How are you liking the Pre's Keyboard? 90
The Palm Pre keyboard: subject of much debate, compared to the iPhone's software keyboard ad nauseam, bigger than a Centro, about the size of a Treo Pro, positively tiny compared to a BlackBerry Bold. Chicklet, just right, one-handed, clicky, mushy... it's been a lot of things to a lot of people.
Lately, though, I've been taking it for granted - it has becomes invisible to me in that it 'just works.' Perhaps I have magic thumbs, perhaps the keyboard has some mystical qualities I haven't discovered, perhaps I've just used QWERTY smartphones for so long that I have a warped perspective on these things. Basically, though, the keyboard has become a non-issue for me in the sense that I don't even think about it anymore, I just use the darn thing without issue.
How about you? How's that Palm Pre keyboard treating ya?
90 Comments
Yeah, the blackberry curve is the best keyboard i have ever used and the Pre comes in a bit better than the 755P (which was ok, but the keys were hard).
I like just using my nails to type.
When I initially bought my Pre I wasn't thrilled with the keyboard. But lo and behold after a couple weeks of "practice" I was writing emails, tweets, and texts much quicker and more accurately than I ever could on my iPhone. In fairness to the iPhone, their landscape keyboard (took 'em long enough!!) is an improvement... but nothing in my opinion beats a tactile keyboard.
THE GOOD:
- Quick and accurate with a little time and patience
- Once we get a !!! VIRTUAL KEYBOARD !!!, we'll have convenience of BOTH! :)
THE BAD:
- Autocorrect sometimes intrusive, sometimes doesn't do enough
- I still a little tough to type one-handed when lying down
COMING SOON:
- Customizable auto-correct dictionaries. Just matter of time.
- We'll have both keyboards, iPhone will always be stuck with one!
i really like the keyboard. for me, it's just as easy to use as the keyboard on my old treo 800w.
It's great, does the job, doesn't bother me :)
I've used most blackberries, the iPhone and Centro and of course the Pre. I type faster on the Pre than any other device I've ever used. I typed my first email on the BB Bold last week since having the Pre for 3 weeks, it felt like my fingers were just slipping off the keys.
I think for me its the rubbery feel of the keys like the Centro had, but much less bulbous. I really like the spacing too. To be honest, the biggest surprise of the phone was how much I liked the keyboard.
Good comment. I agree with you completely. It's a great keyboard and so easy to type with.
I really think if Palm keeps making software upgrades, and hardware upgrades every year, this phone will become very popular.
I don't think the Pre's keyboard is terrible, I can type pretty fast now that I'm used to it, but the Blackberry Curve 8900 and the Blackberry Tour keyboards are better by a wide margin.
I have this issue too, although the longer I use the phone the less I have it.
that happened to me a few time when trying to delete
This happened to me the first week or so of using the phone. After that, I haven't done it but once or twice and I have had the phone since day one. It just takes some getting used to.
I miss the one-handed typing from my Treo and Centro but it's a conscious trade off since I'm not willing to give up the screen size for the Pixie/Eos.
I do wish the keyboard backing felt more .... solid. I would have put up with more weight in return for an aluminum back panel. I haven't felt it flex but it's so thin that I *think* it will. Could be this is my first slider phone, too.
Maybe you need more practice. I use my Pr
I use one hand to type with the Pre, coming from a Centro its a breeze. I agree I wouldn't want a bigger device just to get bigger keys, for that I'd buy a netbook. Now if only we could get an on screen KB that doesn't require rooting.
I'm perfectly satisfied with the Pre's thumbboard for basic messaging, e-mailing and the occasional longer forum post. It is *not*, though, appropriate for lengthy writing, a fact that will likely become clearer once the full Docs2Go and other editing software launches for WebOS. One more reason why (and yes, I know I'm a broken record on this) the Pre needs an external keyboard solution (i.e. Bluetooth keyboard support). {ProfJonathan}
Are you prof Jonathan from Georgia?
Any way, I agree. An external keyboard would be very very helpful. I had an external keyboard for my Treo and I loved it.
