"Nexus 6" or Project Ara?

[riahc3]

First off, I have a HTC Desire Z. I redactedlove it to death. I would die just for other costumers to have another HTC Desire Z updated to current specs. Yes, I would give my life for technology. Its QWERTY keyboard is one of the best out there and I would do ANYTHING to have it on a phone.

Manufactures are redactedidiots and don't realize that people have been waiting for YEARS for a updated spec QWERTY phone. Samsung, Sony, etc. all of these could have made a awesome phone.

That being said, my Desire Z's keyboard keys are basically starting to fall off. I had to glue the E and the W (which I don't even use) back on. So I imagine it will get worst....

This week or next the "Nexus 6" will be announced/put out on sale. That's my second option.

My first option will always be Project Ara. The problem is that it is expected in Q1 2015 but we really don't know what to expect and/or even if the release will be on time. So that's kind of betting my cards....

Repeating what I said before, I hate touchscreen phones with a passion. People are redactedmorons for letting the industry go this way and we should have always forced no touchscreen, semitouchscreen (like the Desire Z) or full touchscreen. That plus knowing that the battery is nonremoveable....

I know I will hate typing on my "Nexus 6" but its something I guess to deal with.

After that rant, what would you guys go for?






Profanity is not allowed in the tech forums


esquared
Anandtech Forum Director

 

[shabby]

After calling me a redactedmoron you can go redactedyourself...






No profanity or personal attacks allowed in the tech forums.


esquared
Anandtech Forum Director

 

[PhoKingGuy]

I had a desire Z. It was pretty much the worst phone ive ever owned.

 

[Roland00Address]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...9SIA4Z51TC5489
http://www.naztech.com/Detachable-Bluetooth-Keyboard-Case-for-Samsung-Galaxy-S4-Black

There are also other companies/products that are similar for things like the iphone. I haven't see them do the nexus 4 or 5 they pretty much stick to the most popular phones only

----

Repeating what I said before, I hate touchscreen phones with a passion. People are ****ing morons for letting the industry go this way and we should have always forced no touchscreen, semitouchscreen (like the Desire Z) or full touchscreen. That plus knowing that the battery is nonremoveable....

If you want to help by answer a question that is on topic, please post If you are going to be rude, don't waste time of your life posting in a thread for a random person on the internet.

Was the under line really necessary especially when you recognize how rudeness detracts the quality of the internet?

 

[Red Storm]

After calling me a redactedmoron you can go redactedyourself...

lol this.

Hardware keyboards are not necessary. OP may think they are, but software keyboards have come a long way, especially with gesture based typing.

If keyboards were that important to the OP he'd go buy a BlackBerry, not be looking at the Nexus.

 

[Yuriman]

I was a hardware keyboard purist once. Now, you'd have to pay me to use one on a phone.

Swype / Swiftkey FTW

 

[ultimatebob]

My wife used to love keyboard phones as well, until she got the original Motorola Droid. Then she finally figured out how to type on a touch screen, and she hasn't wanted a phone with a real keyboard since.

That said, if you love keyboard phones that damn much, why don't you get the new Blackberry Passport? It was built for people like you.

 

[cpacini]

I had to glue the E and the W (which I don't even use) back on.

You don't use the letter E or W? Wow that's impressive.

Or should I say "o that's imprssiv"

 

[riahc3]

After calling me a redactedmoron you can go redactedyourself...

lol this.

I never intented for it to be a direct and personal attack on anyone. Sorry guys.

What I ment is that I wished more people demanded better phones with more options instead of basically what we have are screens without any innovation or anything.

Again I didn't mean for it to be directed at anyone. Sorry for getting carried away

Hardware keyboards are not necessary. OP may think they are, but software keyboards have come a long way, especially with gesture based typing.

If keyboards were that important to the OP he'd go buy a BlackBerry, not be looking at the Nexus.

I tried Swype for example which is said by many to be the best software keyboard. It is pretty good, without a doubt but it has nothing to the speed and feedback of a hardware one.

Another I love about HW KB, is that when you type, half (or more) of the screen doesn't get filled up with the SW KB! You can fully see everything on your screen still and be able to type.

I had a desire Z. It was pretty much the worst phone ive ever owned.

?

