At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

Hi guys,

It's been a week with the HTC Touch and I think that I need a keyboard.

Here is what I've done so far:
1. Tried the standard HTC keyboard, Touchpal, and the HTC Diamond keyboard. While all have their merits and demerits, I just can't seem to get good at it. Predictive input, straight up no prediction, 2 letters to a button layout, full layout, nothing.
2. Read the Touchpal manual. I'm pretty sure that I'm using it correctly.
3. Tried to tell myself "Hey, it's never going to be as fast as a real keyboard, but I'm carrying around a tiny phone that is otherwise great in every respect that I need it to be (save wifi)."


My question:

1. Given my background (Treos for the last 4 years) + the fact that I will audaciously say that I am a darn fast thumb typer, am I just going to need to get a real keyboard or should I give ti more time with the software keyboards?
2. You should also know that my friend has a Mogul and turning it to the side everytime you want to fire off a message isn't a huge deal, but it is awkward to me b/c I feel like it's a full contact sport. I've got to use the d-pad to navigate with my left hand and then there are other buttons to learn; it almost seems excessive b/c I don't know if I should just touch the screen or use one of the 63 buttons to accomplish my task.
3. I also had access to an iPhone (I'll never buy one b/c I can't stand Apple's reality distortion field) and I absolutely could not get used to the keyboard. I had a friend who had an iphone, two of them actually, and we each typed a text message of like 130 characters--me on my treo 700wx and them two on their iphones. I finished in half the time it took both of them. They were not newbies either.

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

buddy, chillax lol. touchpal is by far the best keyboard out.. im coming from a motorola q, similiar style to a treo, and let me tell ya.. i text 3 times faster than i ever did..and dont give me none of that "you mus not text much" jazz because i average around 7 thousand texts a month and i have the bills to prove it.. touchpal is serious, especially the v2 build when you make it larger.. i think if you spend a little more time with the keyboards you will be fine.. trust me

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

i have had both the mogul and the touch and a good bit of access to an iphone. i had my mogul for 8 months and ill say for those several page texts i loved my mogul i once typed a 15 page text in about ten minutes and that is with time thinking and anyone that knows i dont do that too much. right now most of my texting happens during class or there only a few pages long and i have my ditionary on touchpal pretty well setup to what i say and have grown quite acustom to it. touch pal will take a lil while to get acustom to but it is very quicki love my touch because it is so much faster than my mogul. i know this because i play with both frequently. i agrre with the previous poster touchpal with a good bit of practice will definitely pay off. i average maybe a thousand less than blue4shizzle but that is not a small number by any means. all i can say is know the keyboard like the back of your hand it will eventually become second nature.

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

I have the touch too and I type just as fast if not faster than I did on my Mogul. I use Resco keyboard pro and its mad easy. I use the Touch Diamond keyboard T9 when i'm driving (easier for one hand)

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

I decided to go trade my Touch for a Mogul and I couldn't be happier but that is just me. I really don't use the hard keyboard as much as I thought I would, but it's still nice to have it.

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

question.. if you dont really use the effin keyboard then what part of owning a mogul makes you happier? because that is the only difference besides wifi... the touch has way more ram and isnt a large brick thats in your pocket

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

Bear with me on this one, but I think we have to go into a little psychology here. The original poster seems to be a bit of a grammar junkie. It’s ok; I have my moments as well. That being said, the Mogul would be the way to go. For quick messages where I could care less about a missing period or semicolon, I’ll use my on-screen keyboard. When it comes to long, drawn-out conversations, I’ll pop the keyboard open and text away. The reasons why the physical keyboard makes it so much easier for these kinds of conversations are as follows:


1.) The keyboard is simply larger than anything that could EVER fit on the standard 2.8” HTC screen, meaning you can see more even with fingers obstructing your view of it
2.) It allows the use of multiple hands to switch off between the lower/upper case characters as well as access to the function key to select the symbols


Like other people on this thread, I'm coming from a Q as well. I really do miss the one-handed typing ability, but the physical keyboard and the availability of several great on-screen keyboards are what really make me love this phone. You just have to get over that freaking beveled edge...

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

My thoughts exactly.

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

I use spb Full Screen Keyboard and love it. I map it to the camera button, so when i need to type a quick text or url its kinda like sliding out the mogul's keyboard, but onscreen. I can type faster with it than even touchpal

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

Why do people get so worked up over their phones. It cracks me up, "My phone is better then your phone". People that like a real keyboard like the Mogul, those that like fingerprints all over their screen will like the Touch. No big deal.

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

So, in short, your phone is better than their phone. :-P

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

I went from a T-Mobile Dash, which had a fairly standard QWERTY thumb-board to the Mogul. The RAM constraints were simply too much for me to deal with.

So, I went from a Mogul to a Touch and as I made the transition, my biggest concern was loosing the hard-keyboard on the Mogul. I honestly only miss the hard-keyboard on those occasions where I have a desire to write out a long message, which is rare occasion.

