Would a QWERTY ‘other half’ really float your boat? All In favour say ‘Aye’!
A common topic we seem to run into virtually on a daily basis here at Jollatides, is that of the elusive QWERTY other half, or at least the potential for it making an appearance as an add-on for the new Jolla handset.
There are people it would seem – perhaps maybe a vocal minority – who have not pre-ordered the new Jolla handset purely based on the fact that there is still no solid information available yet as to whether we might see such an add-on in future. These are the folk that will accept no compromise – it’s either QWERTY or go home.
But there is also indeed the folk (like me) who while don’t see a physical QWERTY as the ‘be all and end all’ to prevent me from purchasing the Jolla handset, would certainly buy into it as a peripheral if the option existed – these folk probably represent a far larger passive majority group.
Without a doubt, what does seem clear however from reading around the blogosphere, is that there are generally a lot of disenchanted QWERTY fans out there that since the seeming death of these devices (especially in Europe), are crying out for a handset that continues on from the likes of the Nokia N900, N950, E7 ie. landscape QWERTY.
Nokia N950: The MeeGo Handset That Never Was…
The question still remains though is there a big enough demand for such an add-on in the form of ‘the other half’, and if so, would it be something that Jolla would be open to offering us? This question will no doubt rest on how the pre-order sales went for Jolla.
From previous tweets, I get the distinct impression that Jolla are still going with the mantra ‘anything’s possible’, but not yet ready to fully commit or at least talk about it openly – certainly not at least until the new Jolla handset starts gathering some momentum upon its full public release later this year/early 2014.
Of course there is also the possible option that some 3rd party hardware developer could work alongside Jolla to bring the QWERTY other half to market, if indeed, Jolla weren’t going to pursue it as an option themselves.
To all the QWERTY fans out there, I’d like to get your feedback right here: is a physical QWERTY option something that you absolutely cannot live without or is it just a feature that is desirable without being an absolute necessity ?
I for one think, as I have posted many times before, that a QWERTY other half option for the new Jolla handset would truly set it apart from all the rest. If Jolla want to create a USP, this is what I think they should go for as early as possible to project their ‘transformable’ handset into the mindshare of the many potential Sailors out there. A handset which is adaptable to situation and running the unique Sailfish OS would give Jolla an even greater chance to set themselves apart from the competition.
In fact, furthermore I think that if they are planning on implementing such a concept, they should start shouting about it now, because if they get in the mindshare department early on before anyone else, they will have the attention of many people long after the time it takes another manufacturer to jump on the ‘adaptable QWERTY’ * band wagon: ‘I am the first’.
It is frustrating that we don’t get more in the way of updates or progress reports lately, but this is generally for a very good reason, after all plagiarism is rife in the mobile handset space.
So for now, in lieu of any finer details direct from the horses mouth, all those in favour of a QWERTY other half concept, say ‘Aye’ – let’s have our voices heard right now or forever hold your peace! :-)
Sail On….
* For those who don’t follow this blog regularly, the dream for many here is to have a Jolla handset that can attach a QWERTY keyboard if for example you require some more muscle in the typing dept. or just want full view of the screen while you type without the onscreen keyboard distorting your view. Of course the QWERTY add-on (other half) could be removed and replaced with a standard back plate other half if you just require the handset in ‘phone’ only mode.
Updated Nokia E7 with modern OS, removable battery/ SD card, better camera would be my perfect device. Am still holding breath but am turning blue. Please hurry. One incidental bonus of E7 qwerty is its great for viewing video/ images on as the screen pops up to a perfect viewing angle so you don’t have to hold or prop device.
Aye!
I write a lot of mails, notes and so on. I really like keyboard shortcuts and use it a lot. So a qwerty keyboard is a must.
I use my N900 today and looking for a serious replacement.
QWERTY keyboard or nothing. Sorry.
I think maybe is possible to Jolla make 2 devices: a keyboard less and a “pro” version without all these addon hardware…
the other way around, maybe; professionals need to be “in contact” which includes writing e-mails (mostly) but possibly also discussing business issues over (company) messenger; keyboard is a must. that was the reason of the success of the NOKIA Communicator
anyway, their are already a concrete project from Jolla to release a more affordable consumer device in 2014; no “PRO” device. anyway, the idea behind the other ½ is to be able to target different consumer groups with (basically) the same device, adding different functionality as useful / needed
e.g., the casual office worker who shuttles to work, sits behind the desk most of the day & shuttles home can have the device charging / charged most of the day thus a normal battery is enough whereas ppl on the road, e-mailing all along, possibly navigating (GPS + 3G net), look up informations (3G) usually use up the battery long before the end of the day; an other ½ with extra (large) battery (& QWERTY kbd) is a life saver
Nope, not interested in physical keyboards any more.
