Related
can anyone who has had his phone for more than 10 minutes confirm that the little silver slider button on the side of the phone will stay attached to it??
it seems awefully flimsy... (the scroll wheel also)
does this pose a problem?
i have not got to test it yet as i just picked it up from the UPS office.... I CANT WAIT!!
Seems ok.
The Microsoft UI is outdated but the hardware seems solid enough.
Unfortunantly, the slider and scroll wheel are a bit flimsy.
True those controls are rather unhandy (something like the apple iPod's naviagtional wheel would bet more appropriate) but you don't HAVE to use them.
Luckily the scrollwheel is also 4-directional buttons, and that makes up a lot.
ok, i am glad that its not only mine that feels that way, i thought maybe i got a defective unit, but if they are all that way then what can we do!?? hopefully they stay together for a bit.
mine too. just the slider though. but to be honest i haven't really used it until now.
Jackster said:
mine too. just the slider though. but to be honest i haven't really used it until now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll just add that my slider is also pretty loose and jiggles around in its housing. But oddly enough, it is really difficult to push up or down! I have to hook my fingernail on the little raised area in the middle of the slider and push up or down with some considerable force in order to get the volume to change. I changed it to be a scroller with AEButton plus, but it was pretty much unuseable because of this fact, so I changed it back to volume - and I hardly ever use it.
Anyone else with the same experience?
ye p i got the same problem lol.
it does seem like a delicate deivce.
No problems whatsoever, feels better than the same buttons on the Artemis (P3300). The scrollwheel is a lot more precise for functions like adjusting volume and zooming in on photos than any directional button with repeat function could ever be.
t_rik said:
it does seem like a delicate deivce.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Slider and scroll wheel shouldn't be a problem, after 14 months of very hard use the similar items on Artemis have no problems...
thanks... for the response to these questions.
one cant be too worried about a product that they just shelled out a bunch of $$$ for.
as someone said, the slider is really used that much, but the scroll wheel still feels extremely cheap to me.
maybe had they had put a bit of resistance on it it would feel more "attached"
anyway, thanks...
xrrkrrkx said:
thanks... for the response to these questions.
one cant be too worried about a product that they just shelled out a bunch of $$$ for.
as someone said, the slider is really used that much, but the scroll wheel still feels extremely cheap to me.
maybe had they had put a bit of resistance on it it would feel more "attached"
anyway, thanks...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's funny - my scroll wheel is so tight that I can hardly get it to move! I have hold the TC in one hand and use my index finger in the other hand with pressure to get it to budge. Maybe it will loosen up with time. I hope so, cause it sucks for one handed use. Too bad we can't meet in the middle, xrrkrrkx!
Had to edit this post - I found that it was just because the air is so damn dry here this winter! My thumb is so dry, it just slips over the wheel instead of getting any friction. If I quickly lick the end of my thumb and then use the wheel, it works like a charm - just can't share my phone now! Now that I read this, that's probably more than you guys wanted to know!
So I was thinking about the issue of palm wrap. I think the implementation of it would be fairly simple. This would probably require root access, but I digress.
You would basically disregard any input happening within 1/8" - 1/4" on the border of the screen. Well not any inputs, but any prolonged inputs. Like the inputs that happen when your fingers hang off the edge of the screen, or the palm of your hand grazing the screen when you try to press something with your thumb.
There are very few programs that use the full screen, especially near the edges. If there are it would just be a matter of putting the anti-registration on hold when the app is in the foreground.
You could even create a setting for "fat" fingers and "slim" fingers. The fatter the finger, the further out you would disregard inputs from there.
The caveat being that you have to have it running on the system level. Now that google has finally added multi touch support on their apps, I wouldn't be surprised if you have access to input information on the system level.
(I know jack about making programs on adroid, but the rum is helping my mind think)
What do you guys think?
