Don't be so sure. Judging by what I see around me, keyboards (for tablets) are coming back. Videos on tiny (all phone screens are tiny) screens, jokey video games, and cheesy reposts from George Takei's twitter feed are looking pretty old and crusty to a lot of us. I'm not saying it WILL happen, but I won't be surprised if communication makes a comeback.
Swipe, auto-complete, keyboard-that-learns-it's-user, whatever. Anyone with a Bold, Curve, or Torch can look at any messenging, sms, facebook, email, or other mobile exchange and see that his posts are longer than the posts from the virtual keyboard users. How many novels do you think are written on tablets?
Not suggesting this is your motivation, but I suspect many of the N-Series doubters here want to trade "work" efficiency for "play" efficiency (or simply want to fit in with the i-crowd or are simply caught up in the L-Series excitement) and feel the need to justify this desire by bashing every N-Series design decision. There is nothing wrong with the front of the phone in these pictures.