[BoldMaverick]

As we all know, most of the mobile market has used their dollars to vote in favor of full-touch screens on phones. As I type this on my Q10, I know many of us hold to and see the value in our beloved touch screens. Even one of the newest members in the tactile keyboard line, the Passport, integrates touch screen with physical keys to create an innovative input hybrid.

As we move our electronic, mobile world to more touch screen and less keys, I wanted to comment on how we shouldn't completely abandon physical keys.

Last year, a friend of mine reached a peak in the amount of suffering she experienced from an autoimmune disease. As a consequence of this disease, she had impaired vision. One time, she tried to reach out for help during a time where assistance was critical. She grabbed her touch screen, Android phone to call for help. (Like many of us, she doesn't have a landline.) However, she could not see the phone clearly enough to use it. So, she pushed on the screen and tried to fumble around to get help. She got in contact with a coworker who thought she was playing around, who didn't take her seriously, and hung up on her. She eventually was able to get in contact with family and get help.

Many of us using physical keyboards eventually muscle memorize the keys to a point where we are able to type without depending solely on looking at the keys. I did it during my Bold 9650 days. I do it with my Q10. But, as excellent as the keyboard was on the Z10 I used, I had to depend on being able to see it. I have not used a Passport keyboard and tried its attempt to integrate hardware and virtual keyboards. Have you Passport users memorized it?

I wonder, what of the people who are in situations like these where they can't see well. Perhaps there are other situations where a hardware keyboard would be necessary over a virtual one? A four-row keyboard, with all the necessary characters on it, promotes memorization the same way a computer keyboard does for a typist. Other combinations and options may not be as effective toward that end and may fall short for people who are trying to reach out in emergency situations.

My other thought about this is that perhaps sophisticated electronic voice assistants can do this. I'm still on BB 10.2. Perhaps the BlackBerry Virtual Assistent in 10.3 can respond to, "Call so and so"? I haven't tried Siri for this or asked iPhone users. Perhaps Siri can do it? Perhaps Android and Windows have voice assistance options that can be helpful in situations like these?

These are just some reflections I had as I thought, "Bring on the touch screens, but don't let the hardware keys go extinct." May there always be options to please and appease and put at ease everyone.

Thoughts?

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[alternator77]

I think with the advent of text to speech and personal assistants like blackberry, siri, cortana, Google now the time is coming when we will no longer need hard buttons unless they're to power up the device.
On the other hand many would be hard pressed to openly speak to their phones even today but with the type of disability you mention this becomes a necessity . I personally use and prefer the hard keys because I can easily speed dial important contacts without others listening in.

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[1raygin]

I have nothing against physical keyboards they are just not for me. The BlackBerry Assistant on 10.3.2 is able to dial any contact for you. As long as you know the physical layout of your phone (I have a Z10) you should be able to locate the symbol on the screen and speak your request.

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[Originalloverman]

I love pkb way more I shall be back using it after a 2 year hiatus on all touch but now will be withy pp in a few days can't be happier. Well I can, when's slider comes with bb10 OS