Android to get touchscreen keyboard soon-ish
By Nilay Patel 
posted October 23rd 2008 3:19PM
posted October 23rd 2008 3:19PM
The G1 certainly has a lot going for it, but we were a bit taken aback by its lack of an on-screen keyboard -- even a short text requires you to flip the screen out and hit the physical keys. That looks like it might change soon, though -- a rough roadmap posted on the new Android source repository has soft keyboard support penciled in for the the first three months of next year. It's not a lot to go on -- the timeline is described as "initial thoughts" and subject to change as the community gets involved -- but it's good to see that El Goog is already thinking about improving the Android user experience. Now, any coders out there want to pitch in and make this happen even sooner?[Via HTC Source]
tldr
We G1 users love our physical keyboards. The on screen keyboard is so we can type using one hand when necessary. Its just that simple. The physical keyboard is a must have. Id rather touch buttons. But there are PLENTY of times my message may be so short that opening the keyboard is a hastle. So while I phone users are stuck with one choice. We have 2...
wow thats true...its kinda a slap in the face to the "fruit" company...!! (choice) i bet someone got tired of the locked down Apples ways and thought "open-ness!!!! would be a good thing for a $500+ phone that 'i paid for' with 'my money'!!''..lol
This cannot come soon enough - after getting my G1 I'm dying for an on-screen keyboard so I can continue drafting messages one-handed... it's almost impossible with the keyboard.