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437

QWERTY Phones Are Really Trying to Make a Comeback This Year (gizmodo.com)

submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by IcedRaktajino@startrek.website to c/technology@lemmy.world

170 comments fedilink hide all child comments

After dying a painful death at the hand of the iPhone’s revolutionary capacitive touchscreen, the QWERTY smartphone is rising up from the graveyard this year.

Whether it’s nostalgia for a physical keyboard, frustration at iOS’s ever-worsening software keyboard, or just plain boredom with glass slabs, companies are rebooting QWERTY phones this year for some reason.

At CES 2026:

Clicks, the company behind the Clicks keyboard case and the new Power Keyboard, announced plans to sell the Communicator, a “second phone” with a QWERTY keypad
Unihertz also teased a new phone with a physical keyboard. The Titan 2 Elite seems to be a less gimmicky version of the Titan 2, which itself was a BlackBerry Passport knockoff but with a bizarre square screen on the backside.

[T]wo QWERTY phone announcements in this still very new year suggest there may be some kind of trend. Maybe after 19 years of the iPhone and touchscreens defining the mobile experience, it’s time to go back to the physical keyboard and its more tactile typing.

(page 4) 22 comments

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[–] JTskulk@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Do software keyboards not use the QWERTY layout? Why are we calling hardware keyboards on a phone a QWERTY phone?!

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[–] miguel@fedia.io 2 points 2 days ago

I'd love to jump on this, and probably will when/if I can afford to.

[–] dogslayeggs@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

I used to pine for this. I loved my physical keyboard on the Treo and Palm Pre. I didn't keep it long, but I even rocked a Moto Photon Q for a bit.

Then I found swipe typing and will never go back. It is SO much faster

[–] FireWire400@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I'm intrigued by the Titan 2 Elite. Never owned a Blackberry myself (or never used one as my main rather) and I do type a lot on my phone so it would be an interesting experience to try the Titan. Looks quite nice as well.

I heard that Unihertz isn't exactly the best at supporting their phones, though, and I'm not a big fan of Mediatek either. The Communicator looks good, too, but I'd rather go with a brand that has a history of making phones, rather than cases.

[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

What about a teensy Bluetooth keyboard?

[–] sexy_peach@feddit.org 1 points 2 days ago (5 children)

I don't get it. On screen is fine

[–] Jinarched@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

It's all about tactile feedback for me.

[–] AmbitiousProcess@piefed.social 2 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Same here. I get the nostalgia factor, and that tactile buttons can feel nice, but other than that I feel like it's just a one-size-fits-all solution that doesn't necessarily work well.

Instead of a quick tap, you have to actually press on each button, which slows down typing. You can't resize, recolor, or reformat your keyboard to fit your needs better, there's no split keyboard functionality for landscape mode, etc.

Plus it's just more mechanical failure points and areas that dust and gunk can get stuck in.

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