I haven't had palm wrap problems since I bought my seidio innocase. Adds a little beef to the unit as a whole (just a little, nothing major) but keeps my palm off the edges of the screen.
i like this idea simply because I do not want to buy any sort of case for the phone
Good idea my friend.
Just out of curiosity, does everyone here hold there phone in one hand and use the other to input anything? Because I can't see any palmwrap problem unless I do this.
I almost exclusively use my nexus with one hand doing inputs with my thumb if I'm not in landscape mode and I've never had any problems with palm wrap (I might be misunderstanding the concept completely though, so feel free to correct me).
I guess it depends on the length of your fingers the base of my thumb is what mostly affects one handed use for me.
JHaste said:
i like this idea simply because I do not want to buy any sort of case for the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
[off-topic] That is 'not' a good road to follow...get one of the soft cases or atleast the skins that you dont even notice it (personally I bought THIS and its amazing, has amazing 'grip' and it fits perfectly, unnoticeable).
[/off-topic]
I dont seem to have this problem either. But it could be helpful to others with bigger hands maybe?
I have this problem sometimes and it is annoying as heck. I don't even think you need to go to all that trouble to fix it. I think just enabling multitouch on the dexktop might fix it. Don't know how difficult that would be though.
I've never had a touch screen phone. The only touch screen device I've had is a Palm IIIxe. Yeah, I guess I'm dating myself here. All of my phones have had hardware buttons with some sort of D-pad. I'm considering finally getting a touchscreen device (EVO) and I'm wondering what you guys think about alternative cursor controls in combination with a touchscreen.
The G1 had a trackball. As does the Nexus One. Several Android devices now have optical pads in place of the trackball. And some other devices have hard d-pads.
My question is thus:
What do you guys think about having an extra way to input on a touchscreen phone? Do you find yourself using it often? Hardly at all? Would you rather have that extra space as more screen (or something else)? And which do you prefer? Optical, hard d-pad, or trackball?
Just trying to get some discussion and some thoughts going.
Thanks.
Minjin said:
I've never had a touch screen phone. The only touch screen device I've had is a Palm IIIxe. Yeah, I guess I'm dating myself here. All of my phones have had hardware buttons with some sort of D-pad. I'm considering finally getting a touchscreen device (EVO) and I'm wondering what you guys think about alternative cursor controls in combination with a touchscreen.
The G1 had a trackball. As does the Nexus One. Several Android devices now have optical pads in place of the trackball. And some other devices have hard d-pads.
My question is thus:
What do you guys think about having an extra way to input on a touchscreen phone? Do you find yourself using it often? Hardly at all? Would you rather have that extra space as more screen (or something else)? And which do you prefer? Optical, hard d-pad, or trackball?
Just trying to get some discussion and some thoughts going.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Optical track ball looks sweet, but it's alot finickery than the trackball itself. I can old see a d-pad for games, that's it.
it is GREAT for selecting texts. i think track ball is the best as it feels the most smooth and have some physical feedback.
I'm happy to have it. It would honestly draw me away from the phone if it didn't have a trackball. I constantly use it, it's kinda just natural.
my x1 got an optical actionpad and it's pretty jittery close to useless
It's a great optional way to input, edit, etc. Plus changing colors for diff events is awesome...Luv it on my Nexus!
I love the trackball on my Nexus, just makes it WAY easier to correct text, instead of tapping around till you find the right spot, you just go there. Now I will be buying an Evo, and I'll get used to it, I did it on my iPhone & I do fine without it on my Droid, but it will be missed.
I've heard trackballs don't last as long. Is this true?
I love my trackball it makes things easy
How does it work exactly? Do you get a mouse pointer? Or are the trackballs movements just translated into up/down/left/right?
A mouse pointer would be sweet....
I love the trackball. On my G1, it is no longer perfect, but still does the job.
I have just got a Desire as a new work phone, and the optical track ball SUCKS. So dissapointed. It's going back! I'm either going to wait for a keyboard phone or get an N1.
