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Do people want a physical QWERTY keyboard on the Iphone 5

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Nope. A slightly larger screen yes though. But I do type better on the iPhone than I did with an EVO with many different keyboards, I liked swiftkey the best but the stock iPhone keyboard is the best.
 
ilkhan said:
Autocorrect most certainly does work in browser text fields on my sgs2 and using swiftkeyx. More so since this was typed on that combo. Yes looks and works ex tly like it does in any other text field.. Aside from my constantly hitting questions mark instead of the period key, and that is.
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I always had an issue with the Opera browsers specifically. When I was typing in Opera it wouldn't autocorrect or auto cap when using that keyboard, or other keyboards. So I stopped using Opera and really enjoy Dolphin HD now.

So quick poll for everyone: Does autocorrect work in browswer fields, and which keyboard and browser are you using?
 
I turn off the autocorrect on all my phones, it has the nasty habit of 'correcting' things I don't want to change. Makes me slower and decreases the readability of my texts/IMs/emails/etc.

I've also stuck mostly with the stock Android keyboards, from Froyo through ICS. Started using the virtual keyboard with CM6 in order to adapt to the virtual keyboard to widen my phone options. The stock keyboards have always been the fastest and most accurate of all the virtual keyboard options, and Google improved them significantly in Gingerbread and ICS. I've no experience with HoneyComb's keyboard though.
 
kyrax12 said:
Since people want a different design layout for each level of the iPhone brand
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Where do you get that idea?

I was wondering if adding a physical QWERTY keyboard would be a good idea.
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No.

It seems people want physical QWERTY high ended phones nowadays.
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Only people who either have never tried a touchscreen keyboard (ignorant) or claim that physical keyboards are more accurate that touchscreen keyboards (wrong*). (Oh, and the anti-Apple crowd (to be ignored).)

(*Muscle-memory is muscle-memory. Once you get use to the touchscreen keyboard, you can type as well as on a physical keyboard.)

MotionMan
 
ponyo said:
You're spreading FUD. That's old article and old test. It's well known Nexus One and the OD had inferior touch sensors to Apple. That's no longer the case. Link me a recent test showing something similar.
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Whether that's no longer the case is really not something that you or I know as a fact. There is no recent test so how the situation is right now is still up in the cloud, but at least up until the Nexus One, which, quite frankly, means up until Android 2.1 or so, it was still a real problem.

And not all Android phones on the market are top of the line, $700 phones. Please take that into account as well.
 
runawayprisoner said:
Whether that's no longer the case is really not something that you or I know as a fact. There is no recent test so how the situation is right now is still up in the cloud, but at least up until the Nexus One, which, quite frankly, means up until Android 2.1 or so, it was still a real problem.

And not all Android phones on the market are top of the line, $700 phones. Please take that into account as well.
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Please. You know you're spreading FUD and it's no longer true. Even the original Galaxy S touch sensor hardware matched or surpassed iPhone 4 sensors. I'll let you look it up since I don't feel like searching and reading.
 
ponyo said:
Please. You know you're spreading FUD and it's no longer true. Even the original Galaxy S touch sensor hardware matched or surpassed iPhone 4 sensors. I'll let you look it up since I don't feel like searching and reading.
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I think this is moving beyond the scope of this thread... but if you'd like to counter a point, please provide something to back up your claim. If you can't, then I think we should stop at this point.
 
MotionMan said:
Only people who either have never tried a touchscreen keyboard (ignorant) or claim that physical keyboards are more accurate that touchscreen keyboards (wrong*). (Oh, and the anti-Apple crowd (to be ignored).)

(*Muscle-memory is muscle-memory. Once you get use to the touchscreen keyboard, you can type as well as on a physical keyboard.)

MotionMan
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That is a pretty bold and unsubstantiated statement. I have both tried touchscreen keyboards (as well as purchased most of the Android ones, my favorite is Swiftkey) and still prefer a hardware keyboard for lengthy texts/messages (not to mention using the terminal). Swiftkey is pretty excellent, but it just isn't suited for lengthy messages or technical work, in my opinion.