Obviously you did not fine tune it. For me it still works great running 4.2.2 Its a awesome phone. It coughs now and then since it is running 4.2.2 but for daily usage? Amazing phone.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...9SIA4Z51TC5489
http://www.naztech.com/Detachable-Bl...alaxy-S4-Black

There are also other companies/products that are similar for things like the iphone. I haven't see them do the nexus 4 or 5 they pretty much stick to the most popular phones only

Ive tried these out on friend's phones and it is not only a battery drainer but is absolutely horrible. Like having to carry almost 2 phones with you.

Was the under line really necessary especially when you recognize how rudeness detracts the quality of the internet?

I feel it was completely necessary, yes. It wasn't directed to anyone.
BTW, my sig refers to posts towards me, not from me.

I was a hardware keyboard purist once. Now, you'd have to pay me to use one on a phone.

Swype / Swiftkey FTW

I tried Swype. Like I said, its pretty good but it is not still up there.

That said, if you love keyboard phones that damn much, why don't you get the new Blackberry Passport? It was built for people like you.

Id like to get a Blackberry but there are several issues holding me back

It doesn't run Android (although it runs Android apps, Im not sure what limitations exists)
There is no community support
I find it very expensive since it doesn't have those two things listed above.

If it wasn't for those issues, I would get the Passport in a heartbeat.

 

[riahc3]

You don't use the letter E or W? Wow that's impressive.

Or should I say "o that's imprssiv"

Yes, I use the E. I don't use the W at all.

 

[riahc3]

BTW, the only reasons Im looking at the "Nexus 6" and Project Ara is because the community support behind both these platforms is going to be HUGE. Im not interested in platforms such as Sony where the community touches something on the phone and it gets crippled.

 

[Obsy]

If you don't us th 'e' or 'w' kys, thn hat do you us your kyboard for? I can't imagin writing -mails or txt mssags unlss you only writ in slang/abbrviations. Anyay, I rcommnd the BlackBrry Passport or th upcoming BlackBrry Classic.

 

[cpacini]

Yes, I use the E. I don't use the W at all.

That's understandable, I actually prefer typing vv rather than w myself. The stupid spell check always throws a fit though

 

[riahc3]

If you don't us th 'e' or 'w' kys, thn hat do you us your kyboard for? I can't imagin writing -mails or txt mssags unlss you only writ in slang/abbrviations. Anyay, I rcommnd the BlackBrry Passport or th upcoming BlackBrry Classic.

Um what?

I mentioned that I use the "E" a lot, its a standard letter. While the "W" I do not use at all because it is not a standard letter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_frequency

 

[kaerflog]

LOL, dude, you are like one of maybe 5 people that still like to use a physical keyboard.....
Manufacturers stop making qwerty phones because people stopped buying them, not because they are idiots.
You don't make any sense in your rant. I'm guessing English is not your first language.

 

[riahc3]

LOL, dude, you are like one of maybe 5 people that still like to use a physical keyboard.....
Manufacturers stop making qwerty phones because people stopped buying them, not because they are idiots.
You don't make any sense in your rant. I'm guessing English is not your first language.

There is still a demand for people that want a physical keyboard on their smartphone. It goes without saying that people have been driven into smartphones without them because it is "cool" it have just a display on your phone and almost nothing else. This trend was set by Apple.

The reason manufacturers stopped making them is because a S5 will push 5 millions (numbers out of my ass) and a S5 with QWERTY would push 3 million. Its much more profitable to make ONE model (Samsung isn't my best example for one model but you get the point)

My rant was not ment as a anger one and I thought people wouldn't take it so personal :\ Sorry to everyone

Lets try to get back on subject.

 

[WelshBloke]

The reason manufacturers stopped making them is because a S5 will push 5 millions (numbers out of my ass) and a S5 with QWERTY would push 3 million. Its much more profitable to make ONE model (Samsung isn't my best example for one model but you get the point)

Thing is though that everyone stopped making them.
If there were 3 million possible sales Samsung passed by and some that HTC passed by, and some that LG passed by, etc, then someone would release a hard key phone.

Fact is that very few people want them, they are more expensive to make, they go wrong a lot more and they look a lot more clunky than touchscreen phones.


(And, yeah, lol at your Samsung example of a company unwilling to make another variation on a theme to fill a niche! )

 

[riahc3]

Thing is though that everyone stopped making them.
If there were 3 million possible sales Samsung passed by and some that HTC passed by, and some that LG passed by, etc, then someone would release a hard key phone.

Fact is that very few people want them, they are more expensive to make, they go wrong a lot more and they look a lot more clunky than touchscreen phones.


(And, yeah, lol at your Samsung example of a company unwilling to make another variation on a theme to fill a niche! )

The problem is that it own makes profitable to make a mid range QWERTY phone instead of a high end one.

