Pre gets the on-screen keyboard it's been missing, yet has always had
By Tim Stevens 
posted Aug 14th 2009 8:43AM
posted Aug 14th 2009 8:43AM
When we asked how you'd change Palm's Pre, one group of respondents requested a virtual keyboard, a group that should really quit its bellyaching because the phone already has one... it just doesn't offer any particularly useful keys. That's changing thanks to the modders at WebOS Internals, who are taking the control that pops up when you hit the "sym" key and expanding it to actually contain some symbols you might use more than once a week -- like, you know, letters and jazz. They have a functional keyboard operational at this point that works in both phone orientations, but it's still decidedly pre alpha, meaning only those whose delicate thumbs are blistering on the Pre's soft, smooth, physical keys should even think about this modification right now. The team has made huge strides in just the past few days, though, so perhaps before the end of the month everyone can be soft-typing pain-free.
[Via PreCentral.net]
I saw a turtle!
I like turtles!
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Sorry, "Content blocked by your organization"
what kind of absurd world are we living in where people choose the pre over the iphone because of its soft keyboard, and then complain that they don't have one?
In horizontal web browsing is where I need the virtual keyboard most. Its a bit of a pain to turn the phone vertical, slide out the keyboard, type, then turn the phone back to horizontal to continue browsing.
Apple engineers figured out three years ago that a virtual keyboard was more useful. Creating the software to support a useful rendition, well that's another story...
Stay tuned for the next Pre with large slide out side keyboard.
The landscape mode is a good point, but I just wish they had a damn physical direction pad. Sometimes I'm trying to add/ delete a word and to do so I have to hit precisely after the word. A lot of times the cursor lands just one letter to the right or left, so I have to try again. I love the physical keyboard, but Palm didn't think to put a direction pad so my only option is a virtual one or a key mapping option. I'll take this for now.
@ Chris Are
Wow, how is it that you have a Pre AND you read tech blogs, like engadget, and you don't know how to use the features of your own phone? Holding the orange key down turns the screen into a "touchpad" so you can get that cursor where you want.
Push the orange button while swiping in the direction you want the cursor to move. It'll move through the letters one-by-one.
Thanks for your help Ricky.
@Tam
I just got it like two days ago.
Because sometimes you don't want to slide open the phone just to type say a single line on a webpage or something of that sort. I'm all for my physical keyboard but wouldn't mind a virtual if I just needed to type a quick snippet of something.
Yeah I agree but I'm not dying without one.
Yes and no.
I mean, on something like a Touch pro or HTC Dream, I can understand; Those keyboards are otensibly designed for two-handed typing, and it's hard to reach all the keys. if you hold it in one hand, it becomes side heavy, and is almost impossible to use
Whereas the Pre has a narrower keyboard, and slides vertically, which means for the most part, it won't fall out of your hand, and typing with one thumb is easier.
Personally, I have a HTC Dream, and although the cupcake update was fantastic, I really had no use for the On-screen keyboard: It actually takes longer for me to type out a web address or SMS with it than if I use the physical keyboard, making the entire point of it moot.
And sometimes I don't feel like opening the lid on my laptop, or sliding out my desk keyboard. Absurd!
Because sliding the phone open is a time intensive task
@Khav
Your comment is kind of pointless because then you could just say why develop anything? Why give options or make things easier for some people? It only shaves a second why do it? Why try? I love my keyboard over a virtual so I could really care less but when you're in landscape mode sometimes you don't want to go back to portrait, open it, type, close it, then go back to virtual just for something that was maybe one line long.
@smrterthnu
Yeah...cause that's the same thing lol
if palm comes out with a landscape qwerty keyboard phone running webOs i'll bite...I'm holding out till then
would rather have visual voice mail than an on-screen keyboard... or both would be nice :-D
It looks very small...
And yes, I know who said that -_-
Thats what she said! I am i right?
Noo..
That is what he said :(
Poor peanut. :-(
That's what they said?
Portrait soft keyboard on the pre is a bad idea with the small 3.1 inch screen size.
