How do you feel about the Physical Keyboard?

[Arterion]

I find it misses a lot of letters, and I have to put a lot of concentration into being accurate, and press down on the keys with more pressure than feels natural.

Granted, I'm coming from the exceptional TP2 keyboard, but I don't even remember my TP being this difficult to use. I am seriously wondering if I should stick with the TP2 until we see a new HTC Android slider.

I use the onscreen keyboard a lot, too. It's surprisingly good. So I'm also entertaining the idea of going to the EVO, if the physical keyboard isn't going to get used much.

I am giving it some more time, hoping I'll adjust to it... but it hasn't happened yet. I am just getting more frustrated and disappointed with it.

Otherwise I absolutely love the phone.

[mlin]

I cannot speak from my own experience but I know my wife really likes the size and feel, (of the keyboard that is). She came from a TP2 and likes this keyboard as much if not more than the keyboard of the TP2.

[gTen]

Originally Posted by Arterion

I find it misses a lot of letters, and I have to put a lot of concentration into being accurate, and press down on the keys with more pressure than feels natural.

Granted, I'm coming from the exceptional TP2 keyboard, but I don't even remember my TP being this difficult to use. I am seriously wondering if I should stick with the TP2 until we see a new HTC Android slider.

I use the onscreen keyboard a lot, too. It's surprisingly good. So I'm also entertaining the idea of going to the EVO, if the physical keyboard isn't going to get used much.

I am giving it some more time, hoping I'll adjust to it... but it hasn't happened yet. I am just getting more frustrated and disappointed with it.

Otherwise I absolutely love the phone.

I personally like the keyboard on the Epic..its no TP2 but in my book its the 2nd best keyboard...if your at a sprint store and they got a demo model maybe try it out..just of the slight possibility it might be just your phone...I mostly enjoy using the keyboard while surfing the internet...so convenient as every time I click on a textbox I hate it when on screen keyboards fill up half the screen....

As for future HTC phones with keyboards is gonna be tough as sprint likes to keep 1 phone per form factor..so by having a keyboard there is prob not gonna be another high end keyboard phone for 6month - year

If you don't like the keyboard you can still use it as on screen..ive used on screen on TP2 a lot and keyboard when needed...hence when keyboard comes out I get habit to go for the stylus...which isnt there lol...The screen is bigger on the EVO but the hardware are still better on the Galaxy S..but of course it depends on what you use your phone for on whether you take advantage of the hardware or not.

[dumpringz]

Wirelessly posted (Samsung Epic : Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-us; SPH-D700 Build/ECLAIR) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

Originally Posted by Arterion

I find it misses a lot of letters, and I have to put a lot of concentration into being accurate, and press down on the keys with more pressure than feels natural.

Granted, I'm coming from the exceptional TP2 keyboard, but I don't even remember my TP being this difficult to use. I am seriously wondering if I should stick with the TP2 until we see a new HTC Android slider.

I use the onscreen keyboard a lot, too. It's surprisingly good. So I'm also entertaining the idea of going to the EVO, if the physical keyboard isn't going to get used much.

I am giving it some more time, hoping I'll adjust to it... but it hasn't happened yet. I am just getting more frustrated and disappointed with it.

Otherwise I absolutely love the phone.

I returned an epic already because of this and the 2nd one does it as well . might make it a 3rd. I like the phone pretty much otherwise

[daddymikey1975]

Personally, when I got the TP2 originally, i was always using the keyboard. I came from an LG voyager on Verizon.. heh.. Once I found swype, I hardly ever slid out the keyboard on the TP2... once in a while for a long email or something but that's it really..

On the Epic, I noticed that the layout wasn't as well thought out as the TP2.. the TP2 has the keys staggered very similarly to a computer keyboard. IMO that's what 'makes' the keyboard on the TP2.. the Epic has the keys squared up... still nice, but more challenging for me to use.. the space bar is too small .. I always miss it and hit "b" or "v".. I used the hw keyboard on the Epic a couple times and found it to be inaccurate. Mostly due to my fat fingers .. LOL.. smooth top keys w/ no dome shape or other way to differentiate from one another makes is more challenging to use as well.. That being said, it's still one of the nicer slide outs available ATM..

I prefer the on screen keyboard for my daily use. Rare occasion to slide it out.. it's nice to have when I really want one though.

As far as trading for the Evo, I was gonna do that as well due to battery life problems but I just couldn't give up a superior device for an inferior one (hardware wise that is).. I know the Epic is gonna be even more awesome once the devs unleash it's true capabilities.. (oh, and once froyo is released.)

Just my thoughts.

[Jok3sta]

i definately like my tp2 keyboard better.. just feels better in my hand.. but im getting used to the epic..

[goblue]

I definately like the TP2 keyboard much better than the EPIC. My main complaint with the EPIC is that the numbers are difficult to hit because they're so close to the edge of the front slider, they're tucked in too close for someone with fat fingers. I prefer the staggered key layout of the TP2 as Daddymikey stated.

[revaaron]

I typed a bunch of stuff about swype sucking cause it doesn't know most of the works I type (like my kid "ostelio" or bands like "goratory" and "interment") and that I also have to pull the kb out when the osk replaces "or" with "our" like 5 times in a row. Problem with the real kb is that I miss a lot of letters while typing.

[dumpringz]

Wirelessly posted (Samsung Epic : Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-us; SPH-D700 Build/ECLAIR) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

I just don't see how this phone could be released with such an obvious issue. majority of folks wanted a reliable phone with a reliable keyboard. some issues are going to happen with a new device but I.m.o this is major and not just because I'm experiencing it. I gave up evo because I hated on screen data input as an only option and used a moment for 2 months waiting for this device with its keyboard and I use swype more then it. wtf lol

[CozBoogie]

I like the physical keyboard very much. I find for texting and quick input that I use Swype...but for emails and some passwords that I pull out the physical kb. The alignment is a bit wonky, the shift key is in the wrong place, and some of the punctuation keys are still tough to find after 3 weeks with the device....but overall it seems responsive and accurate.

late,
Coz