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Just upgraded from the Droid1 to the Galaxy Nexus.. Update: Got the Droid4.

E

Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
And I'm really annoyed.

I was concerned about the lack of a physical keyboard, but I thought I would get used to it. And I probably will. But it's really, really bugging me. I think I should have gotten the Droid3, or waited for the Droid4.

I hate that you have to switch screens to type punctuation or a smilie. I hate that when in panorama mode, you can't see the message you're replying to. I hate not having physical feedback. It feels so awkward not knowing if I'm pressing the button or not. The silly vibration when you hit a key doesn't help.

How do you people deal with this virtual keyboard crap? Gah!

The phone is nice and fast though, as is 4G...About the only thing I like so far. Normally I'm pretty smitten with stuff like this, but it doesn't feel worth $300 currently, I'm too annoyed.

Update:

I returned the Galaxy Nexus today and picked up the Droid 4.

I gave the touch keyboard a fair chance. I certainly got better with it, but it still annoyed me. Way too many mistakes. Just wasn't ever satisfied with it.

I think I'll like this much better. So far it feels just as snappy as the Nexus, though I do notice there are a TON of silly apps that I'll never use nor do I want.

So far the only thing that's annoying me is that you have to unlock the phone twice? First the side swipe, then with your custom visible pattern swipe? Kinda odd.
 
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I don't see how people deal with physical keyboards, I can type far faster with swiftkey than I ever could on a real keyboard.

If you don't like the stock keyboard try swype or swiftkey.
 
So what do you say when you want it to type a smilie? 😛 lol

Or "lol" for that matter?
 
swiftkey x is WAY faster than any type of real keyboard, the prediction is second to none. i can often type whole texts with no more than the first 2 letters of the word needed and it predicts the correct word 80% of the time, best 3.99 app i have purchased so far, there is a free version as well but the prediction isnt as good and thats the main selling point IMO.
 
I don't want it to predict.. I want it to be right 100% of the time, hence one of the many reasons I prefer a physical keyboard.

To type the "😛" smiley, I have to switch from ABC to 123 and back to ABC... That's BS.

I'm seriously considering returning it, assuming I even can.. lol. I think I would be much happier with the Droid3, even though it's not 4G..hmmm.
 
You'll definitely get used to it. Coming from a blackberry it was hard to adjust but after about a week with SwiftKey x you learn to adapt.
 
I guess I'll have to try this SwiftKey thing. How exactly is it different than the virtual keyboard?
 
... You did try the phone out before buying it right? A few minutes in the store would have told you all you needed to know about the keyboard.
 
Eli said:
I don't want it to predict.. I want it to be right 100% of the time, hence one of the many reasons I prefer a physical keyboard.

To type the "😛" smiley, I have to switch from ABC to 123 and back to ABC... That's BS.

I'm seriously considering returning it, assuming I even can.. lol. I think I would be much happier with the Droid3, even though it's not 4G..hmmm.
Click to expand...
Good luck with MotoBlur. D:

Physical keyboards are going the way of the dodo bird.
Deal with it.
 
Red Storm said:
... You did try the phone out before buying it right? A few minutes in the store would have told you all you needed to know about the keyboard.
Click to expand...

I researched all day. This was kinda a spur of the moment thing, the fiancee washed her phone this morning. 😉 We were going to get new phones in April anyway.

Of course I knew it didn't have a physical keyboard. I just didn't think I would hate it this much.
 
Take it back and get a Droid 3, sounds like you'd be a lot happier 🙂

There's no club requirements that you have to own a touchscreen only phone.
 
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Eli said:
And I'm really annoyed.

I was concerned about the lack of a physical keyboard, but I thought I would get used to it. And I probably will. But it's really, really bugging me. I think I should have gotten the Droid3, or waited for the Droid4.

I hate that you have to switch screens to type punctuation or a smilie. I hate that when in panorama mode, you can't see the message you're replying to. I hate not having physical feedback. It feels so awkward not knowing if I'm pressing the button or not. The silly vibration when you hit a key doesn't help.

How do you people deal with this virtual keyboard crap? Gah!

The phone is nice and fast though, as is 4G...About the only thing I like so far. Normally I'm pretty smitten with stuff like this, but it doesn't feel worth $300 currently, I'm too annoyed.
Click to expand...

News flash: That phone didnt cost you 300 bucks. It cost you 2500.
 
Eli said:
And I'm really annoyed.

I was concerned about the lack of a physical keyboard, but I thought I would get used to it. And I probably will. But it's really, really bugging me. I think I should have gotten the Droid3, or waited for the Droid4.

I hate that you have to switch screens to type punctuation or a smilie. I hate that when in panorama mode, you can't see the message you're replying to. I hate not having physical feedback. It feels so awkward not knowing if I'm pressing the button or not. The silly vibration when you hit a key doesn't help.

