Poll finds smartphone keyboard preference

Finnish cellphone maker Nokia says a poll it conducted found consumers prefer smartphones with physical keyboards to devices with touchscreens. Participants in an online poll were asked to choose their preferred input method: QWERTY keyboard, touchscreen, number keypad or voice command. Nearly 49 percent of respondents said they favored a physical QWERTY keyboard, 15 percent more than those going with touchscreens, ZDNet reported Monday. "The QWERTY keyboard is the input method that we are most familiar with," Nokia's Boc Ly said on the company's blog, and that "there is the satisfying haptic feedback you get from using a keyboard with proper buttons." "The touchscreen is fantastic for looking at photos, browsing the Web and watching video, but is it really that good for typing?" The poll is in contrast to actual sales figures, which show the marketplace moving heavily toward touchscreens. The only mobile OEMs putting much effort into devices with keyboards are Nokia and Research in Motion, both of which have been struggling in the smartphone arena. Despite its own poll, Nokia is trying to reverse its declining fortunes with two new touchscreen devices, the Nokia Lumia 800 and 900, ZDNet reported.