@Shaurz: Out of interest, what would you rather see the other half used for ?
2nd touchscreen just for running a Swype keyboard, leaving all of the main screen for content.
That could also be verrrry nice for sure.
In the “other half”: 2nd (bigger) battery, 2 good speakers (left and right), heavy-duty housing (which might protect also the edges of the “phone half”. Perhaps also the coils of wireless charging integrated in the “other half”.
+1 for inductive charging, also bigger battery and a radio transmitter back.
I’m in for a qwerty. I love the feel of E7, but the os is sluggish and keeps crashing (both apps and itself). For me, qwerty is much more important than eg. the camera on the device. Sure, the non-AF camera in E7 is pretty much worthless now especially because QR-codes are everywhere, but with NFC technology becoming more common, maybe even that wouldn’t be a problem.
I have tried several without QWERTY, but have always changed back to E7 – all because of QWERTY. So, please, I beg Jolla – make the other half with QWERTY.
yep. I use python, terminal, leafpad, xournal and gnumeric all the time on the n900, saved my ass a few times (like filing, signing & returning pdf docs in a hurry… or crunching the numbers for quotes – on the spot).
Its painful to use just the terminal on the n9 with only half a screen and limited keyboard, forget about doing anything productive.
If Jolla phone is just another consumer device, it will fail vs Android and the wait for a proper n###-series successor will continue for a few more years.
Qwerty is my no 1 choice, however i Will still buy the phone. i like the idea of o pro and non-pro version.
Absobloodylutely! I’m replacing an n900 so this would be immensely useful
Aye, bloody AYE!!!! What he says! ^^^
Nothing beats a physical QWERTY key board. It’s less error prone and allows to type without looking at the phone. Can we have one in a form factor of less than 10 mm thinkness? I yes,, it would be WOW.
Add on keyboard…I would not add a keyboard to type a message.
Smart designers out there… think about it…
A J900 (A Jolla-ified N900) is really all I desire!
Aye!
If the Jolla handset supports Swype, I don’t care about a keyboard Other Half.
If not, then yeah I’m interested, but only if it’s really well made and integrates seamlessly with the apps; otherwise I’d rather just do without the added bulk and mechanical complexity.
It’s not a showstopper in any case.
You’re right Petteri, if it’s badly implemented, there is no point… I’ve used a 3rd party bluetooth snap on keyboard with a handset before and I ended up just leaving it because the implementation was not seemless with all the different apps etc making it more trouble than it was worth.
If a HW keyboard is to be considered, it really needs to be baked into every aspect of the UI/apps etc and done properly.
A qwerty would be like a must buy arguement. Go for qwerty!
Markus
Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye !!!!!!
Cannot stress it more!!!!!
Aye!!!
Don’t care about physical keyboard as soon as the virtual one is efficient.
If the other half could be an additional battery with QI charging enabled, it would be awesome for me. Dream of a smartpone that could last more than 1,5 days…
Definitely. I’d rather have an extra battery than a keyboard other half.
Great that the Jolla design makes either a relatively easy possibility though!
Nah. I hated my N900. It was just too big to carry compared to my C7 (at the time) and my N9 and the keyboard ate into battery space. For the few times I needed a physical keyboard over a virtual one, it was just extra bulk and the N900′s keyboard was pretty awful. The Jolla is already quite a sizeable device if the prototype is anything to go on and I’d think twice about carrying something so big.
I wonder if the people coming from an N900 have used a modern virtual keyboard for any amount of time? There’s some great ones out there including the N9′s keyboard. I hope Jolla have continued development on the Maliit keyboard software to the point where this argument becomes a bit silly.
That’s not to say I wouldn’t buy a physical QWERTY other half. They’re great things to have in your bag. If I’m out and about for a while, I’ve usually got a Freedom iConnex bluetooth keyboard in my bag for use with a tablet. Not having a keyboard covering half your screen when you’ve a bit of admin/hacking to so is quite useful.
The N9′s keyboard was not as good as the best android/ios/wp/bb10 virtual keyboards and the Symbian Belle virtual keyboard was even worse IMO.
I agree, if implemented well a virtual keyboard is definitely fine for light text use but for me the main benefit of a HW keyboard is like you say, not using up half the screen real estate every time you type.
