That always depends to some extend on your finger dexterity (and size) of course, but reviewers so far only had good things to say about the N9 virtual keyboard: http://wiki.maliit.org/Reviews Just for reference, I type on the portrait keyboard (with two thumbs) faster than I can type on the N900 hardware keyboard. Mistakes can happen, but are rare for me when I pay attention. The landscape keyboard is easier, but I find it also slower (due to longer thumb travel distances). You can look for youtube videos of people typing fast on the iPhone keyboard to get an idea of what speeds can also be reached on the N9 with some practice. For messaging and note taking it's more than sufficient as far as I am concerned.