Nope, I'm ProfJonathan [Ezor] from Long Island, but thanks for the vote of support for an external keyboard. We need to get the groundswell building for one. {ProfJonathan}
Absolutely agree. The Pre's keyboard is plenty useful for short messages, but longer typing gets tedious. I'd love the option of having a BT keyboard-- hopefully a folding/pocketable one! An on-screen keyboard accessible in both portrait and landscape mode would also add some much-appreciated flexibility to the Pre.
As for the built-in keyboard, I like the slightly sticky feel of the keys, their degree of "mushiness" and the tactile feedback they provide. I find the top row of keys is a little cramped but overall I'm getting used to it. I find myself using my fingernails to press the keys, but as another poster noted, it is possible to accurately type with the pads of your fingers with practice (kind of like playing a harmonica, I imagine).
One thing that would be appreciated is a way to permanently set the keyboard's brightness separately from the screen. The Brightness Unlinked Homebrew app (http://www.precentral.net/homebrew-apps/brightness-unlinked) is great but I don't typically leave cards open and its settings are non-persistent once the app is closed, so it's not an optimal solution for me (though I can live with the limitations for the time being).
none of the answers apply. it goes from doesn't bother me to I'm getting typos. Well it bothers me but i'm not getting typos.
it's better then none. Better then a virtual keyboard but not nearly as good as a blackberry keyboard. All Palm devices have poor keybards. Keys are too small and don't have enough play.
Do not reinvent the wheel. take a decent blackberry keyboard and copy the feel of it. Regardless i'm stuck with this keyboard for the next two years so it doesn't matter. They aren't exactly offering to replace the keyboard.
Sorry, while I love my new Pre and all it can do, the horizontal sliding keyboard of my old Helio Ocean is something I miss so much. This keyboard has two disadvantages for me:
1. the keys are too small and cramped together
2. based on the orientation, it's difficult to use with two thumbs and the real estate is so small, you need to curve your thumb and it makes using it difficult.
It is easier to use one handed than the Ocean's larger keyboard provided.
keyboard is great but now I need someone to write an application like KEYCAPS and I will be set.
I'm okay with the size of the keyboard, I just wish the number keys were a different color, like they were on the Treo and Centro.
My orange button now has a diagonal rip where my left thumbnail keeps pressing.
The keyboard's just ok compared to the Treo 755p.
Keyboard works just fine. Worlds better than typing on the sub-par onscreen keyboard on the Touch Diamond I upgraded from.
I like the keyboard just fine. I switched from a Blackberry Curve, and I had way more typos with that than I do the Pre. I always accidentally hit two keys on the Curve and it drove me nuts. I'm a fan of the Pre.
There really is no actual palm news is there?
everyday. nothing! just speculation, "reading the tea leaves", guesses, projections for the future. But no actual releases or announcements. Sad. Kinda sick of it and frustrated. All talk from Palm. No action.
Flawless, I look forward to typing on it everyday
I could stand for it to be a LITTLE bit bigger... just a TAD more separation between the keys would be ideal... I have no problems with a SLIGHTLY bigger device to accommodate this, the Pre is pretty darned tiny anyway I think. What I DO like though is the basic feel of it... I think the keys are raised just enough, and with the rubbery kind of feel, I think I wind up having better accuracy with this thing than most others I've ever tried, even with the relatively small size. The one BIG problem I've encountered, maybe the only real problem, is that the top row of keys is WAY too close to the casing. This is definitely where I wind up with most of my typos. I think if Palm just bumps it down a centimeter or two it'll be fine.
I worried that the keyboard would be too difficult, but once I found the touch of it, it is wonderful. As for errors... I get the same amount of typos as a standard keyboard...just different keys. Bottom line: works well and better than expected.
I don't really have a problem with the keyboard itself per se, but I do find it difficult to slide the keyboard out with one hand. When I do, I almost always either accidentally trigger a gesture or type a character or three.
my only problem about the keyboard is that the "Backspace" is too close to the "Enter". Bad things happe
you got that right!!!was awoken by a text and tried to reply while in bed and half asleep. made a type and kept hitting enter instead of backspace. person was cracking up cuz phone just blew up with about 6 short mistyped messages. meant to say "thats f-ed up" kept missing the "t" and sending "hats" just "hats" its pretty funny really.