Here are some reasons I prefer to have a hardware keyboard:

1) Physical feedback: This includes not only keypresses (which haptic feedback has taken care of) but also finger positioning, which on-screen keyboards will likely never be able to do anything about. (Knowing where your finger is by feeling the different keys brushing by).

2) Higher type rate: I've found that software keyboards typically drop characters if you try to type too fast. This has been addressed recently with multitouch keyboards and more accurate digitizers, although my subjective experience has still been that hardware keyboards do it better. (I also have an OG Droid, so the hardware is what it is)

3) More viewable area: Software keyboards take up screen space. Not a big deal for a quick text message, but it makes it difficult to use the terminal, and write lengthy forum messages. 😀
 
podspi said:
That is a pretty bold and unsubstantiated statement. I have both tried touchscreen keyboards (as well as purchased most of the Android ones, my favorite is Swiftkey) and still prefer a hardware keyboard for lengthy texts/messages (not to mention using the terminal). Swiftkey is pretty excellent, but it just isn't suited for lengthy messages or technical work, in my opinion.


Here are some reasons I prefer to have a hardware keyboard:

1) Physical feedback: This includes not only keypresses (which haptic feedback has taken care of) but also finger positioning, which on-screen keyboards will likely never be able to do anything about. (Knowing where your finger is by feeling the different keys brushing by).
Click to expand...

Muscle-memory is muscle-memory. I know here I am based on where my fingers are in relation to the edges of the phone.

2) Higher type rate: I've found that software keyboards typically drop characters if you try to type too fast. This has been addressed recently with multitouch keyboards and more accurate digitizers, although my subjective experience has still been that hardware keyboards do it better. (I also have an OG Droid, so the hardware is what it is)
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This has not happened to me. YMMV.

3) More viewable area: Software keyboards take up screen space. Not a big deal for a quick text message, but it makes it difficult to use the terminal, and write lengthy forum messages. 😀
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If you are looking at the screen, then item 1 above seems to disappear. I also do not put a lot of weight into arguments about phone screen size as I do not see it as a big deal, but that is just me.

----

My statement is bold because it is correct.

There will be exceptions to the rule or the vocal minority (you may fit in one or both of those categories), but all-in-all, my claims are correct.

MotionMan (<--- Former owner of a hardware keyboard phone and current owner of an iPhone.)
 
The iPhone keyboard is excellent. I can blind type and it'll auto correct my mistakes almost all of the time. For some reason Android phones before the DroidX didn't even support multitouch keyboards.

A feature that I like about the auto correct is that it only comes up when something is misspelled and it's in a bubble, which takes up little space. My experience with android is that there is a huge word suggestion bar with every word you type. I hate hate that thing, it sucks.
 
MrX8503 said:
The iPhone keyboard is excellent. I can blind type and it'll auto correct my mistakes almost all of the time. For some reason Android phones before the DroidX didn't even support multitouch keyboards.

A feature that I like about the auto correct is that it only comes up when something is misspelled and it's in a bubble, which takes up little space. My experience with android is that there is a huge word suggestion bar with every word you type. I hate hate that thing, it sucks.
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yeah that can be pretty annoying. Between that and the Status bar and the keyboard, you lose all textbox area when typing in landscape.
 
Apple pioneered the keyboardless smartphone. Why would they suddenly add one? This is one case where they rely on their strong eco system.
 
MotionMan said:
If you are looking at the screen, then item 1 above seems to disappear. I also do not put a lot of weight into arguments about phone screen size as I do not see it as a big deal, but that is just me
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Quite the opposite! I agree that you can build up quite a bit of muscle memory for any sort of repetitive action, but generally at some point you are going to need to 'ping' one or more of your senses to make sure you are in the right position. Feeling key edges allows me to do this w/out looking at the keyboard.


Which phone did you have before the iPhone? I must admit that I've considered giving up my OG Droid a few times for a keyboardless phone, but my semi-constant use of the keyboard has always held me back. I have an iPod Touch, and while it hands-down has the best/second-best touch keyboard I've ever used (Swiftkey w/ its predictive text as pretty awesome), I still prefer using my OG Droid's admittedly terrible hardware keyboard.


