Is a hardware QWERTY keypad really useful

[Gaurav]

Hello everyone,

I haven't used a touchscreen phone before. I want to know how useful a hardware qwerty keypad in a touch phone is?

Please tell me your views/experiences about it.

Thanks

[saurabhpatel]

to put it bluntly yes...
I have Nokia 5230 and can type on its touch qwerty real fast, but a usable touch qwerty takes up the entire screen and you can't see the webpage or the document you're typing into while you emmmm.....type. (this happens in s60v5 not sure about others)
Another phone in my family is Micromax q3 with very small qwerty keys but typing on them is 100% error free and the tactile response is assuring...so if you get a touch phone with full hardware qwerty (they have larger keys than MMq3) you r getting the best of both worlds

[niceboy]

If you sms a lot or email/surf thru your mobile most of the times, yes a hardware qwerty really makes a difference.