By 
Though the QWERTY keyboard has had a special place in HTC’s Android lineup going back to phones like the T-Mobile G1, the form factor looks to be phased out by the Taiwanese manufacturer in the future. Speaking at a press event in Seattle, HTC creative director Claude Zellweger said that HTC will be “moving away from [the QWERTY keyboard] in general.” He explained that the extra effort placed in refining physical keyboard design would detract from other areas of devices and that time is better spent improving HTC’s software input methods.
The physical keyboard has been on the decline, with fewer handsets sporting a slider form factor. The QWERTY persists mostly with BlackBerry devices and those designed to emulate them. The move towards increased input area via larger screen sizes and thinner phones utilizing unibody design makes the full QWERTY keyboard an expendable option.
[via Android and Me]
Just create a better battery life. As this seems to be the biggest complaint going around right now.
You can have my keyboard when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
lmao!
+1
exactly. this is idiotic. people would buy more phones with keyboards, if the manufacturers stopped doing stupid things like this and actually provided them.
They certainly provide a lot more screen real estate when typing anything in landscape mode, and a lot of people really like that.
Android is all about choice, but that’s supposed to apply to us, not the manufacturers.
I think that Android always has a bit of a battle between a Democracy and Republic. This is one of those ideas that goes more toward Republican. I hope that HTC doesn’t abandon the keyboard. Hell, I’ll miss my keyboard when I get a new phone from Sprint in September. There aren’t any good Android phones with a keyboard on there that aren’t old!
I never got used to physical qwerty keyboards. Virtual have been way more comfortable for me.
I’d MUCH rather a 11mm thick htc that will easily get me through the whole day than a 7mm samsung that dies at lunch. I never use physical keyboards, so losing them and keeping them “thick” would mean an obvious battery boost.
Samsungs on average have the best battery life on an Android device. HTC’s batteries have always been smaller than competitors and according to them that isn’t going to change.
Brands aside, I am almost surprised that there have been no consumer movements for legislation for standardized tests to produce truth in advertising battery life results for mobile devices.
And for the USA especially, I blame carriers just as much. Half of their bloatware is battery wasting crap.
Anyway, that’s why I advocate rooting.
Is a bigger battery a good thing? You bet!
Getting rid of battery consumption, without sacrificing service, is the other side of the equation.
If these devices were 5 times more efficient, batteries could be half the size and we’d still be ahead.
how about a 7mm that has a full body blackplate with option for a bigger battery and backplate to make the phone 11mm, but rather thand a battery hump, just have the whole phone become 11mm thick.
I wish they would still make some high end qwerty phones i like the option of using the physical and the on screen keyboard depending what im doing at the time i need to type
the droid 4 is wonderful, got 2 of them for my parents
G1? : http://i382.photobucket.com/albums/oo264/xHuStER/Yeah.png
I think the design geniuses at HTC need to be replaced. First they say that thinness is more important than larger battery sizes just the other day, now they want to drop the qwerty keyboards. Hey HTC, this just in: you’re not Apple; quit trying to be them!
We are not the common consumer. Most people want an iPhone or similar device. Nobody ask for high battery life in the shops, just cool looks. The same for keyboards, they went with Blackberry or clones, not sliders…
No they didn’t say larger battery is important, they continued with the thinner=better mantra despite the fact that they can’t make a thin phone to save their lives. The HTC Rezound makes the droid razr maxx look anorexic after all.
Guess that means a lot of fingernails are going to be cut. I for one HATE virtual keyboards so I guess whoever makes future phones w QWERTYs is going to get my business
They should have options! I never used the sliding keyboard much when I had the epic 4g but I kinda liked the one the palm pre had!
But the keys were so small.
Maybe they could make a keyboard that can dock into the phone and integrate well with it.
The g2 has a great keyboard I still used as an spare phone when my amaze dies I just put the SIM in my g2 and I’m a happy men
I cant believe this if u havent played wit r used a droid 4 u r crazy that keyboard is very nice there making a mistake all we want is a phone with good specs and if it includes a keyboard we would buy it. Sometimes having all touch isnt a good thing i love having my keyboard when i need to send a long email r a text its jus quicker and simpler if they listen to there customers they would know its not the keyboard thats the problem but the software and camera.
Well if HTC stops making qwerty devices then I just lost my only reason to buy an HTC device. Not putting up with crap battery life, crap speakers and crap cameras from HTC any longer.
This is the #1 reason I choose Android over iOS. Real keyboard with real functionality. I use terminal apps and write real e-mails with real sentences — not short hand mobile phone twittermails.