PDA to make a return?

[Flibb]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technol...droid-makeover

Interesting thing to make an appearance, if they get some good software behind it could be good. I believer we have less choice in phone design at the moment compared to a few years ago

[adidan]

My GF still won't even get a smartphone. If they did touchscreen android with a physical Nokia style keypad she'd be all over it.

For some reason she's adverse to a normal keyboard. Pain for me as any whatsapp calls she makes are on my phone...

[scaryjim]

... For some reason she's adverse to a normal keyboard. ...

Define "normal". If you mean an on-screen touch keyboard, I'm not surprised - I hate them too. Far too easy to mistype, bad feedback/response ... the swipe typing on the Windows 10 Phone keyboard wasn't bad, but it was far from perfect ... so I now have a Blackberry keyONE. It has a lovely physical qwerty keyboard that is a delight to type on, and runs a fairly vanilla Android with some nice Blackberry apps on top.

Have to agree that the 'choice' in phones is awful now - it's basically an iPhone, one of ~40 identikit Android touch slabs, or my keyONE. Anything new & interesting would be a delight.

[SUMMONER]

I hope this gains some traction again, so that other manufacturers start making keyboard sliders again. The Moto Z is getting a sliding keyboard/battery MOD soon.

However with everyone pouring millions of $£€ into controlling things by voice it will probably stay niche.

[adidan]

Define "normal". If you mean an on-screen touch keyboard, I'm not surprised - I hate them too. Far too easy to mistype, bad feedback/response ... the swipe typing on the Windows 10 Phone keyboard wasn't bad, but it was far from perfect ... so I now have a Blackberry keyONE. It has a lovely physical qwerty keyboard that is a delight to type on, and runs a fairly vanilla Android with some nice Blackberry apps on top.

Have to agree that the 'choice' in phones is awful now - it's basically an iPhone, one of ~40 identikit Android touch slabs, or my keyONE. Anything new & interesting would be a delight.

Sorry I meant small normal qwerty keyboard layout be it virtual or physical.

I know, kind of limits the choices :/

[Flibb]

Despite just about all phones having voice control, I rarely see anybody use it other than in a car.

I hope this gains some traction again, so that other manufacturers start making keyboard sliders again. The Moto Z is getting a sliding keyboard/battery MOD soon.

However with everyone pouring millions of $£€ into controlling things by voice it will probably stay niche.

[wazzickle]

Just for the sake of clarification, in case you were confused, everyone agrees you can pluralize PDA here to PDAs (personal digital assistants), there is less agreement on PDsA (public displays of affection) and WsMD (weapons of mass distraction) though

[jimbouk]

Used to love my Psion - funky thing and the hinge design was beautiful. I'm not sure this is really a winner for me though. Having had and really liked qwerty sliders before (Xperia Mini Pro and Pro) the keyboard was good enough for a small screened device. This isn't useful enough as a phone with the screen on the inside (a small notification screen and a couple of physical buttons would go some way, but there's no way it could be used one handed), and I don't want the expense of a second sim card or the hassle of tethering.

The Moto Mod slider looked ideal, but sadly too rich for my liking.

[peterb]

Just for the sake of clarification, in case you were confused, everyone agrees you can pluralize PDA here to PDAs (personal digital assistants), there is less agreement on PDsA (public displays of affection) and WsMD (weapons of mass distraction) though

But don’t confuse PDsA with PDSA (People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals)

[Ttaskmaster]

I have one of these in my drawer right now - They were awesome!!

Despite just about all phones having voice control, I rarely see anybody use it other than in a car.

The last thing I want is someone else overhearing everything I'm doing on my phone!!

[SUMMONER]

[Ttaskmaster]

Oh, it can run Linux - All sorted, then!!

Seriously, if the price is right, I will consider one of these!!

[ET3D]

I threw a dollar at them when they crowdfunded, but frankly it's not a kind of device I need right now.

[Ttaskmaster]

Who cares what you need?
The question is what you *want*!!

[Biscuit]

I definitely miss the keyboards from my old rebranded HTC devices running Windows mobile.
I'm sure the emulators on that device ran better than they do now on android.

[pp05]

Didn't they die because people didn't want two devices.