Everywhere I look, I feel like I see the tech press dissing physical keyboards on smartphones. TechCrunch, specifically, seems to use a phone with a physical keyboard for 3 days, declare the keyboard stupid, and then go back to misspelling things on their iPhone soft keyboards.
[The G2 Android Phone] is much more usable as a device. And we can thank one thing for that, as well as for much of its much improved design: The removal of the physical keyboard. – From HTC Killed the Physical Keyboard. Smart Move.
(I happen to love my G1, TechCrunch. As does everyone I know who has one.)
The argument against physical keyboards seems to be that they waste space, which strikes me as incredibly odd. From an interface perspective, a keyboard that slides under the screen doesn’t waste space. From a bulkiness perspective: really? Why do you need/want a phone with the thickness and weight of a granola bar? I like sleekness too, but you may want to have your doctor check you for osteoporosis if you really find the G1 too heavy to handle.
I want to make a very clear statement here to phone manufacturers: I heart physical keyboards. In fact, I refuse to buy a phone without one.
I’m not saying they’re for everyone – I’m sure soft keyboards are just fine for some people. But there are several reasons physical keyboards are a smart choice:
1) Some people, including myself, have big fingers. It’s really hard to hit those tiny soft keyboard buttons, and I spend WAY too much time fixing spelling errors than actually writing. Wasting time = bad.
2) Physical feedback always wins. While the slight force feedback and click noises of a soft keyboard are a nice touch, they don’t help me feel find my way around. I learned to type on a computer keyboard with actual keys, and that’s how I’m used to typing. Not to mention, the snap of sliding the screen back to get to the keyboard is just straight-up enjoyable.
3) Fast writers. My brain is usually slightly ahead of my fingers even on a computer, and using a soft keyboard makes it impossible for me to communicate my thoughts in any form of real-time.
4) There’s a reason that soft keyboards come with automatic spelling correction and word completion – because they are hard to use. iPhone users may be used to taking 5 minutes to write “hey I’m drown at the zebra, do you witch to come buy?”, but I find those messages obnoxious to read and embarassing to send.
5) The two aren’t mutually exclusive! You can have a physical keyboard and still provide a soft keyboard. If you’re a TechCrunch writer and you hate physical keyboards, you can simply NEVER OPEN IT. Magic. Everyone is happy.
So please, phone manufacturers: don’t stop making physical keyboards. Please don’t. Because if you do, I won’t buy your phone (or recommend them to my friends). And you wouldn’t want that, right?
Photo 1 Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alwayshere/ / CC BY-SA 2.0
Photo 2 Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomsun/ / CC BY 2.0