MooGoo said:
How does it work exactly? Do you get a mouse pointer? Or are the trackballs movements just translated into up/down/left/right?
A mouse pointer would be sweet....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You get a mouse pointer in Opera 5. I like having it.
Is it mini or mobile? I can't remember.
TrackballS tend to get dirty and jam, this happend to almost all my phones that had them (especially BB's). Now that I have a phone with the optical pad, I find it more stylish, durable, comfortable and reliable. It just took a little getting used to at first. Im sure most phones from now on will be using the pad over the ball. Trackballs are so 2009.
it's 2008, not 2009
optical trackpad has been out for too long and I think it's better. I don't know how can you guys use the trackball and not get it dirty :-s
and on android phone I don't need either of those, I use volume key to move the cursor, and it's good enough for me
I use it mainly for moving my cursor in a text, copying text.
Sometimes I use it for scrolling through a list or a document.
Little use overall, but I'm happy it's there when I need it.
benoitb85 said:
I use it mainly for moving my cursor in a text, copying text.
Sometimes I use it for scrolling through a list or a document.
Little use overall, but I'm happy it's there when I need it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly, it is rarely used, but selecting text/moving the cursor around a text field with the optical sensor is bad. You can only jump 1 character at a time.
As I mentioned before, it's great having the mouse pointer in Opera, and the trackball complements it great. The optical is no good at all with this, as it only moves up/down and left/right, not diagonally, and only in small steps.
I have had my G1 for ages, without a case, and the trackball, while not as good as new, still blows the optical sensor away.
I don't think it matters what year it is, there are advantages to the trackball over the optical.
I like the trackpad and the hardware d-pad of my Xperia X1. They enable me to use my phone singlehandedly whenever I need to. It's also nice to scroll through lists. And last but not least one or two more opitions to control your device can never be bad.
very useful, you cant navigate the bootloader without it.
i smashed my phone yesterday and im glad i have the hardware buttons including the trackball
i managed to backup everything without touch input! win
the track ball would keep me away from the g1, nexus one and any other phone that has it. i never understood it nor did i see the need for it. i've played with them on my friends phones and have not felt comfortable using them. but it does seem like others have found them valuable so i guess its safest to say that they are not for everybody.
Hey is anyone elses GTab's touch sensitivity kind of off?
I noticed, compared to the iPad and Galaxy Tab, some times it takes me 2-4x of tryinng to press something to get it going.
Its almost like the screen cant pick it up sometimes. And sometimes when scrolling, it selects things, when im just Trying to scroll..
Also the top left HOME button on screen is always iffy, most times ill need 2-4 more times 2 press it to get it going.
I am using TNT 2.2.
Anyone else noticed this? i feel like its hardware.
Definetely not as responsive as my EVO. Maybe its the cheap screen. I wish it could be fixed via software, but fat chance. I guess not all capacitive screens are created equal.
supanatuwral said:
Definetely not as responsive as my EVO. Maybe its the cheap screen. I wish it could be fixed via software, but fat chance. I guess not all capacitive screens are created equal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You nailed it. IMO Samsung has been making the best color screens for years.
Have had absolutely no problems with touchpad responsiveness from my gTab... Just as sensitive and responsive as my Dinc.
Really does seem like this hardware is hit or miss... Some tabs have no issues some have many.
You guys are just plain spoiled. I've gone through Palm IIIx to now the gTablet, and it just simply has the most responsive touch screen that I've ever used, but I've had recent experience with the dreadful Augen GT and the slightly less dreadful White Pandigital Novel, both of which had worse touch screens than other devices that I've used.
One thing that I do, do for the gTab though is to clean the screen quite a bit. At a minimum I do so before every use as I find the fingerprint/body oils buildup to be annoying in fairly short order and it might have some impact on touch responsiveness. It's the worst fingerprint magnet that I've ever seen actually...
