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What it is:
Definition: QWERTY
is the acronym that commonly describes today’s standard keyboard layout on English-language computers.
QWERTY
is derived sequentially from the first six keys (from left to right) on the far left portion of a standard keyboard just below
the number keys.
Patented in 1874 by Christopher Sholes (the inventor of the typewriter) and sold in the same year
to Remington, the QWERTY design first appeared in typewriters.
The QWERTY layout was designed to prevent people
from typing too quickly and jamming various keys on early typewriters as they moved to strike the paper.
August
Dvorak in 1932 tried to best the standard QWERTY keyboard configuration with what he believed was a more efficient layout.
While he placed vowels and the five most common consonants in the middle row, QWERTY still remains the standard through today.
Pronunciation: kw-air-ity
Examples:
My cell phone features a full QWERTY keyboard for quick text messaging.
Ever
since Apple's iPhone showed up to the smartphone party, the world's been in a tizzy for touchscreen smartphones. While people
awkwardly poked their screens, companies silently dropped their smartphones with physical keyboards in favor of more keyboard-less
devices. Now we're lucky to get more than one or two QWERTY smartphones a year—something that I'm totally not okay with.
Sure, phones with keyboards are generally chunkier than their touchscreen-only counterparts, but in an age when people text more than talk, I'd say that physical keyboards are still pretty damn important. Here are three big reasons
why you would want a phone with a QWERTY keyboard.
You aren't limited
by your screen
The first
big benefit of having a QWERTY smartphone is that you are no longer held back by your phone's screen size or responsiveness.
Trying to type on a phone with a tiny screen is enough to make you want to jam your fingers through the screen in frustration.
Even if you have a phone with a giant 5-inch display, your typing speed is limited by the responsiveness of that device's
screen. You can have the skinniest, fastest thumbs in the world and you'd still only be able to get out just a small handful
of words per minute.
Having
dirty or wet fingers can also affect your typing performance, as most capacitive screens will have trouble sensing your touch
if your hands aren't clean and dry.
And yet, no matter how spotless your hands are, constantly touching your screen
will leave it forever stained with the oils that secrete from your fingertips and can lead to intense amounts of bacteria living on your phone screen. You know, that screen you press up to your face every time you make a call?
Having a physical keyboard may not prevent
bacteria from getting on your phone, but at least you aren't rubbing your hands all over the display every time you want to
send someone a text message.
You
can touch type
Let's try
something: Turn off your phone's autocorrect and try typing a text message without looking at the screen. Go on, I'll just
wait right here. Finished? Did it look something like this?
It's a huge unreadable mess, right?
That's because you can't type on a touchscreen keyboard all that accurately without looking at it. Every phone and operating
system has its own keyboard, and that keyboard may change slightly depending on the app you're using, or the way you hold
your phone. Even when you do look at it, your fingers are probably bigger than the keys, so you'll likely frequently
press the wrong button and come up with nonsense text like the above.
While not all physical keyboards on smartphones are the same, they at least don't
change from app to app. The keys always remain in the same space, and some keyboards have nubs over the "F" and
"J" keys to make it easier to touch type. Not only that, but keys on mobile keyboards are normally big enough that
you don't have to worry about pressing the "U" key when you were trying to hit "I".
Speaking of which...
Autocorrect isn't an issue
That's
right, the bane of every smartphone user's existence isn't that big of a problem when you aren't using your thumbs to accidentally
press five different keys at once. Sure, autocorrect has its benefits (like when you misspell a word or are trying to type
something while half awake/drunk), but for the most part, it's an annoyance we put up with because we wanted keyboard-less
phones.
I don't care how
much time you spent training your autocorrect software to figure out what you are trying to say, it's still not going to be
as accurate or as fast as you typing out your message right the first time......
Touch screens
may be all the rage, but for many of you, there's no substitute for a phone with a physical keyboard attached.
From fixed keyboards
on candy bar phones to spacious QWERTYs that slide out from behind the screen, here's a roundup of some of the most interesting
and most useful smartphones with keyboards that you can get now.
LG
Optimus Slider (Virgin Mobile), May 2012 Though its 3.2-megapixel camera is nothing to rave about, we love the Optimus Slider's spacious
keyboard and the fact that it comes with little to no bloatware. It's also a reasonably priced, no-contract handset for all
you commitment-phobes out there.
LG Rumor Reflex
So good, LG
offered two versions (one for Sprint and one for Boost Mobile), the Rumor Reflex has solid call quality, an easy-to-use UI, and a responsive touch screen in addition to its slide-out
keyboard.
Huawei
Pinnacle (MetroPCS), March 2012 Putting aside a few design flaws, the Pinnacle's portrait QWERTY is attractively laid out.
We also dig its competitive price and some of the small features hidden in its interface, including the ability to create
folders.
BlackBerry
Curve 9370 (Verizon Wireless), February 2012 Say what you will about RIM, but nothing sports a keyboard quite like a BlackBerry. The
Curve 9370 is one of our favorites, and with its great 5-megapixel camera and SIM card slot (on a Verizon device, no less),
this handset is perfect for jet-setters who need to type out messages quickly and easily.
Samsung
Replenish (Boost Mobile), February 2012 Ideal for more petite hands, the Replenish is an entry-level "eco" smartphone with a surprisingly decent
2-megapixel camera. And, since it's on Boost, you don't have to worry about being locked in a two-year agreement.
police-crazy-qwerty
QWERTY
QWERTY
is a standard layout for letter keys on text keyboards and thumboards. Originally created for typewriters, it is currently
the layout found on most english-language computer keyboards. It is named for the order of the first six keys on the top row,
which happen to form a pronounceable word.
On phones, the keys are usually much smaller and closer together. This
means they cannot be used with two full hands like full-size keyboard, but rather are designed to be used with two thumbs
while holding the phone. Even though traditional touch-typing is not possible on a phone's small QWERTY keyboard, the familiar
layout makes it easier to find the correct letter among a large number of keys.