Okay I'm having some issues with this whole keyboard-design stuff. Let me explain why:

<Bold statement>No one has ever made a good phone keyboard!</Bold statement> Literally every qwerty-phone has a different keyboard design, which means there a people designing each time.

As I am looking through al the qwerty phones, I am looking whether I like the design, the layout, the size, the colors, the materials, etc. I know what I like and I know what I don't like.

Example 1: Nokia E7
Lots op people suggest this keyboard. It's boring! Grey on grey, not round, not square and not squirqle. In between.. Function buttons above the function key, which is not handy. Number keys across the top key, which makes typing in someons phone number less practical then just using the touchscreen!


Example 2: Galaxy S Relay
Same boring shape, but black on grey/metal which is a slight improvement. Dedicated number keys, so no function-key problems. The 'A' has somehow fused with the TAB key, which I find strange, because if they didn't make the A and P key bigger and ditched the microphone button (why is it there?!), this would be avoided. Still, boring keyboard.


Example 3: Motorola Photon
Less boring. Dedicated FN, TAB, Shift and CAPSLOCK (?). Better so far. But, exclamation mark on the top left? Not convienent if the FN in on the bottom left! And what it lack in not being boring, it compensates by being plane old ugly.


Example 4: HTC touch pro
Okay, clean and black! Except for that one green button... Really?! 5 rows of buttons, but the @ and ! are still in the top left. It is just the next plastic keyboard! But now it is black. It look cheap, it feels cheap, just bad design!


What I am looking for is a keyboard that is clean. No weird key-layout. Not looking like a mess. Not too little keys, so you don't have to press 2 function keys for a symbol. Not too many keys, so that is doesn't look like a huge computer keyboard.

Example 5: Nokia 5730
Nice color around the keyboard, clean and black. Two FN keys, which makes the ! in the top-left not awkward, NICE! But what is that totally weird vertical bar in the middle of the keyboard?! It is ugly and out of place! Was the spacebar 2mm too narrow?!


Example 6: iPhone5Mod magnetic keyboard
This is much and much better! Thin, metal, white between the keys. It is beautiful! But why have a power button on your keyboard and why had is stolen the place of the backspace?? Spacebar not in the middle? Personal choice for everyone. Not usable.


Example 7: Eten M810
WOW! This is awesome! But is got terrible reviews, terrible keyboard. Spacebar should be twice as large. I love the backlit slits though!


Example 8: BB Porsche design
This is also very nice! No weird colors, very very clean! But not suitable as a landscape keyboard, spacing the keys will look totally weird! And I cannot make these buttons at home


Example 9: The almighty E90, "The Communicator"
This keyboard has everything! But half of the keyboard is clean and black. The other half is littered with blue icons...

Just kidding, this is a 2007 machine.... Brought out in the iPhone-year. Welcome to the furure they said... Sigh.

This is why the need for this thread is great! Each one has big big design flaws, which could have been easily prevented! No innovation has took place with the phone keyboard, absolutely none.

We will have to design and build our own I guess, but which features can be combined to make something good? That look good (and not boring!!), is practical and feels good!

Hi dirkvl,

I have not yet had the chance to use a phone with hardware keyboard, but was interested in n900, e7 or Lauta from the start. I am neither good at mechanical design... So here are just some though about was I would like to have, with not much experience. My goal is to use onscreen keyboard for one handed portrait usage with small things, and switch to hardware landscape keyboard to benefit from the whole screen surface for content display, and have easier access to special keys, like the ":", "TAB" or "ESC" button for ssh and vi command line. Also should allow to type easily numbers, mail/websites/ip addresses, and if possible parentheses and brackets (can still be a 2 key combination for these).

Nokia E7:
What I always liked about E7 is the mechanism and integration with the device. When folded it is hard to see that it is not a N8, as there is not a clear separation between phone and keyboard. And when pulled, the inclination take the role of a "stand" to put it on a table and simply watch it.

Motorola Photon / HTC touch pro:
As all other 5 lines keyboard, this allow to have numbers without key combinations. Still no "ESC" key ?

Nokia 5730:
I don't see the second function key ? But yeah, it would allow to reach left keys while holding function key with right thumb, and right keys with left thumb on FN key. Would be a lot more ergonomic.

iPhone5Mod magnetic keyboard:
agree that the spacebar must be in the center, to be reachable by both thumbs.

Eten M810:
Not the design I prefer, but backlight is a real feature.

The almighty E90, "The Communicator"
I really like this one. Could be made better, but overall, it seems everything is here.
The pad is way better than the distinct arrows key that are where they can on other designs. For shortcuts that uses CTRL or ALT + arrow (like to navigate per word in text editor), it is better to keep the pad on the right side.