No issues here with single touch sensitivity, pretty good on that. Just as good as my Nexus One. Multitouch and pinch-to-zoom still a bit flaky. I am hopeful that will be resolved by software and/or driver improvements, as it was on the Nexus One.
The only issues I have are when the screen is too dirty or too clean. When I really scrub and clean the glass off entirely, at first it's a bit too "sticky" almost when my finger contacts it - maybe that's because it's winter here in the Northeast and my skin is dry. Once I've used it a bit and it gets some finger grease on it, it works perfectly. But if it gets grit or solid dirt on it, that can definitely interfere with the touch screen too, as with any capacitive screen.
I suspect the optimal thing would be a really good screen protector that's easy to clean and has that smooth finger contact feeling out of the box, like the iPad's glass does, for example, which I think has something to do with the oleophobic coating.
Typing this on my gtablet. The issue for me is the keyboard. There are parts of the screen that are unresoonsive making some letters not get tapped. The A key and l keys in particular. As a result I can't type smoothly or naturally because I will make several errors along the way. This does not happen onky iphone or my wires ipad.
it might bemy rrleason for sending it back as it takes too ongoing totyr correctly and I get tire d of all the corrections.
Well if your using the stock tnt keyboard, it sucks. We can learn from the ipad, with the size of the screen it has huge keys that cover a lot more of the screen then our stock tnt keyboard. I use smart keyboard pro with the key heights set to maximum and it works so much better, like 100x better. Even has voice to text.
Can people check their keyboard? I find that if I type most of the keys they type fine. However, the letter a key seems to only work when pressed offcenter which prevents. From typing properly as I must deliberately slow down and make sure it is correctly typed otherwise I get many errors. Could this be a defect in my screen?
Or is this a ui problem with tnt?
This could be a deal breaker as I misspelled every word if. Has h letter A
Letter A
I have the same problem with the letter A, and sometimes P. Otherwise touch is great
Figured why this tablet is driving me nuts. There are two dead zones on this tablet. Someone please do this test so I can figure out if this is just my tablet or all g tablets.
Download mulitouch vis test. Do rapid light touches in the area where the 'a' key is and delete key are. If I do this test in the middle of the screen it registers every single tap. But in those two areas I can sometimes tap 10 times in a row and not have a single tap register.
If this all g tablets then I think it's going back.
Also is there a keyboard with arrow keys? Trying to place the cursor can be a real pain.
Agreed bout the dead spots. The stock tap n tap western keyboard seems tominimize them due to the angles but if I try another keyboard I miss the a and the return button all the time
Stocklone said:
Figured why this tablet is driving me nuts. There are two dead zones on this tablet. Someone please do this test so I can figure out if this is just my tablet or all g tablets.
Download mulitouch vis test. Do rapid light touches in the area where the 'a' key is and delete key are. If I do this test in the middle of the screen it registers every single tap. But in those two areas I can sometimes tap 10 times in a row and not have a single tap register.
If this all g tablets then I think it's going back.
Also is there a keyboard with arrow keys? Trying to place the cursor can be a real pain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Downloaded the app as well because I, too, am having the same screen non-responsiveness issue. Lo and behold the area where the "L" key is is a pretty dead spot. It would register about 40% of the quick taps I did in that area. Is this is a software issue? If so, I can live with it and hope our wonderful devs release a software build that resolves this otherwise, this thing may be going back because it's driving me up the wall!
I do see the occasional missed tap here and there, but no consistent dead areas that I've noticed (the A and L buttons on keyboard seem fine to me).
Multitouch sensitivity is wayyyyy mis-calibrated though - you have to use very heavy finger presses to get multitouch to register. This is some sort of driver or calibration issue that should be easily solved.
I found a binary called TSCalibration in the /system/bin directory on my VEGAn ROM G Tablet. Tried running it from terminal, but it seems to be looking for a calibration.ini file on the SDCard. I'd be willing to bet we could figure out how to fix some of the touchscreen issues with some work, because I suspect they are principally software related.
