It's a debate that rages in the world of smartphones: which is best, a phone with a QWERTY keyboard, or one without a keyboard at all? Let's take a look.
Keyboard - Nokia N97 and HTC Touch Pro2
After the triumphant launch of the Nokia 5800, which was only ever meant to be a mid-range phone, Nokia need a new top-ender to really wow the public. And that top-ender is the hyper-powered Nokia N97. It takes the brand new Symbian Touch interface, and adds in bags more power, as well as a full QWERTY keyboard. Even starting with the looks, it's a truly stunning phone, with sleek surfaces and a minimalist design making the Nokia N97 truly a beautiful sight to behold. However, the impressive nature of the Nokia N97 doesn't end with the exterior, as it's what's inside that really impresses. Equipped with a 5 megapixel camera, it effortlessly switches from phone to camera, letting you leave your separate camera at home.
Whilst the HTC Hero (see later) stands somewhat on its own, the HTC Touch Pro2 brings Windows Mobile to the party, and it really is a joy to use, and like an increasing number of modern touchscreen mobile phones, it's optimised for touch controls. Or, in other words, you press the screen on the HTC Touch Pro2 with a finger, not a dibber (well, ok, a stylus, but dibber sounds better, to me). Specs-wise, it's no slouch, either, with 5 megapixel camera, HSDPA, WiFi, built-in GPS and a frankly brilliant slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It truly is a gorgeous mobile phone, and I'll be frank, it's hard to think of any other Windows Mobile phone coming close to it.
No keyboard - HTC Hero and Toshiba TG01
Android is trying to take over the world, and its new home is the beautiful HTC Hero. It has all the good stuff that made the first Android phone (the G1) good, but puts it all in a touchscreen-only body, which is both sleek and sexy. Since the keyboard has been removed, the HTC Hero also has a full, onscreen keyboard, and a sumptuous new interface called Sense. You also get the Android Marketplace, which lets you download and install third party apps to your HTC Hero, and it ends up creating a smartphone that really can morph into whatever you want it to be. It really is a true Hero; it's the HTC Hero.
So, the HTC Hero is the open source contender. And the HTC Touch Pro2 has the nicest keyboard. But finally, there's a phone that really gives Windows Mobile the grunt it needs to run properly: the Toshiba TG01. In terms of outstanding new technologies, what the Toshiba TG01 brings to the party isn't the 4.1 inch display (although that's noteworthy in itself), but what's inside it. The Toshiba TG01 uses a next-gen, dual-core Snapdragon processor, which runs at 1GHz, and that means the Toshiba TG01 is the most powerful phone in existence... which is good, because in terms of other features, a lot of other phones leave the Toshiba TG01 in the dust. So, which is better? Well, for data entry, you cannot beat a QWERTY keyboard. But for sheer looks, a phone without a keyboard is the way to go.
