Maddy 🏳️⚧️ - ADHD-powered 
Touchscreen keyboards in place of physical keyboards were a mistake.
I mean, sure, you could carry around a bluetooth keyboard with you that would work on damn near anything, but we already had it good over a decade ago.
Concept - Phone screens and their aspect ratios don't need to match what's used in popular media, especially if it accommodates something as useful as a physical keyboard.
But also, the UI needs to not be crowded as fuck
We had a decent compromise with the BlackBerry Passport, but BBOS was already on its way out. The keyboard doubling as touch-sensitive so it could be used as a cursor was pretty cool, though!
But also, the UI needs to not be crowded as fuck
We had a decent compromise with the BlackBerry Passport, but BBOS was already on its way out. The keyboard doubling as touch-sensitive so it could be used as a cursor was pretty cool, though!
Pete / Syllopsium@maddy They do, they really really do.
There are currently at least two non portrait keyboard phones in existence, and a third one on its way. I've had more than one recent non portrait keyboard phone.
It's a huge pain. Android design guidelines say applications need to cater for different aspect ratios. The reality is it doesn't work. Too many applications are designed to expect a portrait orientation, and the 'mini mode' to squeeze portrait into a non portrait phone for misbehaving apps never entirely works either.
Tried it for years, gave up. Now on a Pixel 9 with a Clicks keyboard case which isn't ideal, but I have zero display and compatibility issues.
Chloë Ada 
[0x636174]@maddy bring back slide out keyboards!
Ozzelot 
@ozzelot Ooh, that looks like a neat device!
@maddy It ran maemo, a debian-based OS. I did some linux learning on it when nothing else was nearby. There was hope in the thing, squandered by the already clearly winning goopple duopoly, but hope nonetheless.
@maddy I guess Microsoft was a little bit of a player around the time I used my N900 the most (2012 - 13), but come on, WP had it way rough.
@ozzelot Really cool that it was its own sorta thing while Android was just starting to find its footing!
Windows Phone would've been cool if they didn't totally give up (and some of the larger app developers didn't collude to avoid the platform), but also, Microsoft - eww!
Windows Phone would've been cool if they didn't totally give up (and some of the larger app developers didn't collude to avoid the platform), but also, Microsoft - eww!
@maddy The N900 came from a somewhat long line of Nokia Internet Tablets and was the first and last phone to run Maemo*, the N9 and N950 ran Meego. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nokia_Internet_Tablet&useskin=vector
*not counting Maemo Leste, which is still in active development today
@Chloe I feel like the BlackBerry Torch pulled this off particularly well!
ShadowInTheVoid
gkrnours
Josh Jersild@maddy I was hoping by now (somehow??) we'd have like haptic touch buttons where the on-screen buttons are physically raised so that you could feel them
Steve Brunwasser@maddy My apartment building replaced all the locks with key pads a few years ago. The problem? They’re capacitive touch key pads. It’s so easy to accidentally brush against the wrong number, and the numbers don’t even light up reliably!
Mick Collins@maddy Hard agree.
ada
Irina