Comments on: Does the iPhone Need a Hardware Keyboard?

By: Michael. PhD

Michael. PhD — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:01:42 +0000

Yes it does !!

By: Joey Howle

Joey Howle — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:54:24 +0000

I think the iphone does need a hardware keyboard.Touchscreen is difficult.Keyboards are awesome. and it looks awesome:):):):):):):)

By: kadri

kadri — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:22:39 +0000

the only way iw ould buy an iphone is if the resolution goes higher like 480×800 and it gets a hardware keyboard…this is why we windows mobile peoples bought the xperia, TP2, TD2, and other wvga winmo devices…a wvga screen is really ****, i love to show off my xperia to my iphone buddies, and they do get jealous lol

By: Timothy Rayner

Timothy Rayner — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 08:31:32 +0000

Those who say they don't need a keyboard are probably right. They typically want only to use the iphone for sending short e-mails and texts. Those who want a hardware keyboard mostly want a dockable or bluetooth full size foldable keyboard (like the excellent stowaway model I used to use with my pocket PC). I think it unlikely that anyone actually requires a built in keyboard. Those who want a full size keyboard are those who want the convenience of a laptop with the portability of an iphone. To know that if they go to a business meeting and want to take notes that they've always got a device that they can touchtype on. I can type fast on my iphone software keyboard but NOT 50 wpm fast. When you consider some people can type at a speed in excess of 150wpm on a standard full sized keyboard there's absolutely no way an iphone can compete on those terms.

Apple are starting to sell the iphone not just to ibeer and lightsaber apps users but to serious business users. If they REALLY want serious business to take the iPhone seriously they need to provide cross-app support for bluetooth keyboards. A native word processing program and a good selection of fonts wouldn't go amiss either (although I acknowledge that third party is already starting to provide that)

By: Jhon

Jhon — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:38:08 +0000

I think a hardware keyboard could be extremely useful especially if we want to type very fast a long email, i don’t like the idea to use just 2 fingers for tipyng i used an iphone 3G for 7 months, it is good to write quick messages, but since we can read long emails and want to answer it is not practical because the keyboard is in almost all the screen specially if it is in landscape position. a bluetooth keyboard would be nice but not as part of the iphone by it self. so we could use it when it is needed.

By: Chris S

Chris S — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:35:35 +0000

These old fossils who need a clunky hardware keyboards are living in the past. They probably ride their horse and carriage to work and wonder why the local store doesn’t sell coal for their heaters.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:06:35 +0000

Why do all the folks drinking the Apple Koolaid not put their money where their mouth is and time a) experienced Blackberry/Trio users type an email, and b) experienced iPhone users type the same? Instead of buying the anecdotal “It’s just as fast” comments, I’ve asked my most die-hard iPhone-worshiping friends to type something on their iPhone while I did on my Blackberry. Results: In every case I’m at least 4x faster on the Blackberry. If, like me, you spend 30 minutes a day or so typing emails/etc., that means it would be 2 hours per day to do the same on an iPhone. If you make $60/hour, that means the iPhone costs $90/day in lost productivity, which means you’d pay about $32,000/year in lost income/productivity to have, admittedly, the more cool-looking iPhone. Obvious solution: Bluetooth keyboard support, so I can get a flip case for the iPhone with a keyboard. Then I’d convert in a second, as would many Blackberry users, and it has zero impact on the existing iPhone users. And I think iPhone would have a much bigger market share since they’d get the pragmatic, logical thinkers who aren’t motivated by hype, but rather look at the cold hard fact that a cell phone these days is a tool.

By: Nola

Nola — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:57:00 +0000

After reading about the battery problems the Pre is having I started reconsidering the iPhone. However, when I was reading about the iPhone I remembered the keyboard thing. My husband has an iPhone that I hate when it involves typing. No-typing aps are great but seriously for business I need to type. He hates to type on it also. I whip off emails so fast now on my 4 year old Treo that folks think that I am at a computer. I think what I am going to do is sit tight for awhile and wait until the Pre works out some of their power issues and then jump on that bandwagon. Conclusion: the physical keyboard is my dealbreaker.

By: ThatSnazzyIphone

ThatSnazzyIphone — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:31:43 +0000

I had a blackberry…The keyboard was WAY too small.I had to type with my nails (litteraly) It wasn’t very practical or fast,i would have been quicker with a standard phone keyboard,with nice sized keys. Then i got an iphone…wich made typing miles faster…you do make mistakes but at least you dont hit 2 buttons at the same time.Blackberry’s wanna-be propper keyboard is Epic Fail

By: Cyril

Cyril — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:13:57 +0000

After 2 years with the iPhone keyboard, I think I need both a software one and a hardware one! For a few situations e.g. language switching the software keyboard with good auto-correct is better, but for one-handed use, long emails I prefer a physical one. Also you get more visible screen estate with a physical keyboard.

A physical keyboard with good auto-correct would be ideal. The iphone keyboard is only good because of the auto-correct -it lacks haptic feedback. Other companies don't have as good auto-correct, but that can be added in software.

So I'm going for the Palm Pre - you can easily hack it and add the onscreen keyboard if you want, and you can hack the auto-correct so it is as good/better as the iPhone's and more suited to your particular use. The iphone's autocorrect implementation is faster than the Pre, but the Pre is still in its infancy and should improve vastly with updates and hacks.