[webdude12]

Being a long term Windows Mobile User (PPC6700, Mogul, Touch Pro, Touch Pro2). The Touch Pro2 has an excellent keyboard, and I honestly the thought of losing a keyboard frightened me.

So what I did was. I waited til the Epic was available. Then I ordered both an Epic and Evo from Sprint, knowing I had 30 days to return one of them. The plan was to go 3-4 days on one, then switch, and go back and forth for a few weeks, since Sprint, lets you switch the phone active on your account online. Well I went 3 days on the Evo, because it came first. There were a lot of minor things that bothered me with the onscreen keyboard, but the device otherwise was perfect. I then switched to the Epic, went a day an half, before going back to the Evo. The keyboard on the Epic just plan sucks. After have had been on a keyboard like the Touch Pro 2, the Epic keyboard keys feel terrible. They layout for half the keys dont make sense, its just a major deal beaker. To be fair, about a week later. I forced myself to use the Epic for a week. Let me tell you at the end of that week, I wanted to throw the Epic in the river. Compared to the Sense UI, The widgets on the Epic just suck. Touchwiz doesnt add anything to the phone at all in my opinion.

I ended up sending the Epic back.

One of the things I have found to help me cope with not having a physical keyboard is the software keyboard called SlideIt. Some people perfer Swype, which is available on Windows Mobile, but I never used it because of the physical keyboard. I tried, Swype, SlideIt, and Shapewriter. To me the winner was SlideIt for many reasons. But I suggest you download all 3 and make that comparison for yourself.

If Sprint ever gets an HTC device with a keyboard that is similar to the TouchPro2, I will jump on it in a heartbeat. The one that is coming out for Verizon they reduced the number of rows on the keyboard which I do not understand. But for now, I will stick with the Evo because Android is better then Windows Mobile.