be more so based on the flip/slide out variety of phone. :(
 
I have the Bold 9900 and personally think it's got the best keyboard of any phone I have ever owned. At the end of the day it' comes down to personal opinion, some people hate a touch screen keyboard, others hate a hardware keyboard, it doesn't mean that either is any worse than the other.

Personally I like the hardware keyboard as you get a feel for the keys and I can type on it very fast with very little errors, no more than what I make on a computer keyboard anyway.
 
totally agree! All down to personal taste, still it annoys me that so many people seems to like the idea of a HW keyboard but the variety is poor. I REALLY need an alternative to my N900. Slide out landscape keyboard, dual core and preferably running android.

If anyone has any ideas, please do let me know! ;) will keep my fingers crossed motorola change their minds or maybe samsung will release the glide over here (fingers crossed).
 
andy_mk3 said:
I have the Bold 9900 and personally think it's got the best keyboard of any phone I have ever owned. At the end of the day it' comes down to personal opinion, some people hate a touch screen keyboard, others hate a hardware keyboard, it doesn't mean that either is any worse than the other.

Personally I like the hardware keyboard as you get a feel for the keys and I can type on it very fast with very little errors, no more than what I make on a computer keyboard anyway.
Click to expand...

This a million times...all about personal preference really.

I have both an ip4 and 9900 and i prefer my BB 9900 ten times more than the ip4 especially when it comes to typing.
 
Spotfist said:
totally agree! All down to personal taste, still it annoys me that so many people seems to like the idea of a HW keyboard but the variety is poor. I REALLY need an alternative to my N900. Slide out landscape keyboard, dual core and preferably running android.

If anyone has any ideas, please do let me know! ;) will keep my fingers crossed motorola change their minds or maybe samsung will release the glide over here (fingers crossed).
Click to expand...

Import from america. Aren't there several there? Wether you like it or not, it's a niche market, so you have to way up extra cost vs your enjoyment.
That's all you can really do, after Nokia failings I can't see companies being in a hurry and even if they do as there's no competition, the chances are the phone will have failings.
 
imports from america don't always work in the UK plus I was hoping to get the phone on contract as I got a pretty good deal with T-mobile at the moment ;)

Maybe it is a niche market but look how many people have already stated they like a HW keyboard on this page it's almost a 50/50 split. Even if we assume it's small part of the sales, last year there were a few slide out qwerty's and loads of BB's any ideas on what may be coming up in 2012? surely they it can't be an zero slide out KB year? :(
 
In a search for 2012 phones, just seen Microsoft have been awarded a pretty broad patent
http://www.wp7connect.com/2011/08/12/microsoft-awarded-patent-for-sliding-mobile-device-yesterday/
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph...5752.PGNR.&OS=DN/20110195752RS=DN/20110195752

Mobile communications devices having moveable housings are described. In an implementation, a mobile communications device includes a first housing that includes a display device; and a second housing that includes a keyboard. At least one of the first or second housings are moveable between a first configuration in which the first housing substantially covers the second housing so the keyboard is covered and the display device is viewable and a second configuration in which the keyboard is exposed and positioned such that an outer plane of the keyboard is positioned in a substantially similar plane to that of an outer surface of the display device.
Click to expand...

So possible w7p next year with slide out KB.

Lol filed feb 2010, brilliant you have to love the patent system.

Also swappable keyboard patent
http://www.phonebuff.com/2011/09/mi...s-phone-swappable-keyboard-gamepad-batteries/
 
Last edited:
Richdog said:
What an absolute load load of rubbish. Seriously, get a clue.
Click to expand...

Got one thanks. They are terriable.
As others have said personal preference and all that. They are less than useless.

Thankfully work is starting to roll out iPhones in the new year with completion in Jutish. There's another few thousand customers lost. Maintaince alone is 13000 although most are on old nokias not BB
 
Last edited:
As a owner of the Motorola Milestone, I'm all for the niche market of QWERTY.

But that's what we are: a niche market.

A QWERTY-Slider Smart Phone has a lot of compromises:

1. Size: They will never be the thinnest phones in the world.
2. Hardware: They will never be the bleeding edge in hardware.
3. Choice: You won't have nearly as much of it.
4. Weight: They will never be the lightest phones in the world.
5. Price: They will rarely be the cheapest phones.

However, what I would love to see is one that's quite thin (say just 2mm thicker than a SGII) and iPhone 4 size (slightly bigger by 5mm in width and length) and has almost bleeding edge hardware (say currently SGII specs)

Choice? Meh, you get me the above and I won't care if you're a unknown Russian brand.

Weight? My old Nokia weighs the same as my Milestone. It's a little heavy but hardly going to break an arm or rip through a pocket.

Price? You get me the above specs and I definitely won't be expecting it to be cheaper than a SGII.

I rarely use my phone as a phone. I really consider it an advancement of a PDA with phone call capability. I text a lot on it and I surf the web. Typing searches or emails is so much more comfortable on a physical keyboard. It's easier to input special characters, delete words/sentences promptly and break lines because of the directional keys, shift, alt and return buttons. Just selecting and copying text is much simpler.


There has been whispers of a Samsung Galaxy slider as well as a RAZR slider. I'm all fingers crossed.
 
How you can say BB keyboards are useless is beyond me. the 9900 is miles better than the Milestone (which went through 2 keyboard membranes in the time I owned it - Yes, I type a lot), and I loved the milestone!

Droid 3 would be the perfect phone for me, honestly. Although I'm beginning to get sucked into BBM...
 
My nokia still does the job, overclocked to a gig with a gig of ram i think. Runs maemo so has loads of potential shame nokia fluffed it all up! just want something running android, might go win7... the htc Z i think was a windows. Anyone know any good websites for upcoming phones? only good one I can find is GSMarena but makes me cry every time I look at it.

Will juat keep me fingers crossed the Droid E comje out in th UK! ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom