Yes please I hate fucking virtual keyboards and haptic feedback.
I literally go out of my way to use shit like KDE Connect to not have to type on a shitty phone virtual keyboard
Check out Unihertz. Can’t offer any advice or if they’re good, but they look interesting.
Keyboard feels great to use but their current layout sucks majorly
God I don't know how anyone like the haptic feedback. Turn that shit off.
Swiping is pretty cool though.
Haptic feedback maxed out plus the tap sounds with the volume turned up to 100% is the way to go.
"Boomer mode"
Boomers and normies appear to love it.
I have a 60% bluetooth keyboard that I'll use when I need to type on my phone. A pain to carry with me, but taking a whole laptop is sometimes even worse.
60% Bluetooth, but what's the other 40%?
Dolomite
Magic
They're on discount. You don't have to pay for the extra 40% of a keyboard.
You can get these folding keyboards that will fit in a pocket, often have a roughly-cell-phone-sized case.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=folding+keyboard
Still another item to carry, but it might fit the niche you're looking for better if you're not happy with hauling a regular 60% keyboard. Larger than those Blackberry-style thumbboards.
That said, as a Canadian, it’s always fun to look back at Blackberry’s history and remember a time when a home-grown gadget was the star of the tech world.
Others that fit description were ATI Techologies (now the AMD graphics card division that makes Radeon) and Nortel networks, a maker of corporate and commercial telecom gear (including hardware routers and firewalls).
Hah, yeah, I had a work one in latter days, too, and there was definitely a sense of weird self-importance associated with it you don't get from touchscreens.
I don't know if people reviling virtual keyboards would get much from it, though. Honestly, typing on it was just as annoying. I am probably faster and more accurate using swipe inputs than I was on that thing.
Finally we can begin to chip away at BlackBerry’s dominance.
What's special about Blackberry keyboards that every early slider phone didn't have?
I would love to have something like my HTC G1 again with modern hardware and screen.
I'm guessing OP means the build quality, as defined by the mechanical and material standards that are needed to recreate the keyboard.
The article is absolute trash for not mentioning this. "Their iconic keyboards..." is the closest it gets to describing them.
Thankfully, there is a link to the patent at the end.
Abstract
A keyboard comprising a plurality of transparent keys. In use, the keyboard is attached to a device such as a mobile device, to overlie a display screen of the device. One or more images displayed on the display screen are made visible to a user through the keys, which may be pressed by a user. User input is determined by identifying a pressed key, and the image or part thereof visible through the key when pressed.
Basically a detachable keyboard of transparent material as a display overlay, providing tactile feedback while the LCD allows for backlit and customizable key labels. I don't remember seeing a practical implementation of this IRL or in media but I might be too young for that.
So changeable keys on a touchscreen, but with physical buttons on top. Sign me up!
Any takers? Any?
My 2001-era Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 PDA had the best slide out keyboard ever made, nothing has come close at all. A CF wifi card brought it so close to being a smart phone before there were smart phones.
I would buy it today as a phone if they'd just remake the original with an updated linux with QT equivalent option and updated screen hardware.
I miss phone keyboards so much. I wish I still had a slide out keyboard
With all the craze to make phones super thin, soon they'll be so thin you could add a sliding keyboard on it, and it'll be thinner than phones of a year or two ago!
I loved my N900. Think it would be doable right now with that thickness.
They were so fantastic for gaming. I could actually see what was happening on the screen.
SEND IN THE CLONES!
I would unironically love that
So for 20 years, it wasn't possible for anyone but BlackBerry to manufacture phones with the revolutionary technology of... checks notes... keyboards, and now that it is irrelevant to modern devices, is free for anyone to use.
Patents should be abolished.
Checks notes, that's not what happened, no. Tons of phones had/have keyboards.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
