Summary
- Physical keyboards on phones reduced typos with tactile feedback & accurate key spacing.
- Sliding keyboard phones allowed for more screen real estate without intrusive on-screen keyboards.
- Attempts to revive sliding keyboards failed due to high prices, performance issues, & design faults.
Back in the day, sliding open a keyboard was practical, satisfying, and just plain cool. Nowadays, physical keyboards have all but vanished, sacrificed in the name of thinner designs and bigger slab screens. I will take a moment to appreciate what made sliding keyboard phones special.
Physical Keyboards Had a Tactile Feel That Led to Fewer Typos
There was a time when texting under the table in class was an art form. You didn’t need to look. Your thumbs just knew where every key was. You would know what I mean if you ever used a phone like the T-Mobile G1, the Motorola Droid, or the underrated Nokia E7 or N97. You didn’t have to deal with accidental touches—only deliberate presses registered, keeping typos to a minimum. The spacing between keys kept your fingers from mashing two at once, something today’s cramped glass screens still struggle with.
Swiping keyboards and voice dictation exist now, and I like them, but nothing has quite replaced the speed and accuracy of a well-designed sliding keyboard. As an aside, call me dramatic, but there was something incredibly satisfying about ending a conversation with a dramatic slide-shut of your phone, like slamming down a receiver in the old movies. Tell me that wasn’t satisfying.
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Sliding Keyboard Phones Allowed for More Screen Estate
Today, we’ve just accepted that on-screen keyboards eat up half of our display. If you are watching a video and need to reply to a message, the keyboard pops up, and suddenly, you’re working with a tiny window. Have you ever tried editing a document on a touchscreen phone? Half the time, you’re tapping around in frustration, with the keyboard covering half the text you’re trying to fix. With physical-keyboard phones, none of that happened. You could write emails or draft long texts without the screen shrinking into a cramped, unusable mess.
The Few Attempts to Revive Sliding Keyboard Phones Failed for the Wrong Reasons
The post-2010 attempts to revive physical keyboards flopped—but not because people didn’t want them. The problem was how they were made. Take the BlackBerry Priv, for example. It was one of the most hyped slider phones of the past decade, yet it failed to make a lasting impact. It came with a high price tag and performance issues that didn’t justify the cost. Benchmark results placed the Priv below competitors like the Nexus 6P and Samsung Galaxy S6, with occasional sluggishness and unresponsive apps, making it feel slower than it should have been. The camera also struggled, delivering washed-out images with poor low-light performance.
Another similar example is the 2019 F(x)tec Pro1. It was bulky and expensive, and its frame was criticized for being wobbly. The phone ran Android with a landscape-first UI, but many smartphone apps—such as Instagram—did not support rotation, making everyday use frustrating. These are just two of the few examples of how manufacturers botched the return of physical keyboards on phones.
If a Slider Phone Ever Comes Back, It Needs to Be Perfect
I’d love nothing more than to see a true, thoughtfully designed slider phone make a triumphant return. But it can’t be a half-baked nostalgia cash grab. Our standards have changed. We want thin phones. We want big screens. We want batteries that last all day. And we definitely want to keep using our apps. So, I think a modern slider needs to nail three key things:
- It needs to be sturdy, with no wobbling or loose parts. The sliding mechanism must work perfectly for years, not months.
- It needs modern specs, such as a fast processor, a good camera, a great battery, plenty of storage, and the latest Android OS. The keyboard can’t be the only selling point.
- It must look good—not “good for a keyboard phone,” but attractive, something I’d be proud to show off at a meeting.
If phone makers can’t meet all these marks, they shouldn’t bother. I’d rather keep my memories untarnished than watch another beloved design get turned into a gimmick.
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