Now that you have the Moto Droid, Your opinion on the Keyboard?

[josh]

The Droid is a thoroughbred racehorse and the Cliq is a pony. The phones are so dissimilar they might as well have come from two different companies. I wish the Droid could have had slightly raised keys, but I love how thin it is.

 

[ss13]

like it more and more as i use it. guess getting used to it is the key. i remember my first BBerry 7500. I hated that keyboard. Looking back it was probably the best one ever.

 

[joscon]

I hate the physical keyboard! I'm WAY faster on the soft keyboard in lanscape.

 

[SwordOfWar]

One of the reasons I bought the phone was because of the real keyboard. However, since I've had the phone I have been so pleased with the virtual keyboard that I have rarely used the physical one. I do like using the directional pad on the real keyboard since it makes it easier to select very small things on webpages, play games, and select a certain letter in a message for a small correction.

Overall I m happy with using a combination of the virtual and real keyboard. I really like using the wide virtual version. Its what I used to type this whole message just now. The popup hints on the virtual keyboard lag when I type fast, but all my letters still appear in the message so it really doesn't hinder my speed much from typing quickly.

The physical keyboard is difficult to adjust too for fast typing in my expereience but it works decent when I don't need to type really fast. I'm just finding it hard to use when the virtual keyboard feels so natural to me.

I think I would like the physical one much better if it used the same layout as the virtual keyboard. It also makes it a little more difficult since its more to the left than the right. That extra lip on the side of the phone is mostly the blame for that. So with that said I think for general use the virtual one is the way to go but the directional pad on the keyboard makes it better for specific situations, mostly gaming.

The best physical keyboard I used has to be the one on the samsung glyde, but everything else about that phone is total crap.

We are not restricted to just virtual or real keyboard on the droid so I think flexibility between using them is what really makes this phone great.

I'm loving this phone more than any phone I've ever had before.

I typed all this using both virtual styles and the physical style keyboard. Yea I decided to test the physical keyboard once I wrote so much in this post.

I didn't say much about the small version of the virtual keyboard, but it works great and I use it mainly when I want to type with one hand.

You could use Apps like better keyboard to get fancy t9 support or whatever, but I find that highly unnecessary really.

I think the options allow most anyone to have a decent typing experience if not excellent due to the different ways you can choose to type on this nifty little Droid

 

[uujim]

I tried the hw keyboard for five days. Found it very difficult to type with any accuracy. Kept getting frustrated and switching over to the virtual keyboard. So why haul around all of that useless weight? Traded it in on an Eris. Happy camper.

 

[jstafford1]

For me the ALT keys being so different than my olf ENV2 was a little hard to get used to. But now the only thing keeping the keyboard from getting above an 8 out of 10 is the lack of separate number keys. Other than that totally works fine for me.

 

[aaf709]

My last phone was a Voyager, which had a great keyboard. This one is useful though, especially when I need to be more precise in entering data.

 

[DroidX]

Like any new device it does take some getting used to. It is far easier to use than that of my Tour, not as nice as the keyboard on my Bold. Seems a little easier than my Storm. The top row of keys is difficult to use in portrait but I am sure that will just take getting used to. It is not as easy to use as the IPhone. Overall I am happy with the the virtual keyboard in both landscape and Portrait.

 

[rms2219]

Depends on which keyboard you're talking about. I really enjoy the virtual keyboard (in landscape mode). It is the first touch phone I've had but I was able to pick up the typing almost instantaneously. The "upright" virtual keyboard is tough to deal with, but manageable. Finally, the physical keyboard is OK, just OK. If the buttons were just slightly raised, I would enjoy using that much more. Also, coming from a Blackberry where you can type with a single hand, it is taking some getting used to always having the need to use two hands to type (I suppose a single hand could work the upright keyboard but I'm too slow there at this point)

 

[codediva]

I have small hands and this keyboard is almaost impossible for me to use. My last phone was a blackberry so maybe my expectations are higher than average -- the bb keyboard was great. I find myself using the touchscreen on motodroid -- have had this for about a week now -- touchscreen not perfect either. I wish they had made the physical keyboard smaller and centered . Thumbshurt after one sentence the way it is

 

[wuyanks]

i use the physical keyboard very often now, getting pretty good with it.

 

[iclickjohn]

I'm not having any trouble with the letter keys.
I'm having more trouble with the joystick, getting my finger on it just right to toggle and also to press center.
Alt Keys should be spread out larger over that blank space so that selecting alt items doesn't require fiddling around so much to get a finger on the small alt key.
I was expecting worse based on reviews, as well as, I did not use a keyboard in the past. It really is nice for web browsing, youtube, and other apps that you want landscape and enjoy the full screen.

 

[lmapp]

My only real point of reference is that I've been using a Treo for a few years. That said, I've had a Droid for two weeks today, and I'm not loving the physical keyboard at all. I seem to double-click quite often, as well as click neighboring keys. Remember...I've been using a Treo with its small keys.

I'm thinking the perfect phone would be the Droid less the physical keyboard (and the bulk/weight that it brings). Then again, if pigs could fly....

Edit: Forgot to mention that the virtual keyboard is very usable for me in landscape. Portrait not so much, but I've got big hands/fingers.

 

[dean.collins]

both the Treo's and the HTC devices have better keyboards than the DROID.

(i bought my DROID on a 12 month contract for that very reason).

 

[Paladyr]

Coming from a curve the keyboard sucks. My typing speed has gone down at least 50% or so. I'm willing to overlook that though based on everything this phone can do!