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Given that the internals of the upcoming T-Mobile G2 don’t place the HSPA+ handset well ahead of the competition, the phone has three main selling points. One is, well, the HSPA+ support, while the other two would be the stock version of Android 2.2 it runs and a pretty nice hardware keyboard. And that hardware keyboard is exactly what we are looking at here in close-up, giving us a better idea of its layout including a set of three Quick Keys. What are Quick Keys? They will be used to “quickly access super useful Google shortcuts and other applications that may take multiple steps to access.”
These keys will be customizable and should give you pretty free range to decide exactly what they do. Aside from their inclusion, the G2 keyboard is looking pretty spacious with some generously portioned keys. Should be a real dream for those who can’t get enough of hardware keyboards. The rumor mill still puts this phone at a September 29th launch, but we’ll see as the date draws closer.
[via Android and Me]
God, I wish I had a Tab key.
Do they still make Tab? :P
That looks like a MDPI screen… way too small.
MDPI screen? Way too small? Only because you see a portion of the screen…..
@Chimphappyhour Yes, we had some in the soda cooler at work about 2 years ago.
I’m sure from all the other pictures released so far that this screen is full size and not in any way cropped down like the Wildfire for example, this is just another blurrycam shot.
Personally I think unless you’re going to assign regularly used smileys or áccénts to it. I don’t think I’d use these keys. That said, I don’t think I’d go back to another HW keyboard, touchscreen does the job just fine.
@Yamthief What about assigning regularly used applications, like a File explorer or lock orientation? You’re thinking too small, these a pretty useful.
HW keyboard is essential for me. I need it for emulators and find it far easier to bash out reasonable quantities of text on my G1’s keyboard. My wife has a Legend and the software keyboard is good, but it’s nowhere near as useful.
I’m already running HW keyboard shortcuts on the G1, which are accessed via search+letter. These are really useful and greatly speed up the use of the phone plus declutter the homescreen (I’m only using 2 and one of those is entirely widgets).
So yeah dedicated quick keys would be fantastic. Especially if they can be used for more than just launching apps (as the article implies).
Yeah, I can definitely see a use for these. Ugh, I just wish this phone didnt have that god awful ugly optical track pad. Track ball or HTC Desire style optical trackpad please.
The article still expects launch date of 9/29.
However, Tmobile indicated to me there have been bugs and are looking for November sales date.
How about that black backing that is cut out around each key. Is that looking cheap and sloppy in how it was applied or what? If this is what I’d have to look at when I use the device, I’ll pass. Talk about screwing up the appearance of an otherwise quality looking device.
This phone looks more and more tempting every time I see it, but it does worry me about longevity and upgrading to 3.0! Was all the stuff about minimum requirement of 1Ghz baloney or is it really the case, and that this phone will never be able to take the next step to 3.0?
@Bobbin
This was debunked long long ago. the 1Ghz requirement and stuff are all recommended specifications, not minumum requirements.
And if you’re really worried about the 800mhz speed, you can overclock to 1Ghz, no problem.
@Kelvin
Thats good to know, I thought it was a bit daft to have a min requirement set by GPU speed as it doesn’t dictate the performance of a possessor.
Isn’t ‘tab’ the ALT-Z combination?
Where the heck is the backslash(\)? Yes haters, people still use that key too. If they had gone with a 4″ screen they could have had room for a 5 row keyboard…
M@
I was waiting for this phone to come out, only to see it has a stupid texting keyboard. Can Tmobile please come out with a replacement for the G1. Something with Android and a real keyboard.
Doubling up on keys makes typing passwords a pain. Not having keys like TAB makes some apps a pain.
This thing is just another little girls texting phone. What a waste.