If your issues with the touchscreen are anything like this...exchange it...
My new one requires very little effort if any at all to get the screen to respond...
However, if you're talking about the once in a while miss of a touch...yes, I agree with cutterjohn....you're spoiled. Return the device asap, so I could pick it up from an outlet...please?
RavenII said:
If your issues with the touchscreen are anything like ...exchange it...
My new one requires very little effort if any at all to get the screen to respond...
However, if you're talking about the once in a while miss of a touch...yes, I agree with cutterjohn....you're spoiled. Return the device asap, so I could pick it up from an outlet...please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a big difference between these dead spots and the occasional miss. I have no problem with the occasional miss. I just have to adjust to how my finger touches the tablet to get more consistent hits.
There are areas of my tablet that consistently do not behave like the other areas. Does that sound normal to you? I can't have a tablet where anything in the 2 corners is extremely inconsistent. If I have the tablet oriented a certain way the soft-buttons get put into one of the bad corners and that is really frustrating.
I don't think it is how I am holding it because the problem follows the physical corners and it is not relative to my hand. So that rules that out. And I washed my hands and gave the tablet a good cleaning so dirt/grease/grime is not an issue either. It could have been too clean but why only two corners?
I have many weeks to go on my 30 days so I will keep screwing with it to see if I can come up with anything that is a workaround or explains why it is happening. It is insanely fast and it's modding future looks extremely bright with such talented people. If I get fed up enough, I'll exchange it and hopefully get one with a even touch response for the whole screen or simply return it and wait a couple more months for Honeycomb tablets.
RavenII said:
If your issues with the touchscreen are anything like this...exchange it...
My new one requires very little effort if any at all to get the screen to respond...
However, if you're talking about the once in a while miss of a touch...yes, I agree with cutterjohn....you're spoiled. Return the device asap, so I could pick it up from an outlet...please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whoa. That video was pretty bad. While mine is not like that (thank God), I just tried hitting the app drawer key and it only registered after the 13th tap?!?! seriously wtf. While it isn't a "dead zone" per se, that's still pretty bad. There has to be a software fix to recify this issue with the right side of the screen. (my "L" and "delete" button are pretty bad as well).
THAT is a defective product...
I'll do another video to compare with my new one...WITH funky assed salty sweat all over the screen. Works flawlessly...
Is your model that is working well running stock firmware and keyboard?
mine is tent lite and the stock keyboard is ok. It if I try to use the alternative keyboards then I get consistent misses on key presses especially on the letter a.
I'm always tapping *constantly*, like 10-20 times on certain spots around the corners and edges of the screen, I'm about to return mine because of this.. Believe I'm still in the 2 weeks with office depot, will have to go snag the $350 one over at sears and hopefully it will come with a screen protector this time (this one I have didn't come with one, wonder if that has to do with the dead spots)..
First of all, yes, I am calling it the mySlide 4G. But, my question is, how good is the keyboard? And I don't mean "how good is the keyboard compared to the [Insert Phone Name Here], I mean is the keyboard usable, does it get the job done, and can it be used fast? I have never owned a keyboard before so I am not super worried about adjusting, but in the time I (im)patiently wait for my phone to arrive, I thought I would get thoughts of what real users think of the keyboard. Despite watching/reading all the reviews of the mySlide, it's refreshing to find out what people who don't compare phones for a living think.
natehoch96 said:
First of all, yes, I am calling it the mySlide 4G. But, my question is, how good is the keyboard? And I don't mean "how good is the keyboard compared to the [Insert Phone Name Here], I mean is the keyboard usable, does it get the job done, and can it be used fast? I have never owned a keyboard before so I am not super worried about adjusting, but in the time I (im)patiently wait for my phone to arrive, I thought I would get thoughts of what real users think of the keyboard. Despite watching/reading all the reviews of the mySlide, it's refreshing to find out what people who don't compare phones for a living think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like the keyboard, sure I wish it had a dedicated number row but no biggie. It feels great my fingers. The only thing I'd really change at this point is moving the .com button. I'm constantly hitting that when I want an "a". But I really don't understand why there are so many reviews trashing this keyboard. I'm very particular about my hard keyboards and this one fits in with my high standards.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App
I think given the amount of real estate that the keys could use on the phone. That they are too tiny and close together. I'm constantly hitting keys I didnt mean to. And to reach some of them it feels akward, I have to reach further than feels natural. Namely the space bar feels too far to the left.
