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  • i went from a droid 2 to a 4, just can’t go without the physical keyboard. i would love to see more physical keyboard phone options. just got a galaxy nexus 10, would love to get the nexus 4, but no lte or keyboard. overall pretty happy with the d4, but much to improve on

  • I have the motoral photon global phone and LOVE IT.But once I saw the new phone with a real keybord Im going to mysterious lose this one to get the new slider. Thank you phone Gods. Oh and this phone don’t have to be unlock to travel outside the US because when I’m Jamaica I just put a Digit Cell sim card and it works just the same.

  • I wouldn’t buy a phone without a physical keyboard. The Samsung Galaxy S3 looks extremely tempting, but I feel like physical keyboards are a drying breed and to buy a phone without one only helps it along. I plan to stick with my Droid 2 Global until the new Motorola releases a Droid 5. It’s going to have to be pretty spectacular for me to give up my unlimited. The Droid 4 just didn’t cut it. Hopefully Google whips them in to shape.

  • I want a big honking succesor to the DROID PRO. Hell yeah. I like my phone keyboards like my burgers — no sliders. I don’t care if it’s enormous. I have dropped my Pro a dozen times and it’s all “Whatev, I still work.”

  • When I moved from my OG to my Bionic (which I promptly returned and got a GNex, but that’s beside the point), I really disliked the fact that I had given up my physical keys. I’ve since gotten used to it and it’s not really a big deal, but they were quite helpful with a lot of things on the OG and I really missed them for a while. I think all high-end smartphones have been moving toward that solid-slab-of-glass look because it’s clean and trendy, but QWERTY should definitely still hold a place in the smartphone market (if no where else but Android).

  • In case you didn’t know, the DROID4 will most probably be released in Europe and on AT&T.

    The AT&T version, with LTE support, is XT898. XT896 and XT897 are most probably the European and South American versions, and there are rumours the European one will also include LTE on the fabulous world-renowned 2.4-2.7 GHz band that is widely used across the planet (except the US).

  • I had a Droid 3 and bought a Galaxy Nexus in Jan and got switched to a Razr Maxx last month. I miss the physical keyboard to be honest. I tried out a Droid 4 and liked it. I think I may end up with that. I use my phone for work and sometimes bang out long texts and or emails. I would buy a Nexus product with a physical keyboard and would love to have the opportunity to buy a completely state of art phone with a 4.3 inch Super Amoled 720p screen, ICS and an awesome onscreen keyboard. The OG Droid was a game changer despite the awful keyboard. It was miles ahead of my HTC Touch Pro 2 at the time in 2010. If Motorola came out with a truly state of the art Droid 5 it could be a game changer again. I would definitely buy it.

  • how bout a mix of both keyboards??? what if there were a slide-out touchscreen that would be your keyboard ,or an off-the-main screen gamepad???

    • Why would you bother with a seperate keyboard, if it were just going to be another glass touchscreen? That defeats the purpose of this whole article.

  • I love phone with keyboards. Coming from the DROID