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Comment by dijit | Hacker News Reader

I was hoping devices like this (https://www.fxtec.com/smartphones/pro1x) would catch on, but I think people have given up physical keyboards.

(obviously flip out phones have a lot of moving parts to get damaged)

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I've had this phone as my main device for half a year and now using a Pixel 9 Pro Fold sometimes in "laptop" folded mode. So far, neither of these devices come close in my typing speed to a proper keyboard. The F(x)tec was great though because you do get all special characters in tactile buttons; on the Fold I constantly need to check my keyboard and make sure I'm writing what I think I'm writing. And, it's a shame that the space in between letters on the 'Gboard' keyboard on the Fold remains unused, when it could've been a perfect mouse trackpad.

I think the ideal form factor for a proper development phone would be the Astro Slide (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/astro-slide-5g-transforme...) – I haven't personally used it but I can imagine it's the smallest size possible for proper two-handed typing. The F(x)tec was a two-thumber instead.

The Fxtec is so damn cool if you can get your hands on one. It can actually straight up run Debian. I also managed to run VS Code on it natively via Termux.

I also had a Gemini PDA, which is basically the Psion 5mx keyboard glued to a shitty Android smartphone. Such a nice keyboard, but such mediocre and unsupported CPU...

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