Comments on: Motorola’s OPhone Due In China

By: Muhahahahaz

Muhahahahaz — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:45:00 +0000

@nickdeuva: What are you smoking? That’s exactly what a long-press on the home button does…

By: nickdeuva

nickdeuva — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:00:39 +0000

Keep the physical keyboard. I almost always use it over the onscreen keyboard on the droid. I have no real problem with the flatter profile of the keys, though the lack of a number row can get annoying. That said, it’s not worth the extra width to add one, IMO. Honestly, the one change I’d like made to the droid is the ability to easily switch between open applications. It would make sense as an option for the long-press on the home screen or something like that.

By: Tose

Tose — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:15:32 +0000

I’m with Webby. I had a G1 for a year, and now I have a Droid. The keyboard takes some getting use to, but I definitely like it more than the G1. The d-pad is great for selecting small links and it’s more accurate than the trackball.

By: Indiana Gividen

Indiana Gividen — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:22:32 +0000

I want a physical keyboard because I like to feel the keys. Having said that, the MotoDroid’s keyboard is worthless to me.

By: ari-free

ari-free — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:34:45 +0000

hardware keyboard = use of the entire screen and more controls for games. ‘Tilt and touch’ is good for some games but you’ll get more games if you have full control.
As for dpad placement…the problem is that keyboard people are used to the arrow keys on the right side. Most pc gamers use WSAD

I always wondered: the iPhone has some cool 3D games. Why is it that whenever I see an iPhone commercial, they only show simple apps like a tip calculator or a bird watching app? Why not market it as the “xbox gamer’s phone?”
My theory is that Apple doesn’t want to go down that route because then they’d have to add all these controls to their ‘work of art.’ The single button Apple mouse was one of the major reasons why the mac never took off as a games machine and it is certainly possible for android to take over.

By: Rich

Rich — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:49:08 +0000

Keyboard like the Pre or Blackberry are okay. The best way would be to have the keyboard as a bluetooth device. Slim and lightweight is good. I don’t like the weight of the Treo.

By: Rich

Rich — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:29:31 +0000

I love to have a Droid without the keyboard. Just improve the virtual keyboard. As it keyboard is software, this can be easily updated with patches. Awesome, can’t wait to import Motorola phone from China to New York.

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:36:05 +0000

I agree with Webby. I played extensively with (though didn’t own) a G-1, and I own a Droid. The Droid’s lone fault is the lack of a dedicated numbers row. Other than that, I use it extensively and only use the softboard for when it’s impractical to slide out the keyboard (though the softboard is very good as well, certainly better than the earlier efforts).

The D-pad is hit or miss. I like it, but I think it should have been on the left side in keeping with tradition. That’s what people are used to, so I think that was a slight error as well. Other than that, it’s a great keyboard.

As to the phone above, it’s a wait and see approach. If Moto can pull it off, they’re on the way back to greatness; if not, well, they’ve still got the Droid/Milstone, Cliq/Dext, Calgary and the Zeppelin (anyone got any more photos on that last one)?

By: webby

webby — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:25:56 +0000

I actually own a droid (as opposed to some of the commenters), and I owned a G1 for a year. I actually like the droid keyboard better than the G1’s except for one factor — I wish they had added one row for dedicated number keys. Other than that, I find the keyboard to be excellent.
And the D-pad some complain about I find more useful than the trackball on the G1, as it is more precise in placing the cursor on tiny items on a web page.
As the screens of the phones get larger, I could prolly do without a physical keyboard, except that I would really miss something like a D-pad for the reason mentioned.

By: Claude Breton

Claude Breton — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:13:00 +0000

Just got it back…

You can see it there

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8a0C_RKUVg

By: Claude Breton

Claude Breton — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:08:34 +0000

why not both!! I’ve seen this somewhere a removable hardware keyboard, that way we got the choice thicker or thinner, hardware or software and everyone’s happy.

By: maddmatt02

maddmatt02 — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:44:08 +0000

I was in best buy the other day, and played with lots of phones in there put my hands on probably 8 keyboards. samsungs were the best out of them IMO, and to be honest I think the droids keyboard 100 percent SUCKED.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:47:28 +0000

I can’t stand the physical keyboards. My huge thumbs always press the wrong buttons, no matter what. I can actually type FASTER on an iPhone keyboard than on my Motorola Q’s hardware keyboard, the keyboard on my old Cingular 8125, or my T-Mobile MDA.

However, the D-Pad is essential for games and other interactive apps, so I’d like to see an Android phone designed like the old WinCE PDA’s; I thought the later HP iPaq’s were really the best design, in that department.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:19:29 +0000

I actually would prefer not having a keyboard. I find the onscreen keyboard of the Droid is much faster than using the physical keyboard. I also think the aesthetics could be improved by not needing to incorporate the sliding keyboard.

By: chad

chad — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:12:05 +0000

i would take that over the droid anyday… i say offer no keyboard for people like me in a thinner package, and offer a keyboard in a thicker package for everyone else. it would be great if every phone was offered like this in two packages