NO Joke! My Keyboard just died. Not one minute ago!
I am Fricken pissed. The battery died last night. I put it on the charger. Removed at 97%. everything looks fine and i try to enter text and nothing. I can't enter text in any program at all. everything else seems to work fine but the keyboard. i'm turning it off and on again in hopes that that works but man i'm fricken pissed now. This is the only real problem i've ever had with this thing. Man i'm not happy.
FUCK!!!!!!!
didn't work! Pre is getting exchanged today at the very least.
i'm going to reply to my own damn self. Dammit i like my pre. i'm going to find a way to get this damn thing working if i have to search every forum on the planet for the next 10 hours.
may have found a solution. hope this works. my 30 days may be up too. plus i need an active phone and can't afford an iphone. Fingers crossed.
Whoa!!! got it back. i'm no longer pissed. had to remove the battery for a while and functionality came back. they need to fix that.
No complaints here. Much better than my Centro & 800. I have friends tell me that the keys are too small. I tell them that the Pre is a good incentive for them to get off their Fat butt and lose some weight. Fat hands do not do well with small keys. Deal with it :)
It works. I'm pretty quick at it now and can slide my fingers across the keyboard barely even lifting them. However, when I have to set up other people's devices for work, I still get jealous at how much better their keyboards are. I feel like the Pre is at the lower end of acceptable phone keyboards. It's not bad, but could be much better.
Virtual keyboards still suck though. I've set up other people's iPhones and a Storm, and I hated it.
BB Curve had the best phone keyboard I ever used. Pre comes close. I think my problem is my thumbs keep reverting to the Curve layout. I'll get better eventually.
Blackberry Bold was my favorite keyboard. But I'm used to the Pre's now. And it does the job.
It does me well for the size. When I get to thinking "do I want this keyboard to be bigger and easier to type on", I start to recall how bricky and crappy my old Treo was, and how bricky the side slider HTC devices are compared to a Treo. And I know I've never liked the way BBs look and feel, even though typing on them is a snap.
I'd really rather have a small keyboard like the Pre's than to have a device that is always a brick. I only use the keyboard intermittently, but I have to hold this thing or have it in the pocket a lot more...and the tradeoff for the profile is just fine with me.
I'm in the whole camp where I need a physical keyboard (so no iPhone for me...virtual keyboards are only useful if you don't view your phone as a central communications device), but I don't want the bulkiness of a slide slider or the cramped screen of a BlackBerry. That little keyboard was one of the biggest excite factors of the hardware side of the Pre for me, along with the screen.
I own a Pre and an Ipod Touch and I like the Pre's keyboard better. I like the actual feel of pressing a key.
+1
I like the idea of arrow keys... maybe I J L and M keys, activated by a particular keystroke combo like pressing the orange and Sym keys simultaneously. Also agree with your idea for a Delete key using Orange+backspace.
Did you know that you can fairly easily position the cursor where ever you want?
1. Tap in the field roughly where you want the cursor
2. While holding the orange key drag your finger left/right/up/down in the display area to move the cursor
You can then do same holding shift down to select text. Admittedly this will be much more important when the Pre gets the ability to select non-editable text.
The Pre is my first smartphone, so I had nothing to compare it to. It works.
I have huge thumbs though. To compensate, I just keep my nails long on my thumbs.
I'm quite pleased with the Pre keyboard. But I'm also pretty impressed by how many respondents there have been to the poll in such a short amount of time --almost 3400 at this time.
I think the keyboard works just fine....Except (and this may have already been mentioned) when I'm trying to type while lying in bed or on the couch. It's very difficult to hold the phone above you withoug droppiing it. Otherwise, its better than any virtual keyboard. If people wanted a virtual keypad, I don't understand why they bought a pre. (other than the fact if would probably help my main complaint....)
