More Details on Motorola Droid Surface

[the vj]

does Apple have the patent on the on-screen keyboard? Why are people still using plastic keys? What's the advantage?

On-screen keys are a pain, they are slow and suck more attention to position them when doing other things.

Plastic keys are more intuitive and faster when typing, they react faster too.

It is a fact that people text message when driving and doing so with an on-screen keyboard will take the rest of your concentration rather than plastic keys. Or when you are talking to some one.

 

[pdjudd]

Isn't that the question?

iPhone, best phone? No. Best "texting device"? No.

But I like my iPhone because it is a very useful device . . . plus secondarily, I can make calls and send texts. I want my iPhone because of iCal, Instapaper, Pandora, sports apps, the NYTimes app, etc.

But I know plenty of people who have decided on different phones because texting is the most important feature, or call reception is the most important feature.

Thats a very valid point. "best" is a very loaded and very opinionated phrase. What is "best" for one person may not be "best" for another. Nobody is suggesting that the iPhone is the Jesus device that everybody on the planet should own. Totally silly.

 

[GQB]

does Apple have the patent on the on-screen keyboard? Why are people still using plastic keys? What's the advantage?

The purpose of physical keyboards is to sell to users who already use them. For new users, the perceived need for physical keyboards is far less.
Its hard getting people to change, and users of physical keyboards will accept their limitations (inflexibility, mechanical failure, etc) rather than accept that software keyboards are just as fast and much more reliable and flexible.

Again, Apple's skating to where the puck is going, not where it was.

 

[mattster16]

Yes, they have non-iPhone users, but that is certainly not a growth segment for them. And I suppose they have satisfied iPhone customers, but they are certainly in the minority.

I highly disagree. I GUARANTEE you there are more satisfied iPhone customers than non-satisfied. AT&T has the lowest customer defection rate in the industry. I'll admit they are far from perfect, but to make the conclusion that everyone hates them is a little bit of a jump. I'm sick of this "I hate AT&T" echo chamber on MR.

Does anyone know if the droid has a glass screen (it better for how much it weighs!)?? I would seriously consider getting this phone, but if it doesn't have a glass screen that's a deal breaker for me. None of the iPhone 'killers' thus far have had anything but plastic screens - a huge shortcoming in my opinion.

 

[ltcol266845]

Really cool, love the higher-res screen. That camera sounds ridiculously useful. I'm agnostic towards the keyboard, been happy with the iPhone's on-screen keyboard.

I hope this lights a fire under Apple for their next iPhone. My contract is up next summer and the Android phones are looking better and better. And the Android Marketplace has a lot more than a few dozen apps. I believe that the Android is more likely to move towards being a VoIP complete package much sooner than Apple will take the iPhone that direction... But I guess the carriers have a lot of control on that front as well.

Oh, I hope the Droid does really well. I own a few (6!) share of Motorola, would be nice if I at least broke even with them when I got them in the 90's. :-D

 

[MacFly123]

So this is the real "iphone killer"?

That is SUCH a cliche that has to this day never proven true. Give it up!

 

[rockosmodurnlif]

My question is can you turn off flash (for both the camera and the app) ?

I like my software keyboard and I'm all for the end of AT&T exclusivity, then people can go bog down Verizon's network and get the heck off mine.

 

[cumanzor]

The purpose of physical keyboards is to sell to users who already use them. For new users, the perceived need for physical keyboards is far less.
Its hard getting people to change, and users of physical keyboards will accept their limitations (inflexibility, mechanical failure, etc) rather than accept that software keyboards are just as fast and much more reliable and flexible.

Again, Apple's skating to where the puck is going, not where it was.

The iPhone's keyboard is really impressive, compared to other software keyboards (on cellphones), which I mostly hate.

That being said, I completely disagree with you. I prefer a hundred times a physical keyboard, I am way faster on those. Maybe it's just me... but I truly hope they don't stop making HW keyboards anytime soon.

 

[Rojo]

Are you serious? I guess it's unnecessary if you don't care about speed or accuracy. Otherwise you'd be better off with a physical keyboard. As would most people.

Having used both types of keyboards, I type waaaaaaaaaaay faster with the iPhone keyboard. Like lightning fast. Physical keyboards really slow me down. As far as accuracy goes, that's what the predictive text is for. (Love it with long words, where I only need to type a few letters and the space bar and the whole words shows up -- like I said, MUCH faster). Sure, once in a blue moon something's predicted wrong -- and I have to go back and change it. But even doing that, I STILL get what I need typed faster than if it was a physical keyboard.

