It’s really not good. My hands aren’t that big (I can type faster than you could ever dream on a BlackBerry, iPhone or E71) and my thumb literally takes up 3 or 4 keys on the keyboard. There’s less space in between each key than say, a BlackBerry Curve 8300 keyboard, and the texture takes some time to get used to. It’s a rubberized coating kind of like the Centro and Treo Pro, and while the keys are a bit harder (better), the coating could possibly get irritating as usage increases. It’s really such an important area that couldn’t afford to be messed with and we’ll admit it… we’re a little let down. You’re going after the big guns here, and this is kind of disappointing.You can’t compete with RIM in the keyboard area and you can’t compete with Apple in the soft-keyboard area, so how are people going to enjoy using your product when the data entry isn’t perfection? It’s like buying a brand new Ferrari, but getting an Accord steering wheel. It’s not the end of the world, but it isn’t greatness.
I agree – Palm needs every single little detail about this thing to be excellent. Before the iPhone (and RIM’s better models), they could have gotten away with a crappy keyboard. Palm shipped tons of Treos and Centros with tiny pill-shaped keys, but users have evolved, and probably aren’t going to be willing to go back to a 2005-style keyboard after using a superior product.
The Pre’s big breakthrough – and the new face of Palm – is their WebOS platform. Hopefully the hardware they’re shipping won’t hinder the growth of the OS. I think the WebOS on a iPhone/Zune HD/Blackberry Storm type device would be awesome - eliminating Palm’s cruddy keyboard all together.