I like the changes that were made. The new layout does take some getting used to if you are a Treo person. Physically, I like the Pre keyboard feel better than my Treo.
I have an iPod touch and a Pre. The iPod touch can be more convenient if typing something very short, but the Pre wins hands down for anything more than a word or two. Also, with the Pre I can type relatively well without staring at the keyboard whereas the iPod touch there is no tactile feedback so typing without looking is basically impossible. My only complaint with the Pre is the lack of a on-screen keyboard in portrait or landscape mode for convenience.
I can only blame myself on the last point though since Palm provided a nice open platform that can be customized to one's liking unlike the totalitarian leanings of a certain company...
coming from a Centro so the Pre's keyboard is downright roomy!
I do love it actually. My wife has one of those text messaging phones with the full slideout keyboard and I can't type worth a darn on it. The keys are too far apart!
It's ok. I'm not comfortable with the balance - the phone feels top-heavy when I'm typing. The outer ridge is uncomfortable. And I would really like delete and arrow keys.
One of the things that impressed me about the Pre when I first played with it in a Sprint store was that the keys almost seem to guide your fingers to the right spots. I expected typing to be uncertain (my thumb is about 3 keys wide!) but it seemed to get the right key every time - and if it can do that then it's big enough for me!
I was sold :)
I think the keyboard works amazingly well for its size, and i think it is because of the slight tackiness of the keys. Perfectly done by the Palm engineers.
I agree that it is hard to type on while lying in bed. But that is pretty hard to get around with any setup.
Good enough in my opinion. Not as good as my Touch Pro. Better than a virtual keyboard. Really just in the middle as far as QWERTYs go.
I like it much better than the Centro but not as much as my 800w. I don't like how its sunken down. If it was flush like the 800w it would rock.
The first time I saw the keyboard I nearly cried in disappointment. It looked so darn small and cramped, I didn't believe for a second that it would be useful.
Thing is, though, despite the fact that I have somewhat thick, clumsy fingers I find the individual keys on the keyboard bubble up enough that it's surprisingly easy to use. I do put in the occasional typo, but it's more responsive and accurate than the keyboard on my old Treo 680, which was physically larger and had more space between the individual keys.
I think it is great, I can type fast without making mistakes. The other day I found myself typing away without even looking at the phone, it worked perfectly.
Agreed with many others that the BB Curve had the best keyboard out there. It took me a few weeks to get used to the Pre's keyboard, but now I'm used to it. I wish top keys were a little bit lower as my thumbs sometimes hit the top of the slider, especially cause I have a plastic snap on case that adds a little bit to the thickness. And I have to keep my thumb nails cut short or else the nails get in the way. The bottom of the lip of the keyboard has enough extra room that I think they could have shifted down a few mm. But otherwise, I'm getting faster every day and don't really have to look when I type, which is the definite advantage over a pure touchscreen keyboard.
No offence to yall but I'm on my pre right now and typing in landscape mode and yes I'm using the hardware keyboard. I can type on both horizantle and verticle mode very well with almost no typos at all.
I was really concerned at first. The demo unit at BB didn't feel good at all. Then, I figured I'd get one anyway and just wait for a software keyboard. However, the real thing felt much better and even my sausage fingers type with nary a typo.
I must say, my feelings for the keyboard are like my feelings for Chronicles of Riddick. . .I went in thinking it was going to be pretty terrible, but came out pleasantly surprised. I think it's underrated and history will be kind to it.
You're welcome for the ridiculous analogy.
I've gotten used to it. At the beginning plenty of typos especially when trying to type very quickly. But as expected time on the keyboard has made it natural
No issues for me at all with the keyboard. :)
I have rather large hands and I am not having too much trouble with this keyboard. The pre is by far the best phone I have ever owned.
I am sorry. I have nails and its very hard to type on th ekeyboard with nails. There needs to be a virtual keyboard or something!
I'm loving my Pre keyboard! I finally got my Pre a few days ago. I really like the way it sits in my hands and allows me to easily use my thumbs for typing. It is much easier to use this keyboard than it was to use the Treo 750p or the Centro. I am just loving my Pre!