When you say "most people" would be better off with a physical keyboard, I think you meant to say YOU would be. I know there are tons of people who THINK they need one, but just about every person I know who has an iPhone and has used it long enough thinks the touch keyboard is brilliant.

 

[Kaibelf]

Meh

It's ugly, and the keys look cheap. I'm not hung up on any platform, but I don't think this will change the game. If anything, it looks like a sleeker Sidekick.

 

[alent1234]

Ugh, don't mention "iPhone Killers". I bought the Samsung Instinct from Sprint b/c I refused to switch to AT&T's horrible network, and thought this phone could be as good as the iPhone. Wrong. It's a good phone, but it has a crappy OS and the app development that was promised has never surfaced. Still, it does what I need it to do (talk, email, text, web, IM, Pandora), and the built-in Sprint Navigation and Sprint TV (free NFL Network pwns) has kept me satisfied.

you have to be insane to believe Sprint is better than AT&T. i have a Sprint BB and a 3GS and will take AT&T over Sprint's crap always on roaming network anyday.

 

[Kaibelf]

On-screen keys are a pain, they are slow and suck more attention to position them when doing other things.

Plastic keys are more intuitive and faster when typing, they react faster too.

It is a fact that people text message when driving and doing so with an on-screen keyboard will take the rest of your concentration rather than plastic keys. Or when you are talking to some one.

1. I have normal fingers, not sausage-hands with zero dexterity, so I have never had a problem with the iPhone keyboard.

2. Using texting-while-driving as a selling point is ridiculously irresponsible. Anyone sensible knows that you should be focused ON the road, so if you're texting behind the wheel, you're too stupid to own ANY phone.

 

[Rojo]

It is a fact that people text message when driving and doing so with an on-screen keyboard will take the rest of your concentration rather than plastic keys. Or when you are talking to some one.

People who text while driving are morons who are asking for an accident to happen, no matter what phone they're using. It needs to be illegal everywhere...

 

[nagromme]

Specs don't make a great device--I'm hooked on iPhone's app ecosystem and UI--but I do like the specs

I hope battery life is good: thin, slider, and big battery don't go together.

On-screen keys are a pain, they are slow and suck more attention to position them when doing other things.

Plastic keys are more intuitive and faster when typing, they react faster too.

It is a fact that people text message when driving and doing so with an on-screen keyboard will take the rest of your concentration rather than plastic keys. Or when you are talking to some one.

Actually, it seems to be a matter of what you're used to: people with habits of using tiny physical keys don't like touchscreen keys (at first). People who don't have (or have gotten past) those habits like the touchscreen just fine, and often find physical keys to be a real pain--which is my own situation.

Let's face it, tiny physical keys really DO have advantages--but so do onscreen keys. BOTH have real advantages, and neither one is ever ideal (compared to a full desktop keyboard).

I love how my touch keyboard changes to suit different circumstances--and I'm not even multilingual! The ".com" button for instance, and the way that certain keys invisibly enlarge from moment to moment, since they spell a "real" word. I also prefer the compact version to the wide landscape version--it's quicker because it takes less movement--but in a bouncy environment I need the wide version. A physical keyboard has only one layout and only one size.

A physical keyboard also is not as forgiving of hitting multiple keys at once--which is THE biggest problem any small keyboard has. I plant my thumb on a letter on the iPhone, overlapping six keys, and only the one in the middle triggers. With a physical keyboard, which one triggers? Depends on the force and angle--too fiddly for me.

So the tactile feedback is nice, compared to the visual/audio feedback of a screen keyboard--but for ME it's not worth giving up all the benefits of Apple's really good screen keyboard. It's certainly plausible that many prefer little physical keys though. To each his own.

(Glad to see texting while driving becoming illegal in more places. It kills people--and not just the people texting.)

 

[*LTD*]

It's ugly, and the keys look cheap. I'm not hung up on any platform, but I don't think this will change the game. If anything, it looks like a sleeker Sidekick.

Looks like another one for the dustbin. Nothing really new.

 

[alent1234]

Really cool, love the higher-res screen. That camera sounds ridiculously useful. I'm agnostic towards the keyboard, been happy with the iPhone's on-screen keyboard.

I hope this lights a fire under Apple for their next iPhone. My contract is up next summer and the Android phones are looking better and better. And the Android Marketplace has a lot more than a few dozen apps. I believe that the Android is more likely to move towards being a VoIP complete package much sooner than Apple will take the iPhone that direction... But I guess the carriers have a lot of control on that front as well.