How do you people deal with this virtual keyboard crap? Gah!

The phone is nice and fast though, as is 4G...About the only thing I like so far. Normally I'm pretty smitten with stuff like this, but it doesn't feel worth $300 currently, I'm too annoyed.
Click to expand...

I'm really surprised you have so many issues transitioning to an on-screen keyboard. The physical keyboard on the Droid 1 was what made me switch over because it was so terrible. It's like you got used to it's awfulness in a stockholm-syndrome kind of way. I will say that you need practice with the on-screen keyboard. It'll take a month, but you'll develop new motor-skills and eventually type just as fast if not faster then your physical keys. And your thumbs will hurt a lot less.
 
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Eli said:
To type the "😛" smiley, I have to switch from ABC to 123 and back to ABC... That's BS.
Click to expand...

No you don't. There's a smiley key in the lower right corner, by default its 🙂
Hold it down for more options.

BTW, The Droid 3 is a complete piece of junk. Tiny RAM, combined with MotoBlur and a horrid screen and a locked bootloader. Keyboard is nice, but the phone is a stuttery laggy mess. And its about to be replaced by the Droid 4. Which looks like basically the same phone with a 4G radio and an improved screen.

Definitely does take a lot of getting used to to type on a virtual keyboard though. Even after having the Tbolt and Nexus, virtual keyboards since April 2011, I was still faster and more accurate on the old Droid 1 physical keyboard. The trade off is the thinner, lighter device. And more options for phone choices.
 
Eli said:
I guess I'll have to try this SwiftKey thing. How exactly is it different than the virtual keyboard?
Click to expand...

Don't waste your money on Swiftkey. It's just another virtual keyboard.

If you want physical keyboard phone, get one.
 
Rifter said:
swiftkey x is WAY faster than any type of real keyboard, the prediction is second to none. i can often type whole texts with no more than the first 2 letters of the word needed and it predicts the correct word 80% of the time, best 3.99 app i have purchased so far, there is a free version as well but the prediction isnt as good and thats the main selling point IMO.
Click to expand...

it can't handle >1 finger on the keypad at once. Severely limits my typing ability. It registers both touches but the key doesn't actually get written until the onTouchEnd event, IE when your finger lifts. Hence if you have 2 fingers on at once, pull one up, and then pull the other up, only 1 key is written.
 
soccerballtux said:
it can't handle >1 finger on the keypad at once. Severely limits my typing ability. It registers both touches but the key doesn't actually get written until the onTouchEnd event, IE when your finger lifts. Hence if you have 2 fingers on at once, pull one up, and then pull the other up, only 1 key is written.
Click to expand...

Never noticed this, possibly due to the prediction being so good it still works missing letters.

I will have to test this out now that you mention it though.
 
I am also coming from a physical keyboard but didn't use it that much anyway. I miss it, but swype has me typing quickly and with only 1 hand. Couldn't do it without it. Swiftkey which I tried, or any other 3rd party keyboard isn't better.

Swype isn't officially supported on the Nexus yet because of the screen size, but there's a workaround installer out there if you google it.
 
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Count me among the crowd that will never get used to virtual keyboards. If I have an option for a full keyboard, I will do it, and its not for lack of trying. These days I carry around a Blackberry Bold and a Samsung Focus just so I have a solid keyboard to type on...I say, hold out for the Droid 4.
 
Use SwiftKey. The main thing I miss from the lack of a hardware keyboard is the extra screen real estate. Once acclimated, I find I can type much faster using SwiftKey than I could with the hardware keyboard. My wife prefers it to the standard iOS keyboard.

Edit: testing out that multitouch thing. Mine seemed to behave the way you want, so long as the initial key press doesn't register as a long press.
 
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Eli said:
I don't want it to predict.. I want it to be right 100% of the time, hence one of the many reasons I prefer a physical keyboard.

To type the "😛" smiley, I have to switch from ABC to 123 and back to ABC... That's BS.

I'm seriously considering returning it, assuming I even can.. lol. I think I would be much happier with the Droid3, even though it's not 4G..hmmm.
Click to expand...

Try out two third party keyboards: Swiftkey X and Smart Keyboard.

Me personally, I like Smart Keyboard the best. I have the keyboard set up so that every key has a secondary function if you hold it down for ~1/3 of a second (you can change the hold time in the settings).

I've used a bunch of keyboard programs and like Smart Keyboard slightly better than Swiftkey X. You can get the trial for both for free to see how you like them.
 
One thing that makes typing on the Galaxy Nexus an absolute pain right now is that in the current stock firmware, autocorrect is broken in text fields of the browser. So like responding to a post on a forum takes FOREVER because autocorrection is broken. Doesn't work with the stock ICS keyboard or Swiftkey.
 
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