HTC Desire Z Keyboard

[Guest dawo5010]

Hi I am interested in getting a desire z when it comes out, for my father. However, he has quite big fingers. Anyone who has toyed with a desire z, can you share your experiences? Does the keyboard have a tactile feel? And how big is each key, and are they easy to press or very stiff?

[Guest rayboy]

Bought the Desire Z specifically because it had a keyboard. Moving from a Hero I was surprised to find the on screen keyboard to be more useable than before because the bigger screen made the on-screen keys slightly bigger, so I've found myself using the on screen keys most of the time for the occassional text box entries.

The hardward keys comes in handy for longer text input like typing sms and emails. But I have to say I'm slightly disappointed at the feel of the keys, the key actions are not as positive as I had hoped. I got a Blackberry Curve from work and the keys on that thing is actually easier to use eventhough the keys are tiny by any standard, simiply because they are more positive to press. Saying all that, the hardward keys on the Z does make it more convenient, I have thin girly fingers so I can't tell you if it would make any different to fat fingers, but I find myself typing with my thumbnails which works quite well.

Ok I waffled on a bit. In short, yes the keyboard is a nice to have and makes it easier to type longer messages than the on-screen keys. The on-screen keys are better than I had expected too. All in all I'm very happy with the purchase.

[Guest SozzaSinnian]

I have fairly biggish hands and manage perfectly fine on it. The keys are pretty wide for a phone and and raised in the middle so you get a decent size gap between the raised middle of each key.

As I have said in another thread, now I have had a phone with a hardware keyboard I wouldn't ever want one without. I must say though that this is my second unit, the first one was replaced after a few days due to stuck pixels and the keyboard on this one is much more responsive and 'clicky'.

I found the keys on the first unit quite stiff and hard to press. Don't know if they made improvements to the keyboard, or if the first unit was just riddled with problems...

Anyway that's my view above on the keyboard. Maybe you could take your Dad into a store to try one out and see how he gets on? He will probably find it a little hard at first and catch other keys, but I am getting pretty fast at typing on mine now and rarely make an error :P