
5G BlackBerry phone with Android and a physical keyboard will arrive in 2021 - initself
https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/19/21375026/5g-blackberry-phone-android-physical-keyboard-2021-release-date
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csilverman
Honest question: how do people feel about physical keyboards on phones these
days? I'm not going to knock this until I know more about it, but I would be a
little surprised if there are a lot of folks who, after having gotten used to
a standard onscreen keyboard, still prefer punching physical buttons.

I have a BlackBerry, albeit an ancient one—8830 World Edition—and I actually
turned it on the other day. Typing on it really was weird—it felt like it
required a lot of physical effort to use. (And I remember thinking that
BlackBerries had excellent keyboards, as opposed to the Treo; I had one of
those, too, and it felt like typing on pencil erasers.)

I'm not trying to sound condescending, but a physical keyboard on a phone
feels sort of like training wheels to me; something that an old-school phone
person might assume is more usable than the tiny buttons of an onscreen
keyboard. But then you realize how accurate the key-sensing on screen
keyboards actually is, and how much less energy it takes to tap than press.

I have no idea, but I do know that when I used my old BlackBerry the other
day, it felt uncomfortably like using a mechanical typewriter. I'll be curious
to see how this goes.

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olvy0
There's also the Fxtec Pro phone [0], which doesn't look too bad from the spec
and the reviews. If I were on the lookout for a new phone I'd seriously
consider it.

For some reason I never get along with screen keyboards, even after 8 years or
so. I press the wrong key every 5 characters or so, and the auto correct is
very seldom right.

I've tried many keyboards, currently I've settled on google keyboard app. I'm
very unhappy with its accuracy, but it's slightly better than the
alternatives.

I should add I'm not a native English speaker, most of my phone interaction is
in my native language, but when I do write English google's keyboard app's
autocorrect seems to be much more intelligent. Still, the need to constantly
look at it is tiring.

Maybe it's because I'm a relatively fast typist since an early age, and used
to the feel of physical keys and placing my fingers just so, so I'm more
annoyed with the inaccuracy of phone keyboards compared to other people, I
don't know. I also tend to be very verbose in writing, compared to other
people I know.

So even after 9 years I haven't touched it, I find myself still missing my old
Nokia phone every time I try to write a detailed message on my new Android
phone...

[0] [https://www.fxtec.com/](https://www.fxtec.com/)

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initself
Keyboard that represents "brand values" and "angling the device to enterprise
customers" sounds like OnwardMobility gets what it is all about.

