It may be underpowered now, but that physical keyboard still makes my envious: I could almost maybe write code on something like that.
> It may be underpowered now, but that physical
> keyboard still makes my envious: I could almost
> maybe write code on something like that.
It was slower than swype & variants for normal (mail, sms, etc) writing.
The physical keyboard had the benefit of providing relatively easy access to 'dev' keys - esc, ctrl, special characters. But it was so teeny that even as a proficient user (it was my primary phone for 3-4 years) the experience was arduous.
Years later I bought a tablet + BT keyboard (a Logitech one with the hard clam shell that became the stand) and that experience is much preferred. Would work well with a phone too, if you're happy with a small screen. Not pocket sized, certainly, but the keyboard is actually usable.
I've definitely coded bash on it, many times.
I miss that keyboard.
But I could and did use it to write and edit long-form prose.
It's way better than a touch-screen for shelling in and fixing server issues when you're stuck at a party away from keyboard.
Actual code writing tends to mean using lots of symbols though, and while the N900 keyboard was better than a touch screen, both make you want to rip open your skull and put the wires in directly in frustration.
I miss that keyboard.
When I had that keyboard, the best email-interface was still Mutt over a terminal. You could use Vim! Type without looking! It was ace.
That phone had the best microphone out of any I've ever owned by a clear mile too. Certainly the only one that could stand up to being used in the band practice-room without just distorting to hell coz of the volume.
I still use it for that, for video-recording band-practise, cos nothing else ever came close. The USB port broke and now can only transfer files with WI-FI and have to use an external battery charger, and all my batteries are swelling slightly and really ought to be retired.
But I don't have anything else that will actually work for it.
It's almost enough to make me miss my first phone, which was rubbish as a smartphone, but actually did have a real keyboard.
I installed it mostly so I could customize the backdrop, but I stayed because those few added gestures make prose input so much more efficient.
Still entirely awful and terrible for writing code though.
Delete the stupid Gif-Keyboard plugin, add in the "OMW" one for common-phrases-shortcuts (then build lots of templates), add the copy/paste bar, and the numbers row.
I like the fireworks-noises plugin too, audible feedback is helpful[1], but wish it sounded more like Ziggy off of Quantum Leap.
They appear to have ignored my suggestions on their forums to make it sound that way, and can't see a way to make my own plugin.
[1] - A feature of my S7 that nobody I've ever noticed talk about online is the ability to control the volume so easily just by putting your thumb over the speaker as you hold the phone. The fireworks noises are basically muted that way if you're trying to type in public ;)