Poll HN: Physical Keyboard or On-Screen Keyboard?
On a mobile device, do you prefer a physical hard keyboard, or an on-screen keyboard like that of the iPhone?
Seriously, your question is bad because it ignores the inherent trade-offs in the decision. An on-screen keyboard isn't easier or faster to type on, but it allows for a larger screen and probably cheaper manufacturing costs.
You have to mention the trade-offs if you want useful information from your question. More like: Would you rather have a powerful engine that gets mediocre gas milage, or a mediocre engine that gets great gas milage?
Otherwise you'll just get everyone saying they want the powerful engine.
Last time I checked, "slider" phones have exactly that. Physical keyboards and full sized screens. The trade-off wasn't mentioned because it isn't necessarily true.
I think that in order to get really comfortable with the iphone keyboard you have to become dependent on the auto-correction feature. I mostly use my iphone keyobard for texting, and the spelling correction catches nearly all of my mistakes. Otherwise, my only major complaint is the send an SMS button is just above the keyboard and I hit either 'o' or 'p' instead of send all the time.
I actually prefer T9, even if it's a little slower, because I can feel the buttons.