Sending emails/long messages/typing blog posts on the road is again so much more of a breeze with a HW keyboard especially when you need to go through and edit the document, which is a frustrating experience with only half the screen estate.
I disagree. I really like the N9′s keyboard. It has very good haptic feedback and the keys are the right size. I also liked that you could have predictive text coming up but the default was to ignore it. I’ve also got a Nexus 7 and had a Lumia 800. The Nexus 7 keyboard is quite good but the haptics are rubbish and the prediction almost always guesses ‘the’ incorrectly for me inserting ‘TTY’. Switching between keyboards on Android is a pain in the backside too – click on notifications, select keyboard, change settings, switch back. On the N9 you just swiped the keyboard out the way.
The WP7 keyboard was quicker to type on but no haptics and the keys are so large it covers most of the screen making it next to unusable for editing large pieces of text.
Maliit on the N9 just needed better prediction and it would have been perfect IMHO.
I’m not disagreeing about Symbian’s keyboard though. Whoever ‘designed’ that needs to be fired (oh, they probably have).
The above comment was for JollaTides. I’m sorry.
+1
+1
Aye!
physical keyboard! the n900 where almost there. i could activate the taskswitcher by pressing Sym + ←. The possibility to switch tasks just by pressing the something like ALT + TAB on the desktop would be super sweet.
And another note, I don’t like it if the keyboard eats 50% of the screen and messes with the layout of an website.
Aye! I like Swype on the N9 but while very usable for short messages etc it just cannot compete with a real QWERTZ (say yes to localized layouts) keyboard when it comes to real work. My E7 was much better at that. So an optional other half with a high quality keyboard would be a BIG pro in my book.
Aye. Phone without a physical qwerty/dvorak keyboard is not a smartphone..
QWERTY kbd please!!!
it killed me going from my N900 to the N9… sure i got used to using a vitrual keyboard.. but i find a physical keyboard is far more intuitive and speedy for me to use
but then again, swype keyboard IS pretty amazing and fast as well
i really enjoyed the keyboard shortcuts on the N900 (ctrl s would actually save docusments etc) where as this isnt available with a virtual keyboard
and even when having a physical keyboard, the user is still able to use a virtual keyboard if desired. so its always nice having both options available. and having the other half it really allows the user to define their device to their own personality and preference.
Real keyboard is an absolute must!
aye! qwerty is a must-be!
Aye, qwerty keyboard please!
Aye!
typing on a touchscreen even a text message is so painful. Let alone an email.
If is not too expensive (I’d say 50-60€) I would buy one straight away once the Jolla on my 100€ preorder ships.
I would consider buying if under 100€ shipped, but I’d think a bit before buying
I would buy one more Jolla phone for my wife only if there is a version with qwerty other half.
Jolla: sail on on it!
Aye ! Aye ! Aye ! Aye !
I own a N950 for now and I don’t want to lose the KBD feature when acquiering my Jolla
Hey are you the original ‘Bootroo’ who inspired our post back in July 2012 for a modular qwerty handset ? If so thanks for popping by and lets keep hoping for something like this from Jolla!
/2012/07/19/my-dream-jolla-mobile-with-detachable-modular-slide-out-qwerty/
For those that didn’t read the original post, we suggested this very feature – a detachable, yet integrated, modular keyboard:
“Killer feature: Modular removable qwerty keyboard (can be sold separately) offers the best of both worlds. Lightweight when you need it to be without keyboard or attach the fully integrated keyboard for a full powerhouse experience (ie. connects direct to mobile so power source is shared and keyboard functionality is integrated (not Bluetooth)). This modular keyboard design will open markets to both consumer and business markets this way, but benefiting Jolla by only having to release one device. Editors note: Business users are also consumers at the end of the day and like to be able to use a sexy device sans keyboard on their days off! Also this ties in with Jolla’s strategy to release both a consumer phone and developer phone. Consumer phone can be locked on release but with the ability for developers to unlock (like with Nokia N9) and of course add keyboard.”
Judging by the overwhelming response we always seem to receive on this topic, I really hope Jolla can find a way to make it happen. Thanks guys and keep it coming!
Oh and I just dug an interview with Marc Dillon from May 2013 – music to my ears: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ0btrtQ5Fc
I´d prefer a QWERTZ.
