Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE Brings Its Sliding QWERTY Keyboard to Sprint Discussion

[Ed Hardy]

Fans of physical keyboards should be pleased at the release of the Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE, which debuted today from Sprint. This new Android smartphone has a range of high-end features, but not cutting edge.

Read the full content of this Article: Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE Brings Its Sliding QWERTY Keyboard to Sprint

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[rkevwill]

Personally, I'm not a fan of the slide down sideways keyboards. They don't have the key "feel" of the BB's and the Motorola "Admiral" (renamed whatever these days). I like the ridged keys better than the flat ones. I wish Motorola or someone would come out with a keyboard phone below the screen, with a more modern OS than gingerbread. In a few months, those of us with keyboard envy may need an alternative to BB's.

[Drillbit]

This phone has Ice Cream Sandwich, along with a Qualcomm S4 processor which is the same as the US Galaxy S3 and One X phones.

[rkevwill]

This phone has Ice Cream Sandwich, along with a Qualcomm S4 processor which is the same as the US Galaxy S3 and One X phones.

Yeah, which is good, but my point is it has flat keys instead of ridged ones, and is in landscape format instead of portrait (like Blackberries). I have yet to see a "blackberry like" device with Ice cream sandwich. Hope there is one in the next 6 months or so, cause I am not really confident on the BB front.

[weegie]

Gosh, someones finally going to sell a 4.3" slider, it's taken a long time, looks pretty nice as well with dedicated number row and not [probably wisely] made the keyboard the same width as the device itself being that it is a fair bit bigger than anything else with slide down keyboards.
How well do hardware keyboards play with text editing on Android as far as keyboard shortcuts for CC&P, do you still have to fiddle around with those stupid text selection brackets ? or is there enough room for that to be forsaken and just run a finger tip over the text in question

[Hook]

I'm hoping, with Moto having always been a major source of sliders (Droids) on Android, that maybe MotoGoo will produce an unlocked slider Nexus with a large screen, maybe one of the several models rumored for late Fall. One can hope.

Nothing will tempt me into a phone contract, but this comes close.

[Adama D. Brown]

Yeah, which is good, but my point is it has flat keys instead of ridged ones, and is in landscape format instead of portrait (like Blackberries). I have yet to see a "blackberry like" device with Ice cream sandwich. Hope there is one in the next 6 months or so, cause I am not really confident on the BB front.

I wouldn't wait for it. With a fixed, portrait keyboard you have to choose between either having a huge phone or a tiny screen. The couple devices I know that have tried that, like the Droid Pro and HTC Status, haven't held up so well, especially when you consider that Android really isn't built for tiny screens.

[Varjak]

I agree, a year or two ago, I'd be all over this (except that it's Sprint); but I'm reconciled more to a slate phone, especially with all the new input methods, especially Graffiti.

I don't understand the desire for a portrait format, but to each his own. The BB Torch is the only phone like that that's workable IMO and that has a nice-ish sized screen (but not great). Perhaps when they move to BB 10, they may offer a similar model format. Wasn't there a Droid Pro that was portrait oriented (non-slider)?

[scjjtt]

I waited for the Pre 3 but I kept waiting and it never came to Verizon until after I left for Sprint. I do like the portrait keyboard and I would like a powerful phone in that style - but that's me and I must be in the minority or else they would make them.

I too use Graffiti for my writing in Android - but I would definitely be interested in another landscape keyboard phone in the future - if it was basically as powerful as a slate phone.

-- Sent from my TouchPad using Communities

[Drillbit]

This is the second phone with specs superior to the Droid line. It maybe the direct precursor to the Droid 5.