Finally made the switch to android from blackberry and I can't get over how bad the form factor is.
Why aren't other people (or reviewers) complaining about the ergonomics? Fanboism?
Difficult to use with one hand: the main controls are on the top left corner and the bottom of the screen forcing one to stretch one's thumb uncomfortably or to pivot the phone. not palm-able (no pun intended).
The keyboard is pretty bad: Ok, I know I should expect a downgrade coming from a physical keyboard. I take a lot of notes and email on my phone (was a PDA user back in the day and even had the Nokia communicator BEAST-of-a-phone). My finger's aren't the fattest, but i find myself miss-keying or hitting two keys at once. Also there is only one shift key which is sub-optimal for two finger typing. I suppose there is some hack/software to adjust this a bit.
Limited non-active area: How do you hold this thing without launching an application or something? I find myself constantly hitting the lock button just so i can hold the phone properly and set it down. It's like I'm holding a DVD.
All of this in the first 24 hours of use. FYI I'm using a Samsung 4S Mini so it's not the largest in the world. I don't know how you guys use your massive 5inch nexi and such. I haven't used an iPhone for any length of time so can't comment.
Thoughts? Am I completely off base? What am i missing? Am I "doing it wrong"?
Just thought i'd post a warning to anyone moving from blackberry so that they know what to expect. Especially if you are a typer and not just a point and click user, it's not just a matter of aesthetics.
P.S. Forget about typing without looking at the keyboard. Doesn't seem doable.
I have to say I agree. As a primary android user, the only good aspect of the touch android phones is their speed and software hackability. I unfortunately needed to update from my cheap, but cheerful, lg eclypse. That phone was a horrible smartphone, but an excellent phone. I upgraded because the buttons were failing and the horrible screen resolution. I noticed that if you are sending a message with a touch phone the screen is suddenly half the size! I received a galaxy nexus second hand for free, but I lost half my data volume and the ability to easily send data to my phone through a wired connection because of the shitty mtp connection firmwares crappy compatibility with Linux. I never reccomend a touch screen device to anyone who uses a BlackBerry or a real phone, they just can't compare as a phone. They are only good for watching and consuming media for mainstream public.
I hope this description of my experience can give some insight to those reading considering the switch. Keeping in mind this was all sent from that same galaxy nexus.
Getting a TPU shell for my 4.7" phone was the best spent money of the whole purchase. Yes it became even bigger, but the grip-unfriendly phone became easy to hold securely with one hand because of an infinitely better grip. Most phone designers seem to be given the task to primarily design with shapes and materials that looks best when the unit is lying down on a table or sitting on a stand. Ergonomics play second fiddle at best.
In truth i would want a much smaller phone with an NFC communication device that I could plug into most any computer, place my phone on and then proceed to access all the info of the phone from the computer. I would only need to write the shortest of messages on the unit itself.
I have a GS4. So full sized 5in screen. I do have to say it is a bit large and the button placement for on screen controls does make it a bit difficult to hold at times. I put an Otterbox on it and it makes it much easier to use. Less slippage in your hand.
Get a different keyboard. The stock Samsung is absolute shite. I use the regular Google Keyboard which some people hate but I personally really like. The swipe to type is really nice as well and most of the time I just use voice typing. There are dozens of keyboards and launchers available. Just find one that you like.
I don't really understand your last criticism. I rarely have a problem where I accidentally launch and application or hit the back button. I don't know how you'd be holding the phone to have that happen all the time. You can turn down the screen sensitivity if that is the issue.
It is a digital keyboard with no physical indication of where your fingers would be of course you can't touch type or at least it would be quite difficult. If I needed to type without looking I'd just use voice recognition.
I agree that the phones are getting too big. I wear suits most of the time, and want light and compact phones that fit in the cigarette pocket in my jackets. There is nothing more annoying than having a phone in a suit pants pocket, and the inside pockets are already full with wallet and pen on the left and paper tissues and business card holder on the right. I actually prefer 4" phones because they fit the cigarette pocket perfectly and are really thin and light. On a hot day, a 4" phone will also fit my shirt pocket perfectly fine. Bigger phones are just unpractical and annoying. I prefer to use phones for secure communications and easy data access and navigation, I don't write novels on them, I have tablets and bluetooth keyboards for doing extensive writing on the go, and even the screen keyboard of the new 4.4.3 is quite good.
Because I don't use GApps or locked down firmware, even smaller phones work really fast and smooth and have 2 days+ battery life. GApps makes that impossible, but then that's not the only problem with GApps lol. Throwing the Google and other crap off of your phone expands the possibilities and performance beyond belief.
thanks for the feedback guys. i'll check out the other keyboards and might replace the back cover with something rubberised/heavier.
if all else fails, i still have my old blackberry so can use it for work stuff (most of my typing and calls) and just carry both phones. with the price drops i could probably justify getting a new blackberry Q10 for work.
as a media device, the android is great and i haven't even started messing with it properly.
