QWERTY Phones Are Really Trying to Make a Comeback This Year

Comments

• Atherel@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨26⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

  While we’re at it, can I have back the mini trrackball with integrated notification LED from my HTC Hero?

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• JTskulk@lemmy.world ⁨18⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

  Do software keyboards not use the QWERTY layout? Why are we calling hardware keyboards on a phone a QWERTY phone?!

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  • pelya@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

    Because there still are 12-button numerical keyboard phones with T9 text input.

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  • organ@lemmy.zip ⁨11⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

    It’s an ad

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• jobbies@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

  I don’t think they are - if they were we’d be seeing models from the likes of Samsung or Huawei.

  Its good clickbait for gizmodo though.

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  • thesdev@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

    It looks like we’re getting decent options now? Like the Clicks one is designed in cooperation with a former Blackberry designer. From what I see on Reddit, BB Key2 from 2018 was the last good option in this space, so I understand the excitement.

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• Sanguine@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  I’d buy one 100%. I hate touch screen keyboards. Some are better than others but take me back to the blackberry days.

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• Franconian_Nomad@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Good, writing with a touch screen is absolutely horrendous.

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  • cecilkorik@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    All this bullshit about phones with folding screens nowadays when what I really want is a phone with a folding mechanical 104-key :P

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    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca ⁨28⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

      Let it fold: one half holds the landscape screen, and across the lengthwise hinge is space for a wonderful keyboard. Let it be a phone-phone when it’s clammed up and you still have space for Qi and a 3.5mm. BLISS

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    • Franconian_Nomad@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      Would also erase the need for the atrocious spellcheck. Few minutes ago I wanted to write „random“ it got changed to „ransom“ and when I changed it again I wrote “randon“ by accident.

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  • flamingos@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

    Writing is okish, editing however is horrendous.

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• IcedRaktajino@startrek.website ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  I’ve been rocking a Minimal Phone for about 6 or 7 months now, and man am I excited to have options for QWERTY phones again.

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  • three@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    6 🤷‍♂️ 7

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    • IcedRaktajino@startrek.website ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Image

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• tanisnikana@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  QWERTY phones are fine and all, and they work well for English, but sometimes I type with this, and I’m sure as hell not gonna use a slow-ass QWERTY replacement.

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  • k0e3@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

    The Japanese ten-key on a touch screen is so good because you can swipe. It makes me cringe when people tap give times to get お like we used to on physical number pads.

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    • tanisnikana@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      God, I don’t miss that. Honestly, I wish there was an English ten-key equivalent.

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  • Ashtear@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Having to use something like Windows IME on a phone for Japanese is nightmare fuel

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• LemmyEntertainYou@piefed.social ⁨46⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

  I’m tempted to give it a go but I exclusively type using swipe gestures on my phone so I’m not sure that’s a learning curve I want to commit to.

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• sexy_peach@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  I don’t get it. On screen is fine

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  • FenderStratocaster@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    …for you. Can you concede that maybe someone else might not like it?

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    • sexy_peach@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Sure I’m even happy to have hardware diversity

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  • rollin@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Same. This hardware keyboard is taking up potential screen real-estate.

    If you want a hardware keyboard, just use a bluetooth one, you can get folding ones which fold up pretty small.

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  • AmbitiousProcess@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Same here. I get the nostalgia factor, and that tactile buttons can feel nice, but other than that I feel like it’s just a one-size-fits-all solution that doesn’t necessarily work well.

    Instead of a quick tap, you have to actually press on each button, which slows down typing. You can’t resize, recolor, or reformat your keyboard to fit your needs better, there’s no split keyboard functionality for landscape mode, etc.

    Plus it’s just more mechanical failure points and areas that dust and gunk can get stuck in.

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    • dublet@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Never had any of my phones with keyboards have a mechanical failure. I can type blindly on a physical keyboard, not so with an OSD one. Does the tap register? Does it predict into the right word? Who knows.

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    • Melonpoly@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Plus it’s just more mechanical failure points and areas that dust and gunk can get stuck in.

      Good thing this has been solved for years now. It’s not like keyboards are a new invention.

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  • Jinarched@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    It’s all about tactile feedback for me.

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• comador@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Two decades later and I still miss my Blackberry keyboard.

  I played with the Chinese Zinwa Q25 last year and it sooo felt like a Blackberry. Too bad the Q25 was plagued with issues or I would have bought one.

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  • PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I’m glad you mentioned the bugs. I was slowly leaning towards it but I’ve done my fair bit of… “unpaid beta testing” for one lifetime.

    I miss my BlackBerry phones. The Titan range was cool but buggy as well. If they could just do a Nothing phone with a QWERTY keyboard, I would literally buy one overnight.

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• ambitiousslab@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

  There were some breakthroughs in postmarketOS with the BlackBerry KEY2 recently. I really hope a phone with the Blackberry Classic form factor gets good mobile linux support in the next few years (bonus points if it’s a linux-first device!) A physical keyboard (in that form factor) is one of the few things that could convince me to ditch the Librem 5.

  I grew up on the tail end of Blackberry’s dominance. Most of the people in my school had a Blackberry, I’ve always envied those keyboards, and I feel really nostalgic about them.

  There’s something special about that form factor that appeals to me more than the N900 or clamshell designs. I think it’s that they’re happy to compromise the screen for a great keyboard, rather than the other way round.

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• missingno@fedia.io ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  I miss my old Motorola Droid 2. I don't need a thinner phone, give me that slider form factor.

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• FenderStratocaster@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  I’m trying to get my hands on one. There’s a few apps that I still want a smart phone for like email, navigation, Garmin Connect. This would be awesome.

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• Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

  I was a huge ‘tactical keyboard on phone’ kinda guy. Then I got acclimated to Swype. I don’t think I could ever go back but think choice is good.

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• captainlezbian@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  I’ll care when they’re Dvorak phones

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• nightmare786@leminal.space ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  the Voyager and enV style phones with the touchscreen in front and flip to open to qwerty keyboard really gave the best of the worlds

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• cygnus@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Hell yes - as long as it still fits in my pocket. That was a prolem with some of the later Blackberry models.

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  • PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    The Passport was actually a really decent phone but the jokes did get old.

    “When are you going to wall-mount your phone?”

    “fucking hell that will kill someone if you drop it”

    “you don’t need to send that text, that person can fucking read it from here!”

    etc etc etc

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  • IcedRaktajino@startrek.website ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Image

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    Looks pretty pocketable (and gorgeous) to me.

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• bluGill@fedia.io ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Hopefully firefox and the like will start putting spellcheck in their mobile applications again. I got mad at auto correct because it was worse than my spelling (at least you can guess what I meant - auto correct often changed to the wrong word: you wouldn't think to I might mean something else). I also often use a bluetooth keyboard, again spell check is needed.

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• FireWire400@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  I’m intrigued by the Titan 2 Elite. Never owned a Blackberry myself (or never used one as my main rather) and I’m typing a lot on my phone so it would be an interesting experience to try the Titan. Looks quite nice as well.

  I heard that Unihertz isn’t exactly the best at supporting their phones, though, and I’m not a big fan of Mediatek either. The Communicator looks good, too, but I’d rather go with a brand with a history of making phones, rather than cases.

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• miguel@fedia.io ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  I'd love to jump on this, and probably will when/if I can afford to.

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• Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  What about a teensy Bluetooth keyboard?

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• dogslayeggs@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  I used to pine for this. I loved my physical keyboard on the Treo and Palm Pre. I didn’t keep it long, but I even rocked a Moto Photon Q for a bit.

  Then I found swipe typing and will never go back. It is SO much faster

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