{"id":7982,"date":"2019-02-27T20:18:51","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T20:18:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/the-phone-makers-bringing-buttons-back\/"},"modified":"2019-02-27T20:18:51","modified_gmt":"2019-02-27T20:18:51","slug":"the-phone-makers-bringing-buttons-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/the-phone-makers-bringing-buttons-back\/","title":{"rendered":"The phone-makers bringing buttons back"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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<\/p>\n

<\/span>

Image caption<\/span>
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\n The Pro1 has a keyboard hidden inside
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An Android phone that slides open to reveal a physical qwerty keyboard inside has launched at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. <\/p>\n

The F(x)tec Pro1 phone also has a bespoke shutter button on the side to click when taking photos.<\/p>\n

The London start-up behind it said it wanted to “return the keyboard” to consumers.<\/p>\n

Other handsets with keyboards built in, from brands such as BlackBerry Mobile and Swiss firm Punkt, were also on show. <\/p>\n

“A lot of consumer tech still has buttons even though the tech is there to get rid of them,” said Adrian Li Mow Ching, founder of F(x)tec.<\/p>\n

“Haptic feedback never gives the same satisfaction as pressing a physical button.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that the folding handsets unveiled by phone giants Huawei and Samsung demonstrated that “people want more than the single slab”.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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Image caption<\/span>
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\n Zoe Kleinman with the Pro1
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The handset I tried was a prototype, but it ran pretty smoothly. It was chunkier than a standard smartphone and a little heavier.<\/p>\n

While I cannot deny that the sliding keyboard was fun to open, I did fear for the hinge and the plastic stand on which the screen sits at an angle.<\/p>\n

The keys did take a little getting used to if you are more familiar with a touchscreen pad, but I found I made fewer typos when writing.<\/p>\n

The Pro1 will go on sale in July for \u00a3649, or $649 in the United States. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span>

Image caption<\/span>
\n
\n F(x)tec says its apps have been optimised for landscape use
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/p>\n

<\/span>

Image caption<\/span>
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\n The Nokia 950 prototype inspired the Pro1
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lianchen Chen, who designed the device, describes himself as a BlackBerry fan. However, his device was inspired by a prototype from Nokia he was given in 2010, which was never released to the public.<\/p>\n

The Nokia 950 had a slide-out keyboard hidden beneath the screen but was only ever given to app developers. Mr Chen said he used it until 2015.<\/p>\n

More Mobile World Congress stories:<\/h2>\n

The Pro1 features a full touchscreen in addition to its physical keyboard, an approach shared by BlackBerry Mobile’s Key2.<\/p>\n

Punkt\u2019s MP02 phone is also covered in buttons, but it has limited functionality compared to modern smartphones. It is designed to be a so-called companion phone rather than a primary device. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span>

Image caption<\/span>
\n
\n Punkt’s phone is a “companion” device
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Punkt chief executive Petter Neby said the device would have been 75% cheaper to manufacture if it had just a touchscreen rather than physical keys. But he said physical keys gave people a more “optimal” experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe press keys and buttons all the time and expect something to happen,\u201d he told the BBC.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe touchscreen is a convenience, it\u2019s not optimal for a call to action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both F(x)tec and Punkt deny that the hardware required for a physical keyboard limits the life of their devices.<\/p>\n

Mr Neby says he still uses a 10-year-old BlackBerry with physical keys as his primary phone and has experienced no issues with it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span>

Image caption<\/span>
\n
\n The BlackBerry Key2 sports a touchscreen and a keyboard
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UK start-up Planet Computers is another company producing Android phones with physical keyboards. In 2018, it successfully crowd-funded a modernised “digital assistant”<\/a> device, and is now working on a follow-up phone.<\/p>\n

However, there is no indication that the broader mobile phone industry is planning a physical keyboard comeback. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am not sure if this is nostalgia or trying to find a way in the market serving those groups that the big guns have no interest in serving,\u201d said analyst Carolina Milanesi from the consultancy Creative Strategies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is really more what we see in a market where competing with the top players requires not just different hardware but a different approach to the market.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Source<\/a> by [author_name]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image caption The Pro1 has a keyboard hidden inside An Android phone that slides open to reveal a physical qwerty keyboard inside has launched at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The F(x)tec Pro1 phone also has a bespoke shutter button on the side to click when taking photos. The London start-up behind it said it … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}