smartphone + qwerty = ?

bluechair84

Anyone using a smartphone with a useable qwerty keyboard? I'm looking at replacing my touchscreen phone as... frankly... touchscreen and no keys is utter rubbish. Not for me.
I've been looking at HTC touch pro 2 - crappy camera.
Samsung Omnia b7610 - crappy OS though could flash the rom to a newer WindowsOS
HTC Desire z - very new and very expensive but mostly ideal
Nokia N97 - generally rubbish

Anyone got any recomendations? A phone with DLNA would be extra nice as I'll be picking up a DLNA network attached storage box of tricks.

Andy

My N97 has been excellent.

bluechair84

Have you got the full sizer or the mini?
I'd heard there were a load of bugs in the UI, especially when moving from portrait to landscape. The other thing was the processor wasn't fast enough. I use mine with OS maps in Viewranger and find the 5800 stuggles to move around with a bit of delay between lading new tiles.

Any issues with these things?

Andy

Mines the full size one.

I only use it for general phone duties and internet but I've never had any problems. I did have a mate with the same phone who ended up selling his because he had no end of problems. Perhaps I've just been lucky. Speed of doing stuff is fine also.

bluechair84

cool, thanks for the feedback. I think ultimatly I'll give it a miss because of the screen resolution - I'd like to get more detail out of the OS maps though I'm still not sure which phone on the market has the fewest negatives! The N97 has a lot going for it.

MountainMonster

I've got the motorola milestone smartphone, that has full qwerty keyboard which is a good size. I have fat fingers and i'm able to use the keyboard very well, and the phone is quite stylish in my opinion.

montevideoguy

The N97 has a lot going for it...




...it also has symbian = fail

bluechair84

MountainMonster wrote:

I've got the motorola milestone smartphone, that has full qwerty keyboard which is a good size.

Checking it out now

montevideoguy wrote:

...it also has symbian = fail

+1


The Omnia has my vote so far but i've read the winOS isn't up to par.

BlackSpur

At the moment I'd only go for Android, like you said the Desire Z seems to be exactly what you want. The Motorolla Milestone 2 is worth a look as well - the main complaint with it seems to be the Motoblur software but it's fairly easy to rip this off and replace it with another UI, such as ADW launcher.

ali$tair

I go the N97 mini last december, i had it for 2 months before I replaced with the 3gs and have sinced got the Iphone 4 (i made a profit by upgrading, I dont particularly like upgrading all the time). I'll be keeping the 4 until contract up or if O2 do another stupid deal when the next Iphone comes out.

I originally went for the N97 mini because of the button QWERTY but everything else let it down. Remember the N97 is 2 years old, things have changed a lot in that time.

Hasn't the new blackberry got both touch and button?

bails87

HTC Desire Z is the Desire, but with a full slide out keyboard added.

max888

Blackberry Torch;

Touch screen + qwerty = win

D-Cyph3r

Desire Z. The original Desire was one of the best Android phones ever (which by definition makes it one of the best phones ever full stop), the Z just tacks on a full qwerty keyboard to it, something HTC do very well (my old G1's keyboard remained just as responsive as the day I got it right till I sold it off to Mazuma).

bluechair84

The trouble with the blackberrys for me, is it isn't a particularly big qwerty. I seem to do a lot of typing on my phone - not txtin' - which is why I'm after the slide out, didn't really say that in the first post though.
The Milestone actually looks great but there's none on the second hand market. If I'm going to pay full whack for the right phone, then I think It'll be the Desire Z.

Glad to see a few posts in support of that phone! I was begining to go mad thinking every single phone on the market had at least one major failing...

projectsome

mini pro has a touchscreen qwerty when used in landscape mode and a hardware one which slides down.

psymon

if i get my new job i might reward myself with a phone.

i suddenly, after months of wanting an iphone, have seen the light and want a HTC too.

Really like the look of the Legend (only came out in may and no longer available in most shops), Desire (not the HD), and the slidey keyboardy one.

joshtp

For me, at the moment, I'm loving all things HTC.


I have a Wildfire, and have used a Desire, Desire HD (7 and Andorid) a HD2 and one or two others.

I love them all, esp. the Android ones with the Sence UI. Like the Desire and Wildfire.

If I were you I'd get a Desire, not sure what you'v had in the past, but a well done touch screen is a joy.

If you really do want a QWERTY then a Desire Z would be my choice, good phone.

Check out Tech Radar, they have a pile of good reviews, and their Top 20 best phones is useful.

BlackSpur

I would say it's definitely worth having a go on a touchscreen phone with a Swype keyboard. It's a brilliant text input interface, so much better than a regular touchscreen and once you have the dictionary dialled in with the words you use it's rapid - I am faster on my Motorolla Defy with Swype than any of my friends on Blackberrys and the like.

thel33ter

BlackSpur wrote:

I would say it's definitely worth having a go on a touchscreen phone with a Swype keyboard. It's a brilliant text input interface, so much better than a regular touchscreen and once you have the dictionary dialled in with the words you use it's rapid - I am faster on my Motorolla Defy with Swype than any of my friends on Blackberrys and the like.

+ A few hundred on Swype, got it on my HTC Hero (elderly by now, and no upgrade till October ) Once you are used to it, you won't be able to use a normal touch keyboard again.

montevideoguy

Heard some bad things about the Blackberry Torch and some bad things about Blackberry in general. Buying that could leaving you having a metaphorical condom filled with poo in your hands

sheepsteeth

Montevideoguy wrote:

Heard some bad things about the Blackberry Torch and some bad things about Blackberry in general. Buying that could leaving you having a metaphorical condom filled with poo in your hands

you'll wanna get that in the freezer ASAP.