Cell Phone Keyboards – Old Fashioned?

Are cell phones with full QWERTY keyboard a dying breed?

It saddens me to think so. I looked at Sprint.com today and the best full-QWERTY phone they offer is the one I’ve had for 2 years now – Samsung’s Epic 4G. Can you believe that? This phone came out TWO YEARS ago! It’s certainly a nice phone, but quickly falling behind in comparison to the newer phones which have more efficient operating systems, slimmer bodies, faster processors, and higher resolution cameras.

Why do I care about having a physical keyboard? Well, personally I prefer the tactile feedback. By having the touchable keys I’m able to type faster with fewer mistakes, and I’m able to do it without looking at the phone so much (read: multi-task). On the rare occasion I use the on-screen keyboard (like when an app won’t rotate to landscape view – grrrrr, hate that) I’m frustrated that my eyes are held hostage to the screen, watching to make sure I press the spot corresponding to the correct key. Yes, I do use Swype and it definitely helps things move a little faster, but that also introduces the element of auto-correct.

It’s upsetting to see people lower their communication standards when it comes to screen-keyboarding. I hold the humans accountable to an extent, but the technology certainly isn’t helping this situation, either. Words are sometimes auto-corrected wrongly, but it happens so often that unless the mistake drastically changes the meaning of the sentence, people have simply stopped fixing it. They look at the sentence and see the wonky auto-corrected word(s), assume the receiving person can figure it out based on the context, and hit send. But why are we satisfied making the receiver of the message work harder to understand the meaning? That’s where the humans are at fault. I think the answer is, because our non-keyboard phones have other features that make it worth the price – “features” being faster processing, thinner shell, etc. and “price” being less-than-perfect texts. And rather than using our own time and effort to fix the words, it’s of course easier to let someone else take the burden. And that’s what it’s all about these days – convenience.

I’m not saying my texts are mistake-free, or that yours should be either. But what I am saying is that if I text you “Sending you a mile!” instead of “Sending you a smile!”, it’s a genuine human error – not one that my phone made trying to correct me. And you’ll get a text shortly after with the almighty asterisk and the corrected word (*smile). Why? Because I’m a nice person and I care about you, so I don’t want you to work hard to understand my message. I don’t want you to waste your time going through the possibilities (Send you a male? Sending you a file? Sending you a MILF?) – your time is too valuable, and my message is too important.

So if you or someone you know has any influence on the production of cell phones, please let them know how the lack of full keyboard has negatively impacted the quality of our texts, and in some ways enabled lazy communication. In the meantime, if auto-correct rules your texts maybe it’s time to start proofreading and making corrections when necessary. The person on the receiving end will likely appreciate your efforts.

/end of rant