And shouldn't the virtual keyboard be on the bottom part of the screen, so you don't hide the entire screen with your hands while typing?
"And shouldn't the virtual keyboard be on the bottom part of the screen, so you don't hide the entire screen with your hands while typing?"
Good point, seems sort of rushed and sloppy to have the keyboard at the top of the screen. Also the fact that parts of the background to the right are showing looks unprofessional and un palm like. Screen size really is irrelevant considering MS surprisingly was able to get a nice portrait keyboard going with their zune HD. Landscape keyboards on such a small screen are really useless when after the keyboard is implemented 1-2 lines of text only shows. /rant
You might notice that the keyboard is below the text entry field... you aren't really covering anything important.
personally, i've found the pre's touchscreen less responsive, or maybe just less accurate than the iphone's, so i'd probably still prefer the hard keyboard even if the soft keyboard was available.
Woohoo, I tipped this!
Anyway, I'm not dying without an onscreen keyboard but it would be nice to have in landscape mode while surfing the web. Rotating, opening typing, closing, rotating back to enter a new address or enter some text box info can be a bit of an annoyance.
So the iPhone sucked because of the keyboard. So you waited for the Pre 'cause it had a real keyboard. So now you're excited 'cause you can have a keyboard just like the iPhone. So your problem is that you're never going to be happy. Congrats!
So I guess the phrase, "The best of both worlds" means nothing to you, huh?
Use your brain before you speak.
*back to landscape
What I always wished for...now if only I hadn't returned my Pre last week...sigh.
So let me get this straight, you slide open the keyboard to hit the "sym" key, slide the keyboard closed and have a virtual keyboard. That's twice the work of just using the perfectly wonderful keyboard it came with. Some people are never happy with what they have. I for one like the keyboard and do not want a virtual one.
You only have to use the gesture area.
Now get one on GSM if you really want us to take a peek!
Yeah, because turning the phone to portrait and sliding out the keyboard is soooo much harder than dinking around with a tiny on screen keyboard.
Have a pre, love the keyboard.
I will never use this but I want it to become standard with WebOS.
Why?
Because I want the Pre to do absolutely everything the iPhone can do plus some. It already does so many other things better, but I just want them to shut up about the f-ing virtual keyboard.
Notice I don't say Android users or Blackberry users or Winmo users, because they aren't obnoxious. Just iPhone users.
Part of the reason the iPhone's virtual keyboard is so good is because of the size of the screen. The Palm's screen is too small IMO for a good virtual keyboard.
I've never seen the point of an on-screen keyboard for a touch screen if you have a physical QWERTY.
"It makes it easier if (insert generic reason here)."
Maybe people shouldn't be so lazy. Why does EVERYTHING have to be made easier? No one can just do what was intended with things in the first place. Always has to be made easier and make that much lazier. The Pre has an amazing keyboard. Use it.
lol I said pretty much the same thing before I even read your post. Agreed.
Landscape View = Sideways keyboard
For everyone complaining that the Pre should have an on-screen keyboard: "Why the hell do you want an on-screen keyboard when you have a physical keyboard that just effortlessly slides down? Are you too lazy to slide the damn thing open to type? I love my physical keyboard on my Pre! Quit your bitchin."
I thought that's why they tacked on the pullout physical keyboard? So that you wouldn't have to use a crummy touchscreen keyboard?
Just an FYI: The keyboard dynamically displays close to the text field without overlapping it. In messaging it would display above the text field located at the bottom of the screen.
Nice virtual keyboard. . .I'm sure every keystroke is logged and sent back to Palm along with location data and apps used.
GlamaJamma: No dice, my friend. Even if the Pre did somehow manage to do everything the iPhone can do (which it can't, since you can't use voice and data simultaneously, making your multiple "live" applications "dead" while you're on a call), it will never be able to match or even approach iPhone sales. So sorry, you and the six other Pre owners bought a loser product. Cheers.
It's made by independent developers, so I highly doubt that.
Where's the damn e-mail search? I mean come on.
Eww, this looks horribly hard to type on.