The response time seems fine. Keys work smoothly. It's just a bit off for me, and not really a comfortable keyboard to use. I'm sure I will adapt and eventually wont notice it anymore.
I really didn't think I would like the Slide's keyboard after using the Touch Pro 2 for so long, but it isn't that bad. The only thing I find myself doing is hitting the '.com' key more often than not when I want an 'a'. I've only had the phone since Tuesday, so I'm sure that with a little bit more time, it won't be an issue.
I think the keyboard is quite usable, and I can type at a relatively quick speed on it.
hah, funny how different typing styles result in different annoyances with the keyboard.
I'm quite liking it, personally. the G1 is still my favorite of the hw keyboard android phones I've had, but the slide is just fine. the only things I would change:
-the back button is pretty inconveniently placed for my typing style. it's not uncommon for me to be typing a sentence and when I end it I accidentally hit "back" and lose everything (unless it's a text or whatever that saves a draft). I also hit "menu" occasionally when typing a comma.
-tactile feedback. I like a nice "click" or at least a pronounced "smoosh" when I'm typing. with the slide, you almost can't tell you've pressed a key.
some things that I really like about it so far:
-however superfluous they may be, the leds at the top of the keyboard that tell you if you have caps or alt on. nice touch.
-spacing is nice. I look at, for comparison's sake, the D3 and can't imagine how anyone with hands bigger than a toddler can type accurately on it. the slide has good spacing and while I agree with azscrewloose on the size of the keys (they could be a smidgen larger), overall, it feels good even with huge hands like mine.
I've never used a slide-out keyboard before but all-in-all this phone feels really nice. The most awkward part for me is the spacebar but I love the www./.com button and caps lock/alt leds, it makes it easy to punch in numbers. The keys they chose to make default work very well. And I think once this phone gets root/s-off/overclock it's going to be a force to be reckoned with.
this phone qwerty and the rest of the hard buttons went kaput. broken. tried factory reset and did not help. these phones are pieces of crap. sending them back and done with android maybe. idk. htc dropped the ball on this one and tmobile lost customers. hope this helps some considering. dont do it.
fireinthesky2night said:
this phone qwerty and the rest of the hard buttons went kaput. broken. tried factory reset and did not help. these phones are pieces of crap. sending them back and done with android maybe. idk. htc dropped the ball on this one and tmobile lost customers. hope this helps some considering. dont do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol... this happens with any phone from any manufacturer on any carrier. any electronic device, for that matter. it's called a hardware defect and sometimes it happens. get a replacement and get over it.
pmcqueen said:
-tactile feedback. I like a nice "click" or at least a pronounced "smoosh" when I'm typing. with the slide, you almost can't tell you've pressed a key.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was one of my worries. Although I have never owned a QWERTY keyboard phone, I imagine some tactile feedback would be nice.
fireinthesky2night said:
this phone qwerty and the rest of the hard buttons went kaput. broken. tried factory reset and did not help. these phones are pieces of crap. sending them back and done with android maybe. idk. htc dropped the ball on this one and tmobile lost customers. hope this helps some considering. dont do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I agree with pmcqueen, just because your phone had problems doesn't mean every phone did. And I certainly wouldn't get rid of Android due to this, it is a great and probably the most powerful phone OS out there. Get a replacement, I guarantee that it won't have the same problems. And if it does, contact T-Mobile and get a free Sensation and a discount on your plan or something lol.
