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Full Touch Screen vs. Full Qwerty

If I asked this question 3 years ago, I’m sure I’d get a majority of responses in favor of the full qwerty on mobile phones. But since the iPhone and the Android smartphones came to the scene, using full touchscreen doesn’t seem to as bad as before.


In fact, full touchscreen has a few advantages over full qwerty phones in some areas:

  • Full touchscreen phones enjoy bigger real estate screen since the virtual keyboard is included into the screen. Bigger screens are always better.
  • Web browsing on touchscreen phones feels more interactive and engaging with navigational features like swipe, pinch and other multi-touch gestures. Even the Swype technology was invented specifically for touchscreen.
  • Changes the way we see and enjoy gaming on the mobile phone.

Of course, full qwerty phones will always have the “physical” advantage over touchscreen phones.

Given all the smartphone options we have this year, would you still go for a full qwerty or a full touchscreen?

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

46 Responses

  1. Avatar for Whatif Whatif says:

    Yung mga naka full qwerty ngayon pag may offer sa inyo ng swap with iphone or galaxy s kunwari, tatanggi kayo? eh yung mga naka touch din ngayon pag ma offer ng qwerty? Hahaha yun lang! Pag nangyari yan lahat naka touch! Lol

  2. Avatar for limuelG limuelG says:

    with my e63 and bold 9700 syempre full qwerty keypad ako….

  3. Avatar for Kevin Kevin says:

    My phones:
    E71 (keypad) – Unlimited texting, calling on sun. Type without looking. Lots of buttons that can serve as shortcuts. Nothing beats buttons with nearly definite commands. However, smaller screen to fit content.

    Galaxy S (touch) – everything else on globe with unlimited internet. Need to look while typing. Quite intuitive. Points for overall style. Swype roooocks.

    Verdict: each phone is maximized for what they’re best at. Keys for texting, touch for media.

    As a note of interest, i was on wifi with my e71 to comment here.

  4. Avatar for mr.bogusmobile mr.bogusmobile says:

    question: full touchscreen o full qwerty?

    My answer is: full touchscreen kht na may kalakihan thumb ko bibili na lng ako ng stylus haha

    but for me both, im a web addict kya importante sa akin ang malaking screen. pero pag mag type na ako gusto nakatingin n lng ako sa screen “they called it TOUCH TYPIST” Kasi mas mabilis mag type. Sbhn na nating sanayan lng ang paggamit importante ay kung san k komportable. kaya i love nokia n900…

  5. Avatar for Mike Mike says:

    Full touch screen is for early adapters who are more advanced users than others IMO.

  6. Avatar for G-Man G-Man says:

    Well for the past week since I got my Galaxy S (jumped from nokia 6300 :p)and comparing it with my brother’s phone (Nokia E72),I would like to point out 3 things about this:
    1. Physical vs. Virtual – As of now the physical keyboard is still king as compared to the virtual keypad, but with the rise of Swype it virtually removes the boundary of typing with big fingers (I too have big fingers)the only qualm in Swype is that pagtagalog ang gusto ko sabihin kelangan ko pa imanually type it for the first time so that maadd sa swype database ang tagalog word (hope some dev there who would like to incorporate Taglish as a Swype language :D).

    2. Interactivity – In this department, for me the Touchscreen phones rule here because of the gestures, and multitouch features, etc. opens up new things to experiment on the capabilities of touchscreen phones.

    3. “Full touchscreen phones enjoy bigger real estate screen since the virtual keyboard is included into the screen. Bigger screens are always better.” – it is true that touchscreen phones have bigger real estate, this statement should not be taken from the virtual keyboard itself but instead look at the other features it would provide (Increased viewing screen when watching movies, viewing websites and blogs are also a breeze since it also increases viewing size), another point is that touchscreens are also attract (brings the naiigno factor since people are curious to try it for the first time)

    But in the end it all comes down to preference, even though my brother likes my phone, he still prefers the BlackBerry Bold instead.

