75ZT Community

[Dave]

Just discovered that I am near the end of my contract with my HTC HD2, and although it's working fine, as ever I fancy a bit of a change!

Wondering if anyone has any experience of smartphones that also have a slide out QWERTY keyboard, in particular the Sony Xperia Mini Pro. If you have, is it good or bad?

TBH, I'll probably end up switching to the phone Gill has, the Samsung Galaxy S2, although if I do, I'll be switching provider. I can get this free from Tesco Mobile (using T-Mobile network) but ironically if I stick with T-Mobile and go for this as an upgrade, it'll cost me £190!!

[PaulT]

Dave I work for the NHS and my Trust uses the HD2s at work for our maintenance personnel as PDAs (they receive and book on and off their jobs using these). These have proved very reliable. Previously, we had used Airo 25s which proved very unreliable. When I was looking for a replacement for the Airos I talked to another trust who use PDAs as we do and they had bought some slide out keyboard devices on which the slide out keyboards proved very unreliable hence we went with the HD2s.

Personally, I bought my wife the Galaxy and she seems very delighted with it.

[Dave]

Cheers Paul!

TBH, I do wonder how much I'd actually use a physical keyboard, and thus the Galaxy is looking more tempting by the minute!

[rovernut]

I love my Sony Experia Arc which I bought off Ebay.

I bought it for its camera performance and wifi capability....excellent.

No slide out keyboard though.

Chris

[Dave]

Wish there was some way to try before you buy with this sort of kit!

I like the idea of a keyboard, but do wonder how much I'd use it in reality!

[Jürgen]

I like the idea of a keyboard, but do wonder how much I'd use it in reality!

The virtual keyboards on current smartphones are quite good. You can use them in portrait and landscape mode. And last but not least the keys can't wear out.

[PaulT]

What would Alexander Graham Bell made of all of this?

[Dave]

What would Alexander Graham Bell made of all of this?

Good point!

I was looking at Gill's Samsung Galaxy earlier, and found BBC iPlayer. Within 2 seconds I'd found a programme and was watching it. We take this sort of thing for granted, but when we were kids, this was pure science fiction, in the realms of hover cars!