I like the keyboard. I find typing on it to be a much better experience then some of the other phones i've tried, I don't run into the problem of hitting other keys I didn't mean to.
Seems like they are spaced just far enough apart, and raised to just the right height.
Another thing I like is that all the keys are backlit, so I can see them even when it's dim and the light from the screen makes everything around it hard to see.
The one thing I don't like is a lack of arrow keys, but I suppose I can live with that, even though it really sucks.
I like the combination .com and www. button, and the symbol button. The symbol button pops up a choice of symbols on the screen that you can tap to insert. Very helpful.
Blue6IX said:
I like the keyboard. I find typing on it to be a much better experience then some of the other phones i've tried, I don't run into the problem of hitting other keys I didn't mean to.
Seems like they are spaced just far enough apart, and raised to just the right height.
Another thing I like is that all the keys are backlit, so I can see them even when it's dim and the light from the screen makes everything around it hard to see.
The one thing I don't like is a lack of arrow keys, but I suppose I can live with that, even though it really sucks.
I like the combination .com and www. button, and the symbol button. The symbol button pops up a choice of symbols on the screen that you can tap to insert. Very helpful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do wish that the backlighting was more generous, but hopefully there will be an app for that once the phone is rooted.
Plus, for the arrow keys, the optical scroll pad works great!
Keyboard is not to my liking
I had the "mySlide 4G" for a week. I hated the keyboard. I have used a G2 a couple times, the slide fails to match that experience. I thought after a week I would get used to the keyboard, that did not happen. I hated it and returned the phone, even though i am currently phoneless I am not going to get that phone. I hate software keyboards so much, I thought this phone was going to be amazing. The keys are spaced to wide, I thought that would accommodate my fat fingers, but it was worst than the G2. I did not get the feedback I was expecting, the keys are a bit too far in for my taste. The slide mechanism felt flimsy after a couple days use and battery life was terrible compared to my previous nexus one.
TL;DR The keys do not have good feedback and are too far apart. Battery life is meh.
I would say it's on par with the other physical keyboards that HTC has released. I still think the G1 was the best, because of the number row....even though it took time getting use to holding it. So far I am having issues with the MTS4g, but I think it's because I am coming from the G2. Comparing the G2 to the MTS4G, the Alt and Shift keys are literally backwards. So I am constantly hitting Shift when I want to hit Alt, just because they are backwards and I am used to the G2 button location.
I just wish I could figure out what button I am hitting that shuts down my SMS in the middle of typing....that's starting to get annoying.
All in all, I would give this a 6.5 out of 10.
cberbes said:
I would say it's on par with the other physical keyboards that HTC has released. I still think the G1 was the best, because of the number row....even though it took time getting use to holding it. So far I am having issues with the MTS4g, but I think it's because I am coming from the G2. Comparing the G2 to the MTS4G, the Alt and Shift keys are literally backwards. So I am constantly hitting Shift when I want to hit Alt, just because they are backwards and I am used to the G2 button location.
I just wish I could figure out what button I am hitting that shuts down my SMS in the middle of typing....that's starting to get annoying.
All in all, I would give this a 6.5 out of 10.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
almost certainly the "Back" button on the SMS shutdown. if I remember right, the G2 just had a search and menu key on the keyboard... for better or worse, the MT4GS has [rather inconveniently if you ask me] placed a "back" key right next to the period. I regularly hit the back button when trying to punctuate properly.
so I guess I either look like a halfwit when making business communication or I have to deal with losing a few messages (usually they just save as drafts when I press back, but sometimes I lose them altogether) and start from scratch.
thankfully, though, s-off and permaroot are now officially right around the corner and we can remap these buttons. yayyyy.
The 4g slide's keyboard definitely needs some getting used to.
I LOVED the 3g slides keyboard and thought it would be pretty much the same.
The buttons are MUCH more sensitive and are taking time to get used to.