In short, if I HAD a choice to go back to either a) Mogul or b) Dash, I would go back to the Dash. Thankfully I don't have to make that choice and I get to stick with my Touch.

The real issue to discuss is how your typical user needs are or will be impacted by device that you choose. If you really don't need everything a PPC has to offer, you might just be happy with a SmartPhone alternative.

Best regards,
-boggsie

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

There isn't a day that goes by where I don't miss my physical keyboard on my old Mogul, and I've had the Touch since the day it came out. That being said, I'm actually fairly impressed with the HTC Diamond keyboard on my Touch. It's quick, responsive, and it looks pretty nice.

There are a few things that will always piss me off, no matter what. One of those is the fact that no matter what I do, I will have to deal without having tactile feedback. Once you learn to cope with that, it's not so bad. Another thing is that it's very difficult to type web addresses and words that are not in the phone's dictionary with a keyboard that has predictive text. If I go to some website with a web address like welovepocketpcs.com (or whatever), I will get so angry at the fact that I have to type "we", space, backspace, "love", space, backspace, "pocket", space, backspace, "pcs.com" with the Touch keyboard. One more thing would be the fact that software keyboards take up so damn much of the screen, it's ridiculous. Not only that, but it also screws up in some programs where it squishes the program incorrectly, and you either can't see what you're typing, you can't see what someone else has typed, or the complete bottom half of the program is hidden behind the keyboard.

It sounds like I hate it, but I've actually grown quite used to it, due to the fact that I WANT to deal with it. The weight and thickness of the Touch combined with the nice UI and healthy upgrade to double the RAM the Mogul had makes it worth it to me. I wouldn't trade my Touch in for a Mogul...ever.

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

Wifi and GPS were the deal sealer. I do use my hard keyboard a lot though. I like the form factor and screen better too, but we'd better not start a "which phone is better?!" thread :drunken:

Could not agree with you more. It's not like I care that I can type a paper for school without having to constantly wipe my screen clean of fingerprints and what not. KIDDING!

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

My phone is better then everyone's phone because it is my phone. :mrgreen:

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

that is something a typical mogul user would say..

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

I knew that would get Shizz's goat, LOL. I was just messing around with y'all. I know when my Mogul breaks down I will have a Touch and I will like it just as much as I like my Mogul now.

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

if you ever use a touch for any amount of time and are not to cheap to get a screen protector worth actually paying for, you will never see the fingerprints personally i love ivisible shield it serves its purpose which is fully protecting the phone without making it bulky. whenever i had my mogul at first i used the hardware keyboard alot then i got introduced to touchpal and only used my hardware keyboard when i remebered i had reason to the bulkinees of my phone. fyi the bulkiness got on my nerves alot because i couldnt use the music player for training without worrying about the phone falling out of my pocket. you know all it really boils down to is how the user is going to use the device,and what there personel prefernces are.

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

Hmm....Gps is working fine on my touch. And wifi? Never used it when I did have the mogul so no dealbreaker for me

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

Thanks for the replies guys.

I am a bit of a grammar-junkie as when I reply to some people's emails it's for work purposes. Excessively poor spelling and grammatical errors are not good form for the job.

I also input alot of medical words which are not in the dictionary, i.e., losartan, rosiglitazone, or something weird like that. So to me it feels like I'm always typing "l" "o" "s" "a" backspace or whatever ,"r"....and I think that once I upgrade to one of those hacked ROMS all my "learned" words might be gone although I'm sure you can save the database file somewhere.

I've also got a foreign language dictionary that I would like to use in order to look up a few words. Inputting those is also not going to be very predictive I'm assuming.

I was waiting for a burrito tonight (5 min) and I tried to text "Went to work out. Will be home soon. Didn't have my phone." And I kept screwing up. My burrito made it out before I finished the message.

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

:scratch:

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

uh, touchpal has a user dictionary that allows you to insert slang and medical stuff in it, i think every texter on the planet has some kind of ebonics they use, so most soft keyboard software's out there will let you customize the dictionary to your liking, all i'm saying is you will text much faster and with a LOT less effort with touchpal compared to ANY hardware keyboard.. ask around, hell go to the "convertz" thread in off topic, its all the mogul users who switched to the touch.. they ALL will testify that the touch's textin is a lot more effective

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

i never used the keyboard on my old apache.. WHY?

because the lcd wasnt made to be viewed at that landscape angle. the lcd like many others (including the touch) you can tell its not made to be viewed from the side.

theres a wierd holo-rainbow effect thats pretty obvious and strains my eyes.

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

Like I have said before, it all boils down to personal preference. I don't mind the since and think it feels better in my hand than the Touch did. I went through a couple Touchs because of the dark spot defect in the screen. Other than that the only complain was no hardware keyboard. The only thing I truly miss is running Android.

