Can someone please start making smartphones with integrated hardware keyboards again? Pretty please?
@fribbledom@mastodon.social wistful sighing intensifies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Pre
This was such a good device! I still have my Pre... somewhere.
@fribbledom Or at least grow half a fucking braincell for software keyboards. Newsflash, programmers: Touchscreens aren't qwerty!
@fribbledom Heck yes! I really loved the haptics of the HTC G1 (aka Dream) in that regard. Got a Motorola Milestone after that, but it was much worse with the membrane keyboard. Since then I haven't seen any efforts into that direction that could convince me.
Yeah... I resisted upgrading to a smartphone, in the first place, just to keep that tactile keyboard on the phone for as long as I could!
πππππ 
@fribbledom there is a case for the PinePhone https://www.notebookcheck.net/Pine64-s-new-keyboard-case-turns-the-PinePhone-into-a-pocketable-Linux-laptop.535230.0.html
@fribbledom
Check out the Unihertz Titan and the smaller Titan Pocket (coming soon).
https://www.unihertz.com/technical?product_id=3&form_key=YDHstK0cQf2N8LNP
@fribbledom I have an Fxtec Pro1 from 2019, but they've constantly had problems shipping in volume, and it looks like new production is stalled again until the middle of this year.
@fribbledom I just bring a mechanical keyboard everywhere I go. Everything else is trash anyway, and it doubles as a defensive tool since I can use it as a shield π€·π»ββοΈπ
@fribbledom
I suppose having everything on the screen is another scifi tech idea that apple just decided was good for everyone, like not having a headphone jack. Unfortunately typing on your screen is not crappy enough, as long as the phone employs sofrware to correct your shitty typing.
But damn, I could type texts blind on my pre-smartphone era phone! I could actually look where I was going!
@fribbledom
Keyboards as add on`s
https://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/mobile-accessories/phones/galaxy-s8-keyboard-cover--black-ej-cg950bbegww/
On the other hand, the lack of a keyboard leads in my case to less usage of the smartphone.
I use it mainly for calls and short messages on the go, for the rest I've reserved 30min each evening on my desktop computer.
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@fribbledom I loooooved my T-Mobile G1! If #HTC would make a successor to that phone, with the same keyboard, I'd need to have it. Imagine blind typing in your phone, that's what it did.
@fribbledom Planet Computers might be your thing. They did phone/PDAs inspirted by the Psion PDAs but the latest is a slide out keyboard phone.
@fribbledom have to admit I backed the latest Planet Computer one. Should be arriving sometime in summer I guess. Really miss my Motorola Photon Q..
@fribbledom more likely to find a full size mech keyboard with a built in phone.
@fribbledom The last Android phone that I had was a Blackberry with a keyboard. It was a nice phone. Still sat in a drawer somewhere.
@fribbledom There _are_ tiny bluetooth keyboards you can use with any smartphone.
@fribbledom Three of these should help https://www.blackberry.com/us/en/products/devices
@fribbledom i know what you mean. there are a few but i've hesitated to make the jump. anyway, i keep a list.
shipping:
https://store.planetcom.co.uk/
https://www.unihertz.com/titan.html
upcoming:
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=13684
https://launch.unihertz.com/pages/titan-pocket
https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/precursor (though it'll need a tethered phone)
maybe:
https://www.pcmag.com/news/new-blackberry-with-keyboard-coming-in-2021
I got one of them. They're end-of-life tho, with no further security / Android patches.
@fribbledom I thought for sure Android was going to be a HUGE bust and it would be palm v Apple wrasslin for the future. palmos was great, but thatβs the wrongest I ever was on a tech prediction
@fribbledom https://store.fxtec.com/the-pro1-x-is-now-live-on-indiegogo/
It evencomes with @ubports and there will soon be a keyboard for the #pinephone
@fribbledom If you're not aware of them...
@fribbledom still my favorite email machine. Such an awesome phone. #blackberry
@fribbledom
Wasn't there one recently with a slide-out keyboard? Or was that just a prototype?
I'd also like to ask for frames around the screen. Make it half a millimeter or less, just make sure the first thing that touches the floor when it falls is not glass. Having to buy extra protectors just to have a chance of not breaking it is so silly.
Oh and spyware. Maybe also not load it with software that exfiltrates all data by default? That'd be sweet!