I liked the g2's buttons (as far as feel) better, and I liked the original slides the best. I've been reading that people have been keyboards that have different feels so you mileage may vary. I noticed pressure differences in the two 4g slides I bought (mine is ultra sensitive).
Once we have root, one of the FIRST things I'm doing is editing the keymappings and making the retarded www.com key a tab button. WTF are people that lazy that it warrants a dedicated key? I understand TAB with linux since it autocompletes and I use a shell and ssh a lot. Oh well.
pmcqueen said:
almost certainly the "Back" button on the SMS shutdown. if I remember right, the G2 just had a search and menu key on the keyboard... for better or worse, the MT4GS has [rather inconveniently if you ask me] placed a "back" key right next to the period. I regularly hit the back button when trying to punctuate properly.
so I guess I either look like a halfwit when making business communication or I have to deal with losing a few messages (usually they just save as drafts when I press back, but sometimes I lose them altogether) and start from scratch.
thankfully, though, s-off and permaroot are now officially right around the corner and we can remap these buttons. yayyyy.
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Click to collapse
Yup, that's it. Good call. I just looked at both of my keyboards and I think you nailed it on the head. Which of course brings up another issue with the physical keyboard....more of a software issue than anything. I can NOT get the physical keyboard set to auto-punctuate and auto-cap. With my G2 running CM7.1.0, I have auto punctuate and auto cap, so I don't have to worry about apostrophes, capitalizing "I", and what not, and double space ends the sentence.
I miss those features.
I'm getting used to the keyboards lack of tactile feedback but the lack of a dedicated number row is my biggest annoyance. If u could hold the buttons down and get the alt function that would help a lot. Hopefully a new rom can give us that option. I do miss my touch pro 2 kb...
Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using XDA App
I'm on the fence about what I think. On one hand, I actually prefer having such wide spacing between keys, a shallow travel, and soft response. I'm the type of person who loves the keyboards on palm phones since the centro; I like that soft touch, and I like that I can input with my nails if i need to. But the problem for me is that response among keys is uneven, on my model at least, with the keys towards the outwards edges being perfect, whereas a few keys towards the center, like the "t" and "g", barely provide me with any feedback. So little that I was actually looking around to whether I can enable virtual keyboard sounds or vibration feedback when using the hardware keyboard. I wonder whether its just a quality control issue because I haven't seen others have problems with specific buttons like that, they might just not like the keyboard at all but I haven't read about an uneven response.
Which is a shame because otherwise the phone is absolutely spectacular, and imo the best overall android offering out there. I have no issues whatsoever with using a virtual keyboard, but given the possibility, I'd rather use a physical one to save real estate and for the sake of my fingers.
However, I've only had the phone for 2 days, and I have clearly noticed that the keys are "breaking in". It was much worse the first day, but now response has improved substantially. I can tell because some of the outer keys had little response as well before but now click more satisfactorily after I spent a good amount of time pressing keys randomly in the notes app to wear the keys in.
I like this keyboard a lot. The only thing that absolutely sucks about it is that when using it your hands cover the bluetooth radio. For me since I am constantly listening to music on my phone via my bluetooth headphones... I am constantly annoyed by skipping music during texting or browsing. So I generally use the touch screen keyboard while listening to music via bluetooth.
Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using XDA App
On another note, does anybody know if their is a version of the stock gingerbread keyboard available with hardware spelling suggestions? The hardware keyboard is a lot more usable for me when used with suggestions. Better Keyboard has it and works well, but its prediction simply isn't as good as either gingerbread's or HTCs, mainly because it doesn't correct a lot of words where you type in an extra letter. And HTCs keyboard, though good as well, simply annoys me because it alwaayyysssss autocorrects "lol" to "LOL", which though minor, I find incredibly irksome when texting. No one uses caps for lol unless they are actually find something hilarious. Everybody knows that lol doesnt actually mean you're laughing out loud most of the time, lol. See? I didn't laugh.