Oh, I hope the Droid does really well. I own a few (6!) share of Motorola, would be nice if I at least broke even with them when I got them in the 90's. :-D

the 2010 iPhone will get the usual hardware upgrades to compete with other phones coming out now. Apple is going to have to open up the OS to better multi-tasking if they want to keep customers. there are a lot of apps like Pandora that people want to run in the background while checking email or doing something else. And data transfer between apps is a lot better on android than iphone where Apple will have to do some work

 

[mambodancer]

FINALLY.

Hi-res screen + capable browser + Flash 10 = what the iPhone should have been. It's about time someone gave Apple some competition.

Not quite finally, Flash 10 not available until 2010.

 

[Ericatomars]

It looks really interesting, i must say... I'm just really not a fan of motorola... They freeze way to often, after a while they really slow down... i dunno if they can win me over, I think they have alot riding on this phone.. it had to be nothing less then golden to keep Motorola a float. I have verizon and i love them for the most part but its gonna have to take something amazing to want me to sign another contract with them when lately their phones have been so blah. I was gonna either go to T-mobile and get an unlocked iphone or wait out to see what apple and att do after their contract is up... Hmm some many choices!

 

[kdarling]

As far as accuracy goes, that's what the predictive text is for. (Love it with long words, where I only need to type a few letters and the space bar and the whole words shows up -- like I said, MUCH faster).

Physical keyboards can, and do, have predictive text and autocorrection.

Also much faster for them. It's not an either-or situation.

 

[theLastBeatle]

You bought it up on a public discussion board so i'm asking why?

I am curious what this has to do with the pre.

I call BS.

now your just being passive aggressive.

pre pre pre pre pre pre pre infinity


God I feel so embrionic after that.

 

[Toe]

Not to be pedantic, but you did say that.

I did not say this: "Yeah I'm sure every AT&T customer uses an iphone..."

What I did say was an obvious exaggeration, which anybody could recognize as such. In forums, the word "everybody" usually translates to "more than 5%."

Emphasis mine. It's a statement that is not only hyperbole, but is demonstrably false. The fact that AT&T has been in business as long as they have been is indicative of a successful company that has a generous supply of happy customers. Its never going to be 100% of course, but the very fact it remains in business and was doing quite well before Apple entered it means that a lot are very happy.

If I recall correctly (and no, I am not 100% sure of this), when AT&T took on the iPhone, they were the US's largest carrier in terms of both customers and network coverage. This dominance has slipped enormously despite the fact that they have an exclusive contract to carry a screamingly popular phone. When that goes, they will be in a very hairy situation.

 

[mags631]

While it's not the prettiest, I like. Any reviews yet on Android 2.0?

 

[KaneBaker]

does Apple have the patent on the on-screen keyboard? Why are people still using plastic keys? What's the advantage?

Physical keys > onscreen keys

The reason is tacticle feed back, most serious texters do it without looking at their device. I find that with the iphone i have to look also it's easy to accidentally hit the wrong letters. Landscape mode helps a bit.

If you don't type much it's not a big deal.

 

[_Refurbished_]

You bought it up on a public discussion board so i'm asking why?

I am curious what this has to do with the pre.

The Pre has to do with this conversation because it was the former iPhone killer that everyone talked about. The latest device that everyone is talking about, the Droid, replaced the Pre as the phone trying to compete with/dethrone the iPhone.

The comments are not off topic, and they are quite relevant to the conversations going on in this "public discussion board". What's so confusing?

 

[Gatesbasher]

Well, I think the physical keyboard is a bad idea, and I'm agnostic about the OS, never having used an Android phone. I don't know how they're going to build up the kind of third-party app ecosystem Apple has, if developers have to write for dozens of different phones, but that's their lookout. If it's even halfway acceptable, I think they'll sell a number of them, just to people who don't want to deal with AT&T.

But—the screen is a real milestone! (If the picture quality is what it should be.) I'm unwilling to watch—and certainly unwilling to pay for—video that's not Standard Definition at least. This is 480p 9:16! (What they used to call "Fox Widescreen"—bogus HD in other words. Do they still do that?) That's huge! With the iPhone and iPod touch being aimed at consuming video content, Apple is going to have to match that or be left in the dust.

I think they will—obviously the parts are available—but this puts them on notice that now is the time to get cracking.

But please, please, please: no Flash! That's a deal-breaker right there, unless you can disable it and send a nasty jolt of electricity through everybody at Adobe's nards when you do.