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

the only time i miss a hard kb is when the dictionary does not know the word im trying to type. adding it in touchpal requires a bunch of finger swipes across buttons and such, and is annoying to me, but once its in the dictionary, its in there, so you dont need to worry about it again....

yesterday i was helping my friend tweak her Dash, and I must admit using her hard KB was very refreshing...

but also made me realize how far SIP's have come, because I would still beat her down in a texting race....lol

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

The Mogul is by far the best phone for business use, I would look silly pulling out a Touch or an Iphone for that matter in a business meeting to answer a call or an email. With that being said, it would depend on the type of business you are in as well, but for excel, word and pdf's the Mogul is the best hands down. If I was still in college or not in a professional business world then I would probably have the Touch.

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

thats your preference, why would one look stupid in a corporate environment, pulling out a Touch(which is parallel to the mogul in general respects), or even an iphone....

Who you think is looking that hard?? LOL....

Thats crazy you said that cuz the last meeting I had with the Sales Managers here, they all had there BB's and such, but the RSM had a touch, as well as I, and my buddy thats works with me has a mogul....

That speaks volumes in itself!

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

First off, eveyone looks at me hard, I am the standard! LOL Just kiddin.

Here we go, with the "It is like this where I work so it MUST be like this were everyone works", only speaking volumes for your workplace, not the average overall. What I was referring to was a post I saw here awhile back that had the Mogul rated highest for business type phones, the post had a link to a report on PPC/Smartphones, sorry to say that mighty Touch was not on the list. Here is the shocker, it is because the Touch is not marketed towards people in the business world ](*,)! Does that mean it cannot be used for business? No! But again, as it has been touted so often in here it is personal choice.

Also, I stated that I would feel silly using in a professional setting because I think it looks like toy, same with the Iphone. Remeber before y'all start flaming that I said "I" not everyone, so will your flames change my mind? NO, but if if makes you feel better flame away, just try and make them funny.

PS, I still think everyone in PPCGEEKS is awsome reguardless of your phone!

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

yeah you are right with that...they dont market the touch as a business device, they market it as a multi media device(sucks out the box at that but whatever sprint).

I dont think it looks like a toy though, hell, to me the mogul seemed like a toy, but we all have our opinions....

and no flaming here, your one of the people here that I dont care to flame, because you help out and youve helped me out b4...so dont take offense from my post, and none taken from yours!

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

No offense take; and I probably will change my mind about the Touch when my Mogul dies and I get one as the replacement, and also because I am that shallow :mrgreen:.

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

When I first got my Touch, i did some research into which touch keyboard people liked best. From what I saw, touchpal seemed to be the most popular. When i first started using touchpal, i entered text using precise input because i didn't really understand how predictive input worked. After reading a little more into predictive input, i turned off 'precise input' and started using predictive input. i really love predictive input and it has made my typing much much faster. i tried the spb keyboard and i don't like the fact that it pretty much covers the entire screen and does not allow you to see where you are typing.

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

Seriously.

Im surprised it took someone this long to mention a full screen keyboard. Its pretty great, except sometimes i get to typing to fast and as you know the touch cant recognize the two different letters i am typing. And yes it does cover the screen, hence the name 'full screen' keyboard. but it has a view window to at least see what you are typing.



Oh, and i thought i was a big texter, im only at like three thousand a month. Seven thousand in a month is obscene! lol.

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

yes... the spb keyboard is the only way to go on the touch. you have to get the 15 day trial, but if you ask nicely (google), you can find the key for the full version...well worth it which ever way you go, free or pay. you have way more control with your texting, and the predictive text is good too. check it out, you wont be sorry:headbang:

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

lol what can i say, i'm a beast lol, hell i've gotten up to 8100 texts in on month lol, so yeah there is nothing nobody can tell me.. the funny part is, the textin doesn't account for all the times i message on facebook, myspace, here, and jive talk messenger, if that was incorporated in the bill i'd be looking at like 11000! so don't anyone dare say textin on a touch can be a hassle cuz that's straight BS

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

I never realized how much time I spend cleaning fingerprints and smudges off of my screen, until you posted this comment.

Thanks for shattering my fantasy with a dose of reality. :protest:

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

I said this too myself a couple weeks ago. I had the Touch for 3 months. I've gotten used to the no physical keyboard and tried about everyone, including the full screen kb i used the most. But still over the weeks ive gotten more frustrated when i keep making mistakes. I have since got a BB Curve and very happy with it.

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

You know the Mayor od Detroit got caught up with textin homie.

So watch out now.

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

I, like many here, came from a Mogul to a Touch. There is no turning back for me. My nephew and brother both have the Tilt and frankly I couldn't "go there" either. Size does matter. Sliding out your keyboard DOES get old. Everything in life is pluses and minuses. Weigh them out pertaining to these phones and go from there. For me...its not even close. and BTW...you will get faster with an on-screen keyboard...but only through use.

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

Damn son. I know how often i text message. For 8000 in a month did you ever put your phone down? lol!

Re: At what point does one say "I need a real keyboard?"
 

Just lick it clean, sure people will look at you funny, but they will also leave you and your phone alone.