And I doubt Apple would ever slap a keyboard on the iPhone. It would be cool if they offered an official keyboard case, though.
 
podspi said:
Quite the opposite! I agree that you can build up quite a bit of muscle memory for any sort of repetitive action, but generally at some point you are going to need to 'ping' one or more of your senses to make sure you are in the right position. Feeling key edges allows me to do this w/out looking at the keyboard.


Which phone did you have before the iPhone? I must admit that I've considered giving up my OG Droid a few times for a keyboardless phone, but my semi-constant use of the keyboard has always held me back. I have an iPod Touch, and while it hands-down has the best/second-best touch keyboard I've ever used (Swiftkey w/ its predictive text as pretty awesome), I still prefer using my OG Droid's admittedly terrible hardware keyboard.


And I doubt Apple would ever slap a keyboard on the iPhone. It would be cool if they offered an official keyboard case, though.
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Lets face it, you're the exception. Not the rule.
People generally prefer virtual keyboards.
Phones with physical keyboards is a dying breed.
 
ponyo said:
Please. You know you're spreading FUD and it's no longer true. Even the original Galaxy S touch sensor hardware matched or surpassed iPhone 4 sensors. I'll let you look it up since I don't feel like searching and reading.
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OK, what ever the reason is, Android do not have a virtual keyboard that can match the iPhones.
My last 3 phones have been Androids. Galaxy S, G2x, Galaxy S2.
I've used Samsung, Android and Swiftkey and its just not as good.
 
kaerflog said:
OK, what ever the reason is, Android do not have a virtual keyboard that can match the iPhones.
My last 3 phones have been Androids. Galaxy S, G2x, Galaxy S2.
I've used Samsung, Android and Swiftkey and its just not as good.
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Android does. I already told you to try the ICS keyboard. It is what it is. If you want iPhone keyboard, use an iPhone.
 
YoungGun21 said:
I think people need to get off of the crutch that is physical keyboards.
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To this day I still prefer a real keyboard. It's not a crutch. The only thing is that high end phones rarely have them and I prefer a smaller device so the positives outweigh the negatives for me. Plus, having emulators is awesome with a real keyboard.
 
kyrax12 said:
One thing I don't get is why apple doesn't increase the 3.5 inches to a 4 inch.
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One handed usability. See: http://www.imore.com/2011/10/07/iphone-4s-stick-35inch-screen/

Basically you can't reach some of the extremes of the screen once you get too far above 3.5" screens using one hand. This is even more true with younger folks, some women, or just anybody in general with smaller hands. I don't have small hands, have no trouble playing my guitars or anything, yet I still have trouble with my 4.3" screen on my SGS2. Hitting the buttons that apps like to put in the upper corners is a PITA. Especially since I still have to be able to reach my back button at the bottom of my phone most of the time. Truthfully, after going from an iphone4 to a 4" Atrix and now a 4.3" SGS2 my sweet spot would be right at or a little below 4". While I love the larger display, the usability is definitely hindered. I can understand why apple doesn't want to increase the screen size much, if at all given all the different people that use that phone.
 
Few models released these days are QWERTY. So it seems by basic supply and demand that most don't care.

Of course, people's tastes differ, but IMO touchscreen better suits the form factor of a smartphone.
 
I think people need to get off of the crutch that is physical keyboards.
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Your opinion is not right for all, that is hubris plain and simple. Why would you not want Apple to offer a keyboard, it doesn't hurt you in any way, and would help them sell more phones and make the 10-15&#37; of the market that likes physical keyboards happy?

Can you use your keyboard-less phone wearing gloves in the winter? Yes it gets very cold in many places on this planet, so that matters.

Do you type out long email messages and documents on your phone or wait until you get home to a laptop/computer?

Do the Android/Blackberry phones that have physical keyboards have a site dedicated to the horrible auto-correct mistakes that are made in the thousands everyday that the iPhone does?

It's just a fact that some people don't like virtual keyboards, why you would want to remove from them the choice to use them and impose your experience is just naive, and bad business for Apple and anyone else who doesn't offer a physical keyboard.
 
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