Finally, using my phone a lot as a music player, it would be convenient to have on the side (to be availlable even when keyboard is folded) at least 2 keys "Play/Pause", and "Next", so that they can be reach directly in the pocket, whithout having to get it out to change song, or start/stop it.

I will try to summarize all this:
- design so that the phone look as a single piece when the keyboard is folded
- allow the keyboard to be used as a stand for the phone
- 5 rows to provide direct access to all letters + numbers
- space in the middle
- all special keys : control, meta, shift, 2 x function (one on each side), escape (absolutely needed and usually not availlable)
- pad in place of arrow keys
- music controls on the side "play/pause" + "next". Could also add a camera button for direct access?
- some kind of backlight. keys name backlight is the top for usage, key contour backlight is the top for the look. Power consumption has to be checked here to choose the more efficient way to do it.
- if there is a caps lock, or num lock (FN lock?) function, then leds should be provided to show it

about how to make the keys : Silicon rubber ? hard plastic keys on a springy button ?
And how to make the foldable mechanism : straight like n900 ? inclined like E7 as it could double as a stand ?

key layout as E7, N950 & all
maybe ESC & Tab keys, if not physical at least directly accessible via SYM / Fn / whatever (now NE arrow) but...
long hold of SYM / Fn / whatever (now NE arrow) pops up a virtual keyboard which, obviously, can be entirely customized.

and it could still add a couple of different physical designs for e.g. Arabic (?) vs Asiatic vs. Cyrillic vs. Latin vs. ???
guess Asiatic would need a couple more "localizations".
Arabic maybe too?

N810 kbd looked pretty good too; drop 2nd Ctrl for a ESC & all done

Here is my feeling about hwkb I was able to use :

n810 > E7 > N950 > BB10 alphac

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:N810-open.jpg
The layout of the N810 keyboard is quite acceptable. AFAIR the Chr key has the same function as the Sym key of later models. But to make the keyboard symmetrical, I'd remove the 5-way rocker and the Menu button on the left, and put 4 arrow keys where N810 has the - key and below the : - + keys. The ESC, Tab, Shift, Sym, Fn and Ctrl keys can be dispersed on the bottom row of keys and in an extra key column on the left-thumb side. That makes 12 key columns in total. The straight sliding mechanism of N810 is a useful reference for the design of an OH keyboard. But perhaps the keyboard should slide out a bit more, perhaps about 65% of its total height.

This is what I mean, besides that it looks cheap and boring, it has a far from perfect key arrangement. There a no current keyboards IMO that are remotely usable as a starting design.

If we would start from scratch, with no constraints, how would the keys be arranged? What would it look like?

Would you specify what exactly makes keyboards boring, in general?
I'm asking, because the most fancy keyboard designs tend to be impractical in use.
The least boring but yet practical keyboards that I've seen are split keyboards. For example, this keyboard of Nokia E70 is relatively practical (considering how small it is): http://newlaunches.com/archives/noki...c_approval.php. I mention it here only as a reference of arts design, and not for the OH of Jolla.

The N810's keyboard is grey-on-grey, made entirely out of plastic, semi-glossy, the lettering is dark-grey, not backlit, the blue is different but does not stand out. I cannot find a single argument why people would find this keyboard 'nice-looking' or 'innovating' or 'fresh'. It is really really boring.

Precisely, the Eten M810 got terrible reviews on its keyboard, but looks nice IMO! I think this problem comes from a very simple thing:
Each keyboard is designed to be nice OR practical!
In case of the N810, a powerful mini-computer, they were not building a 'design-phone' e.g. function over form.
In case of the Eten, they hired some crazy designer who made a beautiful keyboard, but without any knowledge of ergonomics or practicality, it turned out it wasn't usable.

So, here arises a problem: I will not settle for a bad keyboard! Neither should anyone else! Why would we?? How can we do what no phone manufacturer has done before; design a practical ánd stunning keyboard?? It should not be difficult!

yeah, forgot that... backlit
preferably a backlit that is always ON when the keyboard is extended
hate it when N900's kbd goes "dark" 'cuz the light sensor feels it might be bright enough
the white marking on black keys is definitely the best readable.

why problem?
this is the whole idea behind the Other Half... to each her / his own

• back color? 5 bucks & done. well. probably a little more for all the "theme changing stuff"
• fancy looking keybaord, just to "socialize"? this is probably what most 3rd party will go for, for obvious reasons.
• a technically well designed complete keyboard? unless Jolla makes it themselves in the line of N9{0;5}0, i doubt we'll get it