There are a few million people who want one. The majority of people are Android/Apple/etc sheep that just follow of having a beautiful phone over function. A QWERTY phone gives so much more function, if you work with a terminal daily like me for example.

 

[WelshBloke]

The problem is that it own makes profitable to make a mid range QWERTY phone instead of a high end one.

There are a few million people who want one. The majority of people are Android/Apple/etc sheep that just follow of having a beautiful phone over function. A QWERTY phone gives so much more function, if you work with a terminal daily like me for example.

You're putting your own personal needs above everyone else's and saying that they are sheep for not agreeing with you.

My main dislike of qwerty phones (apart that they fall to pieces and are too chunky) is that they only work in landscape OR portrait, choose your orientation and stick with it.
A qwerty phone doesn't give you so much more function. It gives you a fixed keyboard, with all the disadvantages that come with one.

 

[riahc3]

You're putting your own personal needs above everyone else's and saying that they are sheep for not agreeing with you.

Do a poll on a mobile orientated site (for example) and you will see a demand for a QWERTY keyboard phone. Im not saying because of me, Im saying there are others like me.

My main dislike of qwerty phones (apart that they fall to pieces and are too chunky) is that they only work in landscape OR portrait, choose your orientation and stick with it.
A qwerty phone doesn't give you so much more function. It gives you a fixed keyboard, with all the disadvantages that come with one.

I agree that my case is a exception as I can work both in landscape AND in portrait mode, but when I dont use the keyboard, I mostly web browse in landscape.

I already stated some of the advantages.

Must faster typing
Better feedback when typing

 

[Red Storm]

I already stated some of the advantages.

Must faster typing
Better feedback when typing

That's up for debate. I personally feel that swipe style typing is the fastest, and has the benefit of only needing one finger.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Swiftkey is much much faster than hardware keyboards.

 

[WelshBloke]

Do a poll on a mobile orientated site (for example) and you will see a demand for a QWERTY keyboard phone. Im not saying because of me, Im saying there are others like me.

There probably are a few but the others aren't sheep going along with the flock, they just probably see no value in hard keyboards.

I already stated some of the advantages.

Must faster typing
Better feedback when typing

Personally I think that I'm faster with a good soft keyboard than I was on a tiny hard one (s****** s******).

I don't need feedback on a phone, it's not like touch typing on a PC where the keyboards a significant distance from the screen.

TBH it's just getting used to a new input type. If you go into it not wanting it to work they you probably aren't going to have much success.

 

[Fardringle]

Having used multiple varieties of phones with "hard" and "soft" keyboards as part of my various IT support duties, I will not ever buy a phone with a hard keyboard. They increase the bulk of the phone and/or dramatically reduce the size of the screen, and they have tiny buttons that are difficult to use even for my relatively small hands. And even though I can type nearly 100 wpm on a full sized keyboard, it takes way too long to type more than a few words on a phone keyboard, but proper use of a 'swype' screen keyboard (I like the generic Google keyboard on my Nexus) I can maintain a pretty decent typing speed.

In my opinion, "feedback" on a keyboard is only necessary when touch typing with both hands, and you simply can't do that on a phone keyboard unless your hands are smaller than those of a newborn baby. So while a very tiny minority of people do still want one, it's such a small number that it simply isn't economically feasible for phone manufacturers to make those phones.

 

[riahc3]

That's up for debate. I personally feel that swipe style typing is the fastest, and has the benefit of only needing one finger.

I can only speak for Swype; I went a month Swype only and yes, its amazing and fast but when I went back to the HW, I just felt not only more natural but way faster.

Swiftkey is much much faster than hardware keyboards.

I cannot vouch for Swiftkey. I believe I never tried it.

Personally I think that I'm faster with a good soft keyboard than I was on a tiny hard one (s****** s******).

If you are 8 foot 2 at 500 pounds, then maybe you have gigantic fingers which I would understand then.

Im not saying you do, Im just saying that larger people with larger hands might indeed have difficuly.

A lot of people have also made this claim and to date, I have always beaten someone head on writing a document soft vs hard.

I don't need feedback on a phone, it's not like touch typing on a PC where the keyboards a significant distance from the screen.

You dont touch type on your phone? Or did I misunderstand you?

TBH it's just getting used to a new input type. If you go into it not wanting it to work they you probably aren't going to have much success.

I gave Swype one month....It was fast but wasnt as fast as HW, sorry.