HTC HD2 onscreen keyboard

C

cueball

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I'm up for an upgrade pretty soon and MTN has just got the HD2, for only R10/month more than the Touch Pro2, so the cost difference isn't really a deciding factor. The Touch Pro2 is the logical upgrade from my current Tytn 2, but the HD2 seems like a better phone overall.

I quite like the qwerty keyboard on my Tytn 2 & I have tried several onscreen keyboards for the Tytn 2, some full qwerty and some 3-letters-per-key, classic T9-type keyboards, and neither were very accurate. I'm hoping that this is because of the QVGA display and/or resistive touch screen not being suited to thumb-friendly onscreen keyboards, but I'm not 100% sure.

Can anyone who already has an HD2 report on how well it fares with no physical keyboard? I figure that the capacitive screen is more suited to on-screen keyboards (the iPhone being the premier example) and thus it should be just fine for daily use, but it's nice to get some real-world opinions.
 
cueball said:
I'm up for an upgrade pretty soon and MTN has just got the HD2, for only R10/month more than the Touch Pro2, so the cost difference isn't really a deciding factor. The Touch Pro2 is the logical upgrade from my current Tytn 2, but the HD2 seems like a better phone overall.

I quite like the qwerty keyboard on my Tytn 2 & I have tried several onscreen keyboards for the Tytn 2, some full qwerty and some 3-letters-per-key, classic T9-type keyboards, and neither were very accurate. I'm hoping that this is because of the QVGA display and/or resistive touch screen not being suited to thumb-friendly onscreen keyboards, but I'm not 100% sure.

Can anyone who already has an HD2 report on how well it fares with no physical keyboard? I figure that the capacitive screen is more suited to on-screen keyboards (the iPhone being the premier example) and thus it should be just fine for daily use, but it's nice to get some real-world opinions.
Click to expand...

I am wondering the same. Looking at getting the same contract next... the fact that the screen is so big gives me confidence that the keyboard is easier to use than other on screen kb's. But that is only a guess.
 
I got my HD 2 on Sat. after upgrading from a HTC P4350, which also has a physical QWERTY keyboard.

It first it took some time to get used to, I now realised that the onscreen keyboard works best when the key is pressed with the middle of you finger to properly confirm which letter you want.

Everything about the HD 2 is awesome. I just realised that the Live Messenger app cannot handle more than 11 or 12 char passwords - then it says that it cannot retrieve the account details, but after making my password shorter it's great.

The 2 main things that annoyed me about the phone was (1) getting used to the on screen keyboard and (2) cleaning the screen as it gets dirty from touching the screen.
 
I've had my HD2 for 1 day short of 2 weeks & love it.

I used to have an HTC P3300 & typed on a virtual keyboard with that ... a little awkward, but did fine. [stylus, or fingernail]
I tried a friend's TyTYN II & wasn't impressed ... my thumbs are short & broad ... the keys felt too small (even worse with my wife's Nokia E72)

I was really nervous about the "stylus-less" typing on the HD2, but have to honestly say that I was amazed at the ease with which I picked it up. I switched off the smart spelling, but that's personal preference.
It DOES take a bit of getting used to ... but 10 minutes practice & I was fine [and I REALLY don't have good co-ord!]

On a laptop keyboard I can type at +/- 35 wpm at about a 90% accuracy rate (10 fingers, but I do look :p ), I haven't tested my speed on the HTC, but subjectively it feels like 20 wpm at about 85% accuracy.

I'm a very happy camper.

Tip: make sure you download "WMLongLife" ... makes a huge difference to battery life.

@Netspike ... agreed about the dirty screen ... go to an optician & ask for a glasses cleaning cloth ... works for me.
 
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Personally I prefer a soft keyboard to a hard one, so the kb on the HD2 is perfect for me. It's worth doing a screen alignment to your preferences so that it's trained to your own finger profile - you know where your 'touch centre' is. It takes a minute or two to get used to it, and fortunately the gorgeous HD2 screen makes it easy. I also leave autocorrect/text off, preferring to type letter by letter, but then I'm not a heavy text user.

Because the HD2's capacitive screen has real tempered glass rather than the easily-scratched plastic of previous WM devices, it doesn't scratch, so you don't need a protector or even a special cloth to clean it. My HD2 is nearly 3 months old and looks brand new, and I'm rough on phones.

I do about two phones a year, and this is the best I've ever had. Also, recently blew in the 1.66 ROM, which is great.
 
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