Phone with Landscape Slider Keyboard
I personally don't understand the appeal of a touchscreen keyboard from a typing experience point of view. i get that it looks cool. I remember the 1982 movie Tron where one character had a desk that doubles as a computer screen and keyboard. Part of the desk turned into a keyboard and the person typed on it like a real keyboard. I was into computers back then and that keyboard looked awesome. It was before I learned how to type.
Fast forward a few years later. As I was into computers, I though it would be a good idea to learn how to type, so I took a typing course. The course used electric typewriters. The first thing I was taught was to not look at the keys on the keyboard. I was to feel where the keys are and look at what I am transcribing. My typing speed by the end of the course was about 40 words per minute. I think I'm at least 60 now after all these years.
About a decade ago, the first modern smartphone that changed everything was released. It had no physical keyboard. Instead it used a touchscreen keyboard. This trend would end up dominating the design of smartphones since. There were still phones with physical keyboards then, but they mostly died out a few years later.
My first smartphone was a Nokia N97. It came with a landscape physical keyboard. My next one was the HTC Desire Z which also had a landscape physical keyboard. I wasn't sold on touchscreen keyboards, so I specifically got phones with landscape physical keyboards.
In 2012, I was in the market for a new phone (old one's battery died). There was nothing on the market with a landscape physical keyboard. BlackBerry only had portrait keyboards and I really did not like the BB keyboard design. Keys are too close together. It was then that I was pretty much forced to get a phone that had no physical keyboard.
Over the next half year or so, I really struggled with using a touchscreen keyboard. I really made an effort to type on a touchscreen. I even tried various different keyboards. It was a horrible experience. I made so many errors typing. The main reason is that with a physical keyboard I can tell whether or not my finger is over the right button before pressing it because I can feel the keys under my thumb.
With a touchscreen keyboard even if you are looking at the keyboard, it is hard to tell if your thumb is in the right place because it obscures the keyboard. It is only after typing the wrong character can I tell that my finger is in the wrong place. Then I have to correct it. Also, with a physical keyboard, I can look at the cursor, so I know when I made a mistake. With a touchscreen keyboard, I have to look at the keys to make sure I am about to press the right button which often still doesn't work. Worse, I am not looking at the cursor, so I may have made mistakes and not know about it. I never had this issue with physical keyboards. I can feel the keys and can look at the cursor, so I know the instance I make a mistake. On top of that, I make very few mistakes on a physical keyboard.
So after about six months, I was forced to use auto-correct. It made typing on a touchscreen keyboard more accurate, but still not near the accuracy I had with physical keyboards. Auto-correct has its benefits, but it changes correct typing to something incorrect quite often.
When I saw this article on a new phone coming out with a physical keyboard, I was excited. I'll definitely consider getting it. I do a fair amount of typing on my phone and want to have a much better experience than I currently have on a touchscreen phone. I'm hoping it will be released and I can buy it.
The low popularity of physical keyboards is a challenge for any manufacturer. I put in money for a landscape sliding keyboard Mod for my Moto Z phone, but I think that company died as I haven't had an update from them for almost half a year now. I'm kind of expecting the same thing may happen to this company. However, I guess there's still a chance they can bring it to market. That's probably the best I can hope for these days.
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