By Just when we thought Motorola had raised the bar high enough with the Droid, they go and do it again. This time, on the other side of the globe. Due out next year, the Motorola MT710, an OPhone, will be running China Mobile’s Open Home System, which is Android-based. Phandroid has reported the existence of the OPhone for some time now, though so far Philips, Lenovo, HTC and LG have been connected to the device, not Motorola. This move makes sense though, as Motorola currently enjoys a very strong presence in China.
Not much is known about the handset yet, all we know right now is that with a rumored 854 x 480 display, 3.7 inch display, and 3G support, Motorola will soon be introducing the Chinese to the world’s greatest OS in style. The device seems to be similar in specs to the Droid, minus the keyboard. While hardware keyboards are nice, losing a few millimeters in thickness never hurts either. But Motorola doesn’t stop there; it is also rumored that they will be bringing six more Android devices to China over the next year. I can honestly say that I have never wanted to be Chinese more than I do right now.
Just out of curiosity, how many of you would be willing to shave off some thickness in exchange for giving up the hardware keyboard?
Let us know in the comments!
As a fan of physical keyboards myself I would rather see them on upcoming handsets as well. I’ll take variety over a little extra thickness
I’ll take the keyboard. No need to shave any mm off my Droid…I love it just the way it is (although a more G1ish keyboard on the Droid would have been PERFECT).
I gladly give up some thickness for a keyboard….and give up more for a GOOD keyboard. Although I’d give up a physical keyboard for a physical number pad…call me weird but the number pad makes the PHONE experience enough better…I’d give up some texting speed for increased dialing speed
I like The Droid, but this phone really looks nice, there are many colours
Yeah, I would ditch the keyboard to have a more sleek device. Is that a front facing Video Camera on that bad boy? If so, that’s the new hotness. Android + This Device + Dual Camera = worth a long look if it is brought state side and brought to Verizon or Sprint.
There seem to be a front facing (secondary) camera on this phone. Why in North America this kind of essential feature is always left out??? Epic fail collectively…. (except Saygus Vphone)
There are times for on screen keyboards and there are times for a physical keyboard. I am sticking with my G1 for now. Maybe they could make a phone that projects an image of a keyboard on a surface/table and using infrared it could detect where your fingers are in relation to the projected keys on the table. VIRTUAL KEYBOARD. This would save on thickness!!!
I would either have no keyboard, or sacrifice some width in order to have a five-row, raised keyboard. IMO the Droid keyboard is not very useable.
IMO keep the keyboard as it gives options at least. And the reality is they won’t be able to shave much off anyways by removing keyboards. With that said if they are lucky maybe 1.5mm which is about a 1/16″, big deal you’d never even really notice that little bit IMO. At least not basing it off of removing it from the thickness of a Droid.
i would take that over the droid anyday… i say offer no keyboard for people like me in a thinner package, and offer a keyboard in a thicker package for everyone else. it would be great if every phone was offered like this in two packages
I actually would prefer not having a keyboard. I find the onscreen keyboard of the Droid is much faster than using the physical keyboard. I also think the aesthetics could be improved by not needing to incorporate the sliding keyboard.
I can’t stand the physical keyboards. My huge thumbs always press the wrong buttons, no matter what. I can actually type FASTER on an iPhone keyboard than on my Motorola Q’s hardware keyboard, the keyboard on my old Cingular 8125, or my T-Mobile MDA.
However, the D-Pad is essential for games and other interactive apps, so I’d like to see an Android phone designed like the old WinCE PDA’s; I thought the later HP iPaq’s were really the best design, in that department.
I was in best buy the other day, and played with lots of phones in there put my hands on probably 8 keyboards. samsungs were the best out of them IMO, and to be honest I think the droids keyboard 100 percent SUCKED.
why not both!! I’ve seen this somewhere a removable hardware keyboard, that way we got the choice thicker or thinner, hardware or software and everyone’s happy.
Just got it back…
You can see it there
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8a0C_RKUVg
I actually own a droid (as opposed to some of the commenters), and I owned a G1 for a year. I actually like the droid keyboard better than the G1’s except for one factor — I wish they had added one row for dedicated number keys. Other than that, I find the keyboard to be excellent.
And the D-pad some complain about I find more useful than the trackball on the G1, as it is more precise in placing the cursor on tiny items on a web page.
As the screens of the phones get larger, I could prolly do without a physical keyboard, except that I would really miss something like a D-pad for the reason mentioned.
I agree with Webby. I played extensively with (though didn’t own) a G-1, and I own a Droid. The Droid’s lone fault is the lack of a dedicated numbers row. Other than that, I use it extensively and only use the softboard for when it’s impractical to slide out the keyboard (though the softboard is very good as well, certainly better than the earlier efforts).
The D-pad is hit or miss. I like it, but I think it should have been on the left side in keeping with tradition. That’s what people are used to, so I think that was a slight error as well. Other than that, it’s a great keyboard.
As to the phone above, it’s a wait and see approach. If Moto can pull it off, they’re on the way back to greatness; if not, well, they’ve still got the Droid/Milstone, Cliq/Dext, Calgary and the Zeppelin (anyone got any more photos on that last one)?
I love to have a Droid without the keyboard. Just improve the virtual keyboard. As it keyboard is software, this can be easily updated with patches. Awesome, can’t wait to import Motorola phone from China to New York.
Keyboard like the Pre or Blackberry are okay. The best way would be to have the keyboard as a bluetooth device. Slim and lightweight is good. I don’t like the weight of the Treo.
hardware keyboard = use of the entire screen and more controls for games. ‘Tilt and touch’ is good for some games but you’ll get more games if you have full control.
As for dpad placement…the problem is that keyboard people are used to the arrow keys on the right side. Most pc gamers use WSAD
I always wondered: the iPhone has some cool 3D games. Why is it that whenever I see an iPhone commercial, they only show simple apps like a tip calculator or a bird watching app? Why not market it as the “xbox gamer’s phone?”
My theory is that Apple doesn’t want to go down that route because then they’d have to add all these controls to their ‘work of art.’ The single button Apple mouse was one of the major reasons why the mac never took off as a games machine and it is certainly possible for android to take over.
I want a physical keyboard because I like to feel the keys. Having said that, the MotoDroid’s keyboard is worthless to me.
I’m with Webby. I had a G1 for a year, and now I have a Droid. The keyboard takes some getting use to, but I definitely like it more than the G1. The d-pad is great for selecting small links and it’s more accurate than the trackball.
Keep the physical keyboard. I almost always use it over the onscreen keyboard on the droid. I have no real problem with the flatter profile of the keys, though the lack of a number row can get annoying. That said, it’s not worth the extra width to add one, IMO. Honestly, the one change I’d like made to the droid is the ability to easily switch between open applications. It would make sense as an option for the long-press on the home screen or something like that.
@nickdeuva: What are you smoking? That’s exactly what a long-press on the home button does…