HTC Says No to Physical Keyboards Discussion

[Ed Hardy]

There's bad news for fans of smartphones with physical keyboards: HTC is going to stop making devices that include them.

Read the full content of this Article: HTC Says No to Physical Keyboards

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[jigwashere]

I was nervous moving to a smartphone that didn't have a physical keyboard, but I've been using Swype and it works very well for me.

I wonder if there's much market for bluetooth thumbboards. If I had a nice thumbboard incorporated into a case for my smartphone, that might be a nice option. On days I don't want bulk, I'd simply take my phone. But if I knew I needed it, I could carry my phone in a thumbboard case.

[Mi An]

It figures that the company who was absolutely, indisputably the best with keyboards would abandon them.

You probably are better off without my kind, but FWIW, I'll miss you HTC.

[questionfear]

I was nervous moving to a smartphone that didn't have a physical keyboard, but I've been using Swype and it works very well for me.

I wonder if there's much market for bluetooth thumbboards. If I had a nice thumbboard incorporated into a case for my smartphone, that might be a nice option. On days I don't want bulk, I'd simply take my phone. But if I knew I needed it, I could carry my phone in a thumbboard case.

There are a few for the iPhone, but IIRC they are bulky.

Honestly, with so many phones supporting bluetooth keyboards, it's just as easy to pick up a small portable BT keyboard for long text input, and use the virtual kb or swype for something shorter.

[Adama D. Brown]

This seems to me like just a ridiculous decision. With them producing so many models, in so many variations, it's hard to make an argument that they can't economically create even a few keyboard models, and it's one of the major distinguishing features between Android and iPhone devices.

[jigwashere]

This seems to me like just a ridiculous decision. With them producing so many models, in so many variations, it's hard to make an argument that they can't economically create even a few keyboard models, and it's one of the major distinguishing features between Android and iPhone devices.

I agree, Adama.

Back to my comment about BT thumbboard---why not be innovative and instead of a hardwired keyboard, they could provide a detachable BT keyboard. I mean, why not? I look at my HTC Touch Pro 2 and think it'd be nice to leave the keyboard at home now and then.

I know this is off topic, but I'm also lamenting the loss of buttons. I really with my phone had a few buttons on the face that I could program for things like making phone calls, etc. Remember the Palm TX? Nice big screen with 5-way nav and 4 buttons? Sigh....

[Mitlov]

My wife and I have the HTC 7 Pro, a WP7 phone with a keyboard. I'm ambivalent about it but my wife says she'd never own a phone without a keyboard. Bad move.

[Varjak]

Mi An, the sad fact is they never made an Android phone with a setup as nice as your TP 2. If they had, I think it would have been a successful product.

[Drillbit]

There was the MyTouch 4G Slide which had a pretty neat keyboard. The keyboards for the G1, G2, Desire Z, Merge and Shift EVO were all excellent too, but minus the fifth row.

The MyTouch 4G Slide is probably the last HTC slider made and the only one with dual core. But in spirit, the HTC Desire Z and its siblings, the Merge and Shift EVO, were the last. Somehow, HTC lost interest after that, and the MT4G Slide is a special carrier request, and one catering to a niche market.

The design irony is this. Andy Rubin cuts into mobile first with his Sidekick designs and these were all qwerty devices. The G1 reflects that Sidekick heritage by having the same keyboard design and layout, and having the same carrier --- T-Mobile --- to back them since the Sidekick days. Android 1.0 didn't even have an onscreen keyboard --- you literally have to pull out the keyboard to type anything. It was only after Android 1.1 that a software keyboard was added.

The next Android after the G1 was the HTC Magic which actually followed the Samsung touchscreen featurephone formats like the Star. This is the familiar oval shape with a cluster of buttons beneath the screen. The next big hit after that was the Motorola Droid, again, another qwerty design. Note that all these designs also had the second familiar trait of the early Android era --- the trackball or trackpad.

But what happened around the late spring to early summer of 2010 was a design tsunami that began emphasizing the slab like, thin body, large screen look, and the phones that started that was the HTC EVO, which became the best selling Android in the US in 2010, and the Samsung Galaxy S, which became the best selling Android around the world in 2010. The sliding keyboard now seemed began headed to extinction, and along the keyboard, the trackpad as well.

[weegie]

It would have to be a case of dwindling demand...wouldn't it?