A buzz in the pocket, email symbol on the screen, main button to open the email, right-click button to forward, physical scroll to a recent colleague and select, lock & back in pocket.
All that before 3G. Easy, quick and no fuss, muscle memory took care of most of it.
I often still wish phones had physical keyboards.
That was my first smartphone and I loved the dual use with the sliding keyboard in landscape mode.
Should be possible to make something like this with all the improvements we had along the way... Anyone listening here? Please make it happen! :-)
Portrait style ones are the BB Key2 or Unihertz Titan
Landscape keyboard is the Fxtec Pro1
The only times it was required to "reply when I get back to my computer" was when document editing was required.
Plus replaceable batteries and especially high capacity batteries meant pretty much never worrying about charging while out and about.