  7. Avatar for manong manong says:

    “Full touchscreen phones enjoy bigger real estate screen since the virtual keyboard is included into the screen. Bigger screens are always better.”

    How can it have bigger real estate if the virtual keyboard almost occupy 3/4 of the screen? Kailangan mo pa i-hide ung virtual keyboard para mabasa mo ung buong tinetext mo…

  8. Avatar for Leo Leo says:

    parehas may advantage and disadvantage pra saken. s qwerty, ms mbilis mgtype, kc nkakapa mu yun mga letters,at malaki p ang screen, yun lng maliit ang keypad, mabigat pa ang phone, s touch nman, hndi pwde kapain mga letters, kya minsan sumasablay s pagta-type,lumiliit p ang screen, pero magaan at manipis ang phone. samsung wave phone ko, hanggang ngaun nahihirapan p dn ako mgtxt, nagkakamali kc ng letters. anyways, sanayan lng nman dn cguro…

  9. Avatar for cindy cindy says:

    seems like there’s a major major vote for qwerty than full touch screen…LOL

    as for myself,at first i want to have a touchscreen phone,but realizing that it is expensive for repair rather than qwerty, so i prefer qwerty phone,plus i find it more elegant compared to touchscreen…NOKIA E72, onti ipon pa,im going to own you soon!!!!

  10. Avatar for jay jay says:

    For better results, I’d get a Motorola Droid nlng. You can either go full touch or full qwerty depending on your mood.

  11. Avatar for Wakocoke Wakocoke says:

    you can type faster in touchscreen phones compared to physical qwerty when using SWYPE :)

  12. Avatar for Karl Karl says:

    @wavy it doesn’t really matter if Qwerty is last decade’s technology. It’s like Mouse vs. Touchpad. The mouse has been the technology for like four decades, and yet it’s more ergonomic.

    The disadvantage of a touchscreen phone for me is that you can’t type when you’re not looking at the screen. It’s ironic that you can do “touch” typing on a qwerty rather than a touch phone, if you know what I mean.

    Nonetheless, I adore the screen of a touchscreen. The input interface only appears when you have the need for it.

    But that’s just me.

  13. Avatar for tj_mangki tj_mangki says:

    try composing a message using just one hand w/o looking at the screen of a full touch phone and you get the idea why i prefer physical QWERTY keypad :)

  14. Avatar for igoydude igoydude says:

    lagi akong nagkakawrong send sa full touch, minsan confidential message nasend ko sa ibang tao hehe… and sometimes nag-lalag ung full touch,experience ko lang ha ewan ko sa iba, and nagpalit narin ako ng lcd screen protector kasi gasgas na sa kalyo kung daliri hehe.

  15. Avatar for Cloud Cloud says:

    I prefer full QWERTY because it is more it last than a full touchscreen phone. The LCD of the full touchscreen is more expensive that is why I’d rather use the QWERTY one kasi mas matibay.

  16. Avatar for kidd kidd says:

    ako i would go for full touch… i get used with iphone’s full touch and besides hanap ko talaga yung multimedia functionality ng fulltouch

  17. Avatar for Mac vs PC Mac vs PC says:

    Querty and Touch screen combo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNcTE5WJGdw&feature=youtu.be

  18. Avatar for Kinny Kinny says:

    If you asked me this a few months ago I would say QWERTY all the way! Now though, I am itching to buy the Samsung Galaxy Tab or an iPhone 4. Qwerty for work and avid texters BUT Touch Screen for enjoying life.

  19. Avatar for bursky bursky says:

    @Fleeb: +1 :D hehehe…

    i have an E63 and my big hands and fingers keep me from owning a touchscreen phone. also, i’d like to rest my thumbs and relax them on the keys rather than arching them like a snake darting at a mouse. but browsing (esp. on an iPod Touch) is easier with touchscreen gadgets. :(

  20. Avatar for nero nero says:

    touch nalang nu. :)

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