You keep telling me that, and I'm not convinced. Can you back that up? Also, I do indeed like the rest of the features of the 735 better, as far as I can tell. And yes, when I go to pay my phone bill tomorrow, I'll try out the 735 and see how I like it.

I can't back it up convincingly, as it's a personal preference I've developed. I will add this: the tactile feedback is nice on the physical keyboard and the fact that the keyboard is always present. I didn't want to upgrade to a keyboard less phone, but I did and haven't looked back.

The one thing people dislike about onscreen keyboards is the screen space they loose. It's not really true, the keyboard is there for as long as you're typing. As soon as you submit the search the keyboard goes away and you can use the screen as you normally would. Without the physical keyboard, you have a thinner and lighter phone. The on-screen keyboard certainly doesn't detract from the experience, but it also doesn't add any huge advantages.

I'm not too concerned about on-screen space; my primary issue is whether I'll be able to type fast on a touchscreen, and with what accuracy. I like to type fast, and I like to type text messages that are properly-formatted English with correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation, so I'd like my phone help me achieve that.

Android has a fairly good selection of keyboards with autocorrect that actually doesn't get in your way. Also, if you don't like the default keyboards, you can download more from the Market.

I'm personally yet to find a touch-screen keyboard that I like; not even Swype has managed to convince me. I also have greasy skin and therefore an aversion to touching the screens on my electronics. Definitely try before you buy.

We haven't texted often, but when I'm available I always respond swiftly and without butchering English grammar. I don't think there's much to fear with the touch screen. You'll have to look at what you're typing, so that's a draw back. I always did like physical keyboards purely so I can type without looking at the phone.

The ICS keyboard makes looking at the screen while typing completely pointless.

If it has a stylus and it's cheap it means it has a resistive touch screen and thus really needs the stylus.

@Kerm: Both of those phones suck. If you're really truly stuck on Metro PCS I would look into the Samsung Galaxy Attain or the LG Esteem. They look like the least sucky of the bunch.

Oh, that's true. Didn't realize resistive touch screens were still used.

He got the phone two days ago but has been busy with other things to update the topic.

Kllrnohj, once again, happy sticking with a non-Android feature phone. I ended up with the Huawei M735 Blue, and I'm quite happy with it so far. Once I calibrated the touchscreen to me and myself to the touchscreen, I can type quick fast on it with minimal errors, and Opera Mobile is a godsend (Javascript in a phone browser! Whodathunk). Indeed, comic and I fixed up the way that Cemetech mobile works yesterday and tweaked up the TISAXclient (the standalone SAX page) to look good on mobile devices, so I'll hopefully be joining you people on SAX from my phone at work today.

*bump* Well, I'm back to this conundrum once again. There have been enough times recently when I wanted a smartphone and didn't have one (looking for directions outside and trying to load Google Maps on Opera Mobile is not a pleasant experience) that I'm seriously considering getting myself (and my girlfriend) Android phones on MetroPCS. Let's worry about me first, since I don't know what features are important to her yet. I care about (and I apologize in advance):

- QWERTY physical keyboard: I am willing to forego this if I must, but I really miss a physical keyboard on my Huawei M735 Blue. Physical keyboards are just so much more accurate.
- Fast, multicore processor and lots of RAM
- Giant or at least decent screen
- WiFi, including the ability to tether if possible
- GPS (like, real GPS) and Bluetooth
- Good battery life, although I'm willing to have to recharge daily
- Sub $300, the cheaper the better

MetroPCS will let me bring a smartphone with my current $40/month plan, happily enough. They also have a new SIM card program, so if I can get an unlocked phone, I can shove a SIM into it. Among the phones I've been considering:

- LG Enact (can it be put on MetroPCS?)
- Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4g (can it be put on MetroPCS?)
- LG Optimus F3 (from MetroPCS, no QWERTY keyboard)

Thanks in advance for feedback.

Any particular reason it needs to be Android?

Excellent question! And yes, for the same reason I mentioned GPS. I want to resume work on Simms/Scouter/Feedscreamer as one complete project at some point, and a phone that runs more-or-less Linux once rooted would go a long way towards making that a reality.

Edit: Also throwing together a few simple Android apps and seeing if people bother to buy them has been something I've considered.

Nexus 5.

For What Its Worth
I am using a touchscreen keyboard on Android, using a phone at the cheaper end of the market and the default keyboard.

It is possible, but I would find a real QWERTY keyboard easier.

when I first started, I found accuracy low and speed slow...
I am slowly getting more used to where the keys are now.

After getting more used to it, I am not sure I would want to go back to a real keyboard as my only device, given the much smaller screen it would have.

But I would like to have two phones - one with a keyboard for when I just want to enter text, one with a larger screen for when I am browsing.

I have not tried any add-on keyboards.

I'm in agreement with Nikky, a Nexus is the way to go. There aren't any real good newish Android phones with hardware keyboards, sadly. The Nexus 5 is brand new and accordingly spiffy though a bit pricey, but you could probably save an appreciable amount of money (at the cost of a bit of spiffyness) by picking up a Nexus 4 instead.

In either case, you'll get software support for a long time to come, and experience has shown that good long-term software support is the best defining feature of the Nexuses.
..that and trivial rooting, I guess.

I doubt you will find a phone you like with a QWERTY keyboard, you'll be really limiting yourself to select phones.

]

Why is WiFi a requirement? What phones don't support WiFi? Anyways, for Tethering your milage will vary. Some carriers support it but only on select plans. PCS seems to support it on a few phones, which are listed below.





That's also pretty standard. For what it's worth, the cellular chip in phones have a built-in GPS. You witnessed that with my iPad over the summer. I didn't have a data plan but I still had GPS capabilities.



It's best to look at the battery life of the phones that support tethering above.

Now, tethering is possible if you root your phone but if MetroPCS finds you doing that, you may be switched into a tethering plan (if applicable) or see other consequences. Again, your milage may vary.

I've only had Nexus-like devices, including the Galaxy Nexus, OG Droid, and Xoom. They're the best supported by hardware hackers, 3rd party ROMs, and everything else that's fun and right. Don't hesitate.

So it seems the Nexus 4 is virtually unobtainable at this point, and even the Nexus 5 is largely out of stock. Since the Nexus 5 does not have a microSD slot (!!), I'm thinking of getting each of us a 32GB Nexus 5. Do you guys think that's a sound investment at $400 per phone, or a waste of money?