Mobile phones, in their essence and as we first met them, had a physical keyboard from the beginning. But smartphones were gradually eliminating this popular feature from their technical sheets. And so it has continued to this day. So if you’re a fan of these keyboards, it’s harder than ever to find them.
Getting a mobile with a physical keyboard, always talking about smartphones, is practically impossible, although there are some intermediate solutions that are available to everyone.
They no longer bet on physical keyboards
It must be recognized that manufacturers have tried, especially those who, like Blackberry at the time, made the QWERTY keyboard a hallmark of their terminals. We have even had recent models of this brand that have had one of these keyboards and Android. But for some reason they have not finished curdling. And it is that the physical keyboard to write on a smartphone is still something exotic for users. Despite the fact that, for example, Blackberry phones have integrated keyboards even keeping a full screen as we might expect from another smartphone.
The problem is that a phone with a physical keypad doesn’t get along with things like design, usability, or weight. Hence, users have put them aside. Although we’ve heard that Blackberry might re-launch a new phone, these are still completely niche in the market. And it is that having a physical keyboard is something that is not so practical in a smart phone . Since the physical keyboards, and the large size of the screens, has made the task of typing on the terminal as easy as possible.
Physical keyboards were very popular with the rise of email and the first SMS and messaging apps, but mostly they were geared towards devices for business use. When touchscreens did not exist yet or were less common in mobiles, it was easier to respond to messages with these keyboards. But with the arrival of smartphones with touch screens, these keyboards were integrated into the screen, and above all they gave more space to enjoy our content, games and apps . And it is that while we watch a video we do not need a keyboard, one of many situations where keyboards are unnecessary.
Is there any smart phone with a keyboard?
If we talk about smart phones, Blackberry is not the only option, and there is a London firm called Planet Computers that have a model on the market that recalls those Nokia Communicators or the Psion Series, but incorporating Android. The keyboard of this phone is hidden under the phone, and can be slid to use it whenever we want. It is also a phone that has the latest, even 5G technology.
But as you can imagine it is not a massive phone, nor is it cheap. Because there are simply few users interested in this type of phone , perhaps you are one of them. If so, the options at your fingertips are very few. A classic and smart mobile hybrid is the Nokia 8810, which with its banana shape and physical keyboard, allows us to have WhatsApp, Google Assistant, Google Maps or Duo.