Originally Posted by vistaron:
Better that the i-phone on screen though.
After a certain point, it really isnt.
A proper hardware keyboard is the best solution for entering text on a mobile device. See RIM's Blackberry keyboards and Palm's older Treo keyboards for an example.
Once you start shrinking that keyboard, making it square instead of curved and reducing the tactile feel of the individual keys it becomes less ideal. A good touch screen keyboard that can intuitively make corrections as you type and change to accommodate different kinds of input becomes more attractive then.
Simply put:
A good hardware keyboard > an onscreen keyboard > a bad hardware keyboard.
The current Palm keyboards are barely acceptable and in many ways a good on screen keyboard is better.