[Mark Sb]

You, sadly, have been mislead to believe that a virtual keyboard is somehow an improvement. You are probably the same people who are buying tablets....my tablet is virtually (pun intended) unused. Every time I had to type something on it I would long for my desktop keyboard and mouse. You have no idea about productivity, freedom and comfort unless you know how to touch type. While typing this post, I am laying on my couch (tv monitor) in the dark with my keyboard on my crotch. You simply cannot experience that kind of comfort with a tablet.

Long live desktops and physical keyboards!

Check it out to see how this relates to phones...
blackberryforums.com/general-blackberry-discussion/800-blackberry-thumb-touch-typist-guide-typing-60-wpm-without-looking.html

[Joao Oliveira]

Virtual keyboard is good in the way that you don't have to sacrifice screen size to have a keyboard... With the priv form factor, PKB becomes a lot less of a drawback. For people that have to write a lot, and type properly with punctuation and stuff, I think PKB is still the best.

There's a reason that people still write long stuff on destops and laptops not on tablets...

[CDot40]

No matter how far VKB's come, there will never be a way to replicate the tactile push of a button.

Posted via CB10

[Mark Sb]

Virtual keyboard is good in the way that you don't have to sacrifice screen size to have a keyboard... With the priv form factor, PKB becomes a lot less of a drawback. For people that have to write a lot, and type properly with punctuation and stuff, I think PKB is still the best.

There's a reason that people still write long stuff on destops and laptops not on tablets...

Totally agree...tablets are consumption only. If you actually need to get any work done then forget about it.

[John Doe99]

I especially love that the pkb is a touch / capacitative one. Gravy on top...

Posted via CB10

[larry5]

I love and prefer the pkb ,but for quick responses the vkb will come in handy

[6stringriffs]

If I'm actually going to get work done, I will put the phone down & work on the ZC. But for grinding out long texts or emails, yes a PKB is just a little more productive.

The problem with the Priv is how small the keyboard area is compared to the Passport or Classic. There's still a chance to fat finger keys. But Now you have these phablet sized screens that have very large VKB on them. The individual letters are large & further apart. I find I don't fat finger letters on them as much as on my Z30. Thereby negating the need for the Priv sized keyboard.

BB10 is Dead

[dlrogers81]

I don't understand the negativity of the pkb's. I guess just because everything has mostly moved to vkb's..but still, reviewers out there make them sound like something from the 90's. It is the technology world though..with the Priv, I like that there is a choice to use either. I also like the fact even if you never used the pkb, you could easily forget it's there, since it doesn't seem to add any bulk to the device.

[BBd00d]

People will always mock what's against the norm. If BlackBerry can somehow revamp interest in the physical keyboard, or you see other manufacturers re-adopt the pkb due to BlackBerry's renewed interest in society, you'll see these opinions change.

Posted via CB10

[Lefty724]

I agree 100%, there is no replacing a physical keyboard.

I still love having options though. While on the go and driving using the Swype and the virtual keyboard is awesome imo.

If I'm at home and have 2 hands available, then I'll just slide the screen up and type away!

I'm still getting used to the physical keyboard but really do enjoy it.

[qwerty4ever]

People will always mock what's against the norm. If BlackBerry can somehow revamp interest in the physical keyboard, or you see other manufacturers re-adopt the pkb due to BlackBerry's renewed interest in society, you'll see these opinions change.

Posted via CB10

If Apple added an integrated keyboard to the Apple iPhone people would be gushing over it as a genius innovation. Go figure.

[glwerry]

A bit of a different perspective. I am a BB PKB fan. I'm also a Systems Analyst (since the PUNCH-CARD days!) who has to do remote support while on vacation.

Couple of years ago the wife bought me an iPad and I set Citrix up on it for work. Bought a bluetooth keyboard for the iPad.
We use Google Mail for work email.

Went on holidays with my laptop, iPad, its keyboard and my Classic.
Used my Classic for 75% or more of my email work - pretty much daily.
Used the iPad with keyboard several times for remote support work, even signing on to our legacy Unix box and working there.

The laptop got used to back up my camera.

So, tablets can be much more usable than you think when using a PKB. My grandson has a super-cool full sized PKB that has a very clever slot in the top where he can sit his tablet.

[BBd00d]

If Apple added an integrated keyboard to the Apple iPhone people would be gushing over it as a genius innovation. Go figure.

Absolutely

[cios]

In one of the reviews the reviewer said how she was faster on VKBs and how good they have become (so many reviewers say this). She then proceeds to type "Hwllo tjere how are toi" on the VKB (which admittedly gets autocorrected properly) and says: "and that's actually pretty accurate". (This is the one: youtube.com/watch?v=IE7HwelN740# - 10:31 and on)

No, lady. It's not. It's a clever crutch to deal with the terrible accuracy and precision of people typing on VKBs. One of the awesome features of a PKB is that once you're used to it, it stays out of your way completely. You never have to think about how to approach erroneous autocorrections, what the fastest way is going to be to type a neologism or very rare word, names of places, abbreviations, etc.

No.
You just type.

[artemis-kun]

A bit of a different perspective. I am a BB PKB fan. I'm also a Systems Analyst (since the PUNCH-CARD days!) who has to do remote support while on vacation.

Couple of years ago the wife bought me an iPad and I set Citrix up on it for work. Bought a bluetooth keyboard for the iPad.
We use Google Mail for work email.

Went on holidays with my laptop, iPad, its keyboard and my Classic.
Used my Classic for 75% or more of my email work - pretty much daily.
Used the iPad with keyboard several times for remote support work, even signing on to our legacy Unix box and working there.

The laptop got used to back up my camera.

So, tablets can be much more usable than you think when using a PKB. My grandson has a super-cool full sized PKB that has a very clever slot in the top where he can sit his tablet.

This is entirely accurate. I refused for the longest time, for the reasons that this thread exists, to bother with the tablet concept. However, a little while ago, I discovered the ASUS Transformer line of tablets, and acquired the TF300 model, which is an Android-based device.

Thankfully, ASUS recognized and supports the ideals behind Android, and release full source code of their kernel for the device, and fully supported unlocking the bootloader of the device, and even provided their own app to do so. As such, despite the device now being about 3 years old, it's still being actively supported by the community, and already has an Android 6.0 ROM that's stable.

The beauty of this line up of devices is that the tablet has a keyboard dock that also has an integrated touch pad, USB port, full sized SD card slot, AND a secondary battery. So, it can be a tablet if for some reason I want it to be, but otherwise, it's virtually a netbook. It's small, lightweight, fits nicely in my bag, and is always with me. I could never imagine using a tablet in any other manner.