As a primary Android user, i cannot recommend anything else. I have the Motorola Moto G and the size for that phone is 4.5 inches and I notice that stretching the thumb thing depends on how big your fingers are. If you do not like the keyboard, just down another one. Hacker's Keyboard is a very good alternative if you still want the features you had with your blackberry. It does seem nearly impossible to not launch anything without hitting the lockscreen since every touchscreen now uses capacitive instead of pressure which you had to calibrate. Another thing too is changing the launcher or home screen of your device. I wouldnt recommend anything thats has the words GO in the app name because they tend to throw alot of bloatware on your phone. You can try http://forum.xda-developers.com and look for some things you can do to your phone like installing ClockworkMod Recovery or Rooting. Rooting is like jailbreaking on iSheep devices but Android allows you to do alot out of the box without doing any device hacking.
I have average hands with skinny fingers but within a few weeks was adjusted to my Xperia Z1. I also have a Case-Mate tough case on it which has an insane grip ( can pretty much lay it flat on a 45 degree angle and it will stay put). If you're not one for cases, I have a skin from dbrand.com for my PS-vita and the textured vinyl makes the device way more manageable and makes me feel MUCH more secure with a real grip on the device.
Typing pretty much requires you to look at the keyboard. I've gotten pretty fast at typing on my iPod Touch 5, but I recently got a HTC One M8, and have to re-learn the spacing.
It really depends on the phone. Some just have terrible button placement.
hacker's keyboard looks good. will check it out once i get a replacement phone.
P.S. i'm going to have to return the phone for a replacement. there's a problem where it goes into a constant reboot/rest loop whenever i attach a headphone other than the one that came with the device. the specs say that it should take a 3.5mm jack. i can see why people spend twice as much to get an iPhone... *sigh*...
[UPDATE] I figured out the 3.5mm jack issue and can finally use my own headphones. You have to put it all the way in. I had also done a restore so that might have helped.
It would be nice if HTC made another phone like the Eris for people that really want a small, thin phone that runs android. I would also prefer if they went away from the all-aluminum construction, as that material just slips right out of my hands and onto the floor. It's one of the reasons why I didn't really want to bother with the wait for the HTC One to come out when I went to get a new phone. Instead, I opted for the sleek, black polycarbonate HTC Droid DNA. it's thin and fairly light with enough of a surface texture on the back that I don't worry about dropping it when i remove it from my pocket.
Well I bought a blackberry z10 some time ago and I think it's the perfect size and the touch keyboard is much better than any touch keyboard I ever used before, and blackberry still has keyboard phones so you just picked the wrong phone.
You should check out the Pie controls, it sounds it will sort out your top right corner stretch.
I like the keyboard but I came from a Nokia dumbphone so it was a mahoosive upgrade.
Hitting the power/lock key all the time? Do you have gorilla hands? Although you are right about the edge of the screen setting off apps, in the effort to reduce bezel size they have made it a lot easier to trigger apps in error. Although I am used to it I use my phone with two hands, being a large Note 2 and I use the stylus a lot this is a must, one hand behind the phone never touches the screen and the other never hits the screen i randomly setting off apps.
Personally I love big phones, the note is 5.5 inch screen, and I have never had an issue with it fitting into jeans, suit jackets or any other item of clothing. It is much easier to carry around compared to a bulky laptop and for me it does all that I want the laptop to do till I get home. I use it with out a case and it is just about perfect.
Hacker's Keyboard: has helped in landscape mode. as did setting the keypad feedback so that the phone vibrates (20ms) when a button is pressed.
now if there was a way to have the normal/samsung (has swipe) keyboard when in portrait mode and the hacker keyboard (full keyboard) when in landscape that would be great and would solve "most" of my major keyboard issues. so far i can only quick toggle from hacker to samsung, but to go back i have to go to the main phone settings menus.
Grip: I might try a skin or something to give it a bit of grip and conceal most of the flashy plastic back.
I agree to some extent. I am not a fan of large phones myself, they are clunky hard to use with one hand and it is a pain to reach the extremities of the screen without readjusting your grip (not convenient when you are in a hurry). I use a htc sensation which has 4.3 inch screen and even this annoys me sometimes. I think 4-4.3 is kind of the sweet spot for someone like me who isn't attracted to samsung size screens. This trend of ridiculous screens on phones needs to stop. It's getting out of hand, Lg recently came out with their new G3 phone which has a 5.5 inch 1440P screen. I mean, what are people supposed to do with that kind of resolution on such a tiny screen?
Also I hate typing on my phone. Fortunately swype keyboard comes stock installed with android 4.3, I almost feel bad for people tippi tapping messages when I see them on the metro. That swype keyboard inventor deserves a gold medal whoever he/she is.
I have none of the issues you are having and i have a HTC one M8 which has a large 5.1'' screen. I think a big part of that is that i have large hands, a good case and i use swiftkey. Im literally as fast typing on my phone as on a full size keyboard. That's really because i have used touchscreens for years now and iv gotten really good with predictive text.\
I think getting a case with a raised edge around the screen is a must both for protection and ease of use. You cant accidentally hit an app if you cant touch the edge of the screen right?
Defiantly try out swiftkey, i think its the best by far and i have used several. Once you get used to a predictive text and the layout its very fast. Swiftkey also has the same thing as swype where you can glide between keys. It also has haptic feedback which helps alot with accuracy.
As for one hand use i know that is a problem for many people but for me i can reach the top and bottom of my phone with my thumb holding it in one hand. I guess im atypical in that regard but practice will help im sure.