Battle of the Keyboards: XPERIA X1 vs. HTC Touch Pro

[Darius Wey]

<em>&quot;MobileBurn scored an early look at the Touch Pro -- which won't be available at retail for a month or three yet -- and came away impressed with the all-important keyboard, saying that it was &quot;much more&quot; usable than the QWERTY found on Sony Ericsson's rival superphone. Closed, it's said to be virtually indistinguishable from the Touch Diamond (which we'd say is a good thing) other than being a bit thicker to accomodate they keyboard and picking up a matte-finish rear cover.&quot;</em><br /><br /><img border="1" alt="" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/spt/auto/1214751436.usr2.jpg" /><br /><br />Two top-notch devices: the HTC Touch Pro and the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1. Both have specs that would make any geek weak at the knees, but when it comes to the keyboard, word on the street is that there's simply no contest - the Touch Pro comes out on top. Check out <a target="_blank" href="http://www.mobileburn.com/gallery.jsp?Id=4846">what MobileBurn has to say</a>, and do take a look at the pics. Engadget has <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/26/sony-ericsson-xperia-x1-hands-on-sorta/" target="_blank">plenty of X1 pics</a> for your perusal, too.

[netboy]

<em>&quot; saying that it was &quot;much more&quot; usable than the QWERTY found on Sony Ericsson's rival superphone.

what they didnt tell you is Sony X1 with 3" 800x480 resolution is much more usable to surf web, or remote desktop compares to diamond 2.8" 640x480!

[Jason Dunn]

what they didnt tell you is Sony X1 with 3" 800x480 resolution is much more usable to surf web, or remote desktop compares to diamond 2.8" 640x480!

Why does it always come down to resolution for you? This was about the KEYBOARD. It had nothing to do with screen resolution. I agree that 800 x 480 is nicer for Web browsing than 640 x 480, but that has no impact on how usable the keyboard is.

[rzanology]

lol a lil fight going on here? in any event...the keyboard on the x1 looks alot less cramped. but for me personally....i have no choice. most signs point to ATT in the states picking up the x1....so better or worse keyboard im going to have to go with the x1. and to tell the truth...i've been waiting for a SE WM phone for years....before WM all my phones have been SE. they make great phones and offer fature sets that the compitition just can't match. im hoping alot of this made it down to this phone. plus its made by htc....so its a win win thing for me. sorry jason...not much about the keyboard...just a littel excited ;)

[PdaAddict]

lol a lil fight going on here? in any event...the keyboard on the x1 looks alot less cramped. but for me personally....i have no choice. most signs point to ATT in the states picking up the x1....so better or worse keyboard im going to have to go with the x1. and to tell the truth...i've been waiting for a SE WM phone for years....before WM all my phones have been SE. they make great phones and offer fature sets that the compitition just can't match. im hoping alot of this made it down to this phone. plus its made by htc....so its a win win thing for me. sorry jason...not much about the keyboard...just a littel excited ;)


This is the first I am hearing X1 will be picked up by ATT. Do you know approximately when? If this is true, goodbye Sprint.

[burtcom]

Despite the keyboard, I'm looking to upgrade to the Xperia anyway as it is supposedly to be quad-band right out of the chute.

(I don't use the keyboard that much anyway, but I still want one on any phone I have)

Of course, if the Pro comes out with a quad-band version before the Xperia is released, I might change my tune :)

[shindullin]

The keyboard is pretty important if you use the device to take short notes during meetings (me) or text a lot. Hopefully the experia's keyboard is as good as my tilt's.

[Reid Kistler]

The keyboard is pretty important if you use the device to take short notes during meetings (me) or text a lot. Hopefully the experia's keyboard is as good as my tilt's.


Know that this discussion is all about HARDWARE keyboards - but the nicest PPC "keyboard" have used to date is FITALY, which I routinely use while taking Extensive notes (almost always into PhatNotes).

Used the AT&T Tilt predecessors - 8515/8525 - and found the keyboards to be "OK" - but not nearly as comfortable / quick as Fitaly...

Have been considering a mobile phone upgrade - the Dreaded Dust Disease is casting an ever-growing shadow over the Razr's screens - but have yet to find anything that seems Compellingly Better than the Razr / Axim combo currently in use.

Most "SmartPhones" don't seem to come close to the Total Functionality of those two: that is not to say that newer devices do not Add Things - merely that the things they add do not seem as important as the things they give up, even considering the presumed advantage of only having a single device to carry....

[GAZ112142]

When you travel you need the quad band, missing in the Touch, the keyboard maybe better at the Touch but if I take longer notes or texting I use just an external BT-keyboard. The overall is what counts, not only one more or less good feature