The guys at Gizmodo gave the HTC Magic on Vodafone a quick spin and the first impressions were very good with one major caveat. The finish and form factor were rated great with great features, great weight/feel and a solid offering but the on-screen keyboard was cramped and lacking. Check out the video and see for yourself:
This is why I’m a big fan of the G1. Does it look perfect? No. Does the HTC Magic look better? Definitely. But I’d take the G1 keyboard over the Magic keyboard any day of the decade and since mobile use revolves around inputting information to get the response you want, the keyboard is a pretty important element. Sure, you can do a lot with the touching and flicking and all that jazz but to do advanced stuff – which is where we all want android to take us – you need a good keyboard.
Granted the hard/soft keyboard are 2 totally different schools. I like the hardware keyboard. I could be converted if there was a software keyboard that worked properly. But when you take a software keyboard and then cramp it together to further complicate things… no thanks. That’s just my first impression though. And remember… that’s a first impression OF a first impression. The jury is definitely still out on the HTC Magic but its safe to say that its a good looking device that will definitely attract its fair share of Europeans.
All I’m saying is how can you title the article “Close To Perfection” when the keyboard – an unarguably central piece of the next generation mobile devices – is pretty severely flawed or limiting?
[Via Gizmodo]