I suppose that you wrote QWERTZ to point out the importance of language-localized variants. I agree: there must be the German Qwertz, Englsih Qwerty, and many other localized Qwerty variants. Actually, the Qwertz HW can be made the same thing as Qwerty HW: by making double labels on the Y and Z keys. In the top row of letter keys: YZ (the two letters printed in different colors) and in the bottom row of letter keys: ZY (the two letters printed in different colors). Such double labels on two letter keys won’t slow down your writing – this has been proved by the double labels on the Ö and Ä keys of Scandinavian Qwerty HWKB. In the same way also some other languages can be added to use the same “English-German keymat”; see my long comment of August 16.
QWERTY please
Nope,no Qwerty keyboard,but batterypack and speakers.
If you watched any of the Akademy presentations posted to links on JollaHQ twitter handle a few weeks back (I did), Jolla’s Vessi-Matti Hartikainen reveals that the Jolla phone will include a hardware interface (connector) capable of data transfer for their Other-Halfs and explicitly mentions a QWERTY-enabled other half as a possible result. This alone shot my level of excitement for the phone beyond acceptable levels.
Yes good point Andre, you can check around 11:28 of the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCylvUiXmrg&feature=youtu.be
Will it also supply power to the other half?
Yes, Matti says that it will be capable of supplying power in both directions.
Yes, please! QWERTY other half for the people!!!
Aye * Infinity! HWKB is the only way for me! As quoted earlier “QWERTY or go home”! The polls clearly said they wanted a HWKB. What gives?! On the other hand, it is disturbing that the OS support may be lacking, if that is the case, I’m sure it can be overcome. Jolla please, please, please develop a device with HWKB and proper OS support. I don’t know how much longer my N900 can hold out!
they started development with N950s as well, thus…
AYE! because a pirate needs good equipment when entering..
I am a nearly happy owner of a n900. (The only drawback is the bad calendar application, the small amount of apps and that its relatively slow compared to newer smartphones ).
I – as I think so many others – am looking for an UPGRADE of my n900. A smartphone without HWKB would clearly be a downgrade, and so I wont buy it.
For me there are two reasons why the HWKB is better than a virtual one:
1) you are so much quicker in writing (at least I am)
2) you can take full advantage of your screen, seeing it completely instead of only one line.
And I do write a lot on my phone.
I really can’t understand the politics of jolla- which customer do they have in mind?
I think that very! roughly there are four groups of customers in the “high end” smartphone market:
1) people who buy an iphone, because they feel the can do nothing wrong, and besides its kind of a status symbol. Why should they buy a jolla handset?
2) people who buy the Samsung galaxy, because they are a bit more price sensitiv. Why should they buy a jolla handset? We may assume that the galaxy will be cheaper..
3) people who will buy their first “real” smartphone. But why should they buy a jolla handset, when other phones are cheaper and tested by the market for a long time???
4) and then there are people like me, who look desperately for a replacement/ upgrade of their n900.
People, who don’t get what they want from Samsung or apple.
People who care about privacy.
People who care about openness of the system.
And people who WANT a HWKB, because they found out about the benefits.
I think these are the people who would buy the jolla handset.
You can see at jollatides, that there are so many people just waiting to jump in when it comes to the topic of HWKB
So please, dear Jolla guys: do some good hard thinking. Go fishing and come back ashore with a HWKB.
Don’t spoil the launch of your great phone because you dont reach the people who would buy it..
I do need you to have success.
Sail on..
Nice comment giraffe…
It’d be a pretty small market if Jolla’s market was just disgruntled N900 users who dislike virtual keyboards.
I would have thought 5) ex-N9 users who couldn’t give a toss about hardware keyboards is much larger than 4).
I fully agree agree with giraffe, especially to 4)
I am a “Nerd” since the 80es and I had my first mobile phone in the early 90es. I had 2 Nokia communicators when the word “smartphone” had not been invented and now have the N900.
For me the freedom to configure my phone the way I want is important and I also do not want to be exposed that easily to tracking, tracing and hacking. I love the idea to have a solid mobile phone with an Open source Linux OS and the latest and best possible connectivity features.
I need my phone for business, not for social networking etc.
I desperately wait for an adequate N900 replacement WITH QWERTZ.
QWERTZ is a MUST HAVE.I can type much faster than on a virtual keyboard and nearly w/o looking at the text. Did anyone try to type fast a SMS on a virtual mobile phone keyboard in portait mode? It is a challenge…
Too right!!!
My favourite Communicator was the original 9000 running GEOS. IMHO, Nokia jumped the shark when they switched to Symbian OS for the 9210 onwards, but I continued to buy them as they had a physical keyboard and no other device was as, well awesome, I guess.
I really loved typing on the 9000. Although I abbreviated my IRC usage on PCs I never had reason for SMS on the mighty Communicator, managing to clock up 150 GBP in international text fees in a single month @ 0.19 per 160 char text, before promptly switching to IM for free, so more typing!
If anyone manages to get a kickstarter project to fund this other half I’ll be first to pledge. Something tells me it won’t take long to reach goal funding either….
Yes. I’m faster with Swype on a portrait keyboard than an N900 keyboard.
Aye!
I find a psychical keyboard absolutely necessary for my optimal use of a smartphone.
I can type and trust, without having to check on my screen.
I can use my smartphone as a mini computer, with easy access to email, web, IM and so on without having a virtual keyboard taking off half the space of the screen
I’ve been looking for a replacement for my N900 for many years now and a keyboard is a HUGE plus. I had olmost given up having a QWERTY-smartphone when the Jolla keyboard first got mentioned.
Please make one!
Even when on mobile, I usually type up to several paragraphs long of text depending on the context, and I don’t really use “SMS short forms.”
Virtual keyboards have done nothing but slow me down and I am frustrated by them.
The N950 looked good but when I found out it was a developers-only device, somehow I was angered to no end.
I still have my N900 and I already delegated my Asha 311 as an external battery charger for my N900′s batteries (they can fit somehow, but you cannot close the Asha’s battery slot with the cover when you do).
Aye! I like to have lot of “old programs” and sometimes I use the terminal on my N900. The keyboard is mandatory to use these.
I left a comment here a few days ago, but it’s gone now. It showed up immediately after I hit “Post Comment” though. What’s going on?
Anyways: My must-haves for a phone are: An operating system where I am in charge and a hardware keyboard. Layout doesn’t matter that much. I’m not going to buy a Jolla if it doesn’t have a HWKB.
Try clicking on the ‘older comments’ at the top left or bottom left of the comments roll. I found your post: “mkl on August 18, 2013 at 01:14 said:”
This topic has gathered such a strong response we are now on 2 pages.
Here is an interesting reference about the need of Qwerty for tablets: http://www.zdnet.com/a-boost-for-microsoft-surface-workers-demand-keyboards-with-their-tablets-7000019490/
Naturally it’s not 1:1 applicable to smartphones. And the title of the article is a bit misleading – in the long run the new trend might boost more Jolla than Microsoft, if they make correct choices at Jolla Ltd. I believe that the new trend may first affect what people expect of 5″ … 6″ phablets, and may later start asking for HWKB on other smartphones.
i have no real heritage with phones, with a hardware qwerty keyboard, apart from buying bluetooth ones for certain handsets, i can see the attraction of a slide out, like the gorgeous n950, i pre-ordered the jolla unit, to continue the elegant GUI experience of my beloved n9, and whilst it makes no odds to me whether there is a qwerty option available, i would buy any add on that enabled this feature.
I think there are a lot of people like us Quaddy who while it didn’t prevent us from pre-ordering, we would snap up a qwerty other half given the chance as a bonus added extra feature.
Even though I would highly appreciate having physical keyboard I don’t thing its lack at the time of the device release would be a show stopper. The whole concept of TheOtherHalf gives an opprotunity to add that feature anytime later.
So initially I would get a touch only device equipped with the best mobile OS I have seen so far and with a good chance that it could be “upgraded” to a qwerty device anytime either with original Jolla’s other half or even a third party one.
This is a unique approach no other manufacturer is able to provide yet.
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If Jolla makes a qwerty-phone, I’m buying it otherwise….I’ll leave them sailing in their own Jolla
aye aye captain
please qwerty !
Came here from the other post about jolla’s tweet in response to your question. Just raising my hand here to say Aye …tho’ judging by the response in the other post, I am not holding my breath. My theory is that since most handsets are designed by ‘designer’-types who are so used to a point and click interface, they don’t really understand the absolute need that most of us who use keyboards have. I detest using a soft keyboard since it forces me to write/express myself less intelligently — IOW, do not like writing like a retard but with soft keyboards the choice is between that or taking 10 mins. to painfully type and edit stuff which ideally should be a 30 sec. job.
You raise a good point about the design angle Steve, and I think perhaps that fact combined with the extra cost/hassle/resources required for manufacturers to add a hwkb (especially if being released in many different countries with different alphabets etc) makes it a less than attractive proposition.
That and the fact many customers are demanding slimmer and slimmer handsets means it’s a no brainer for most manufacturers these days…. let’s hope Jolla can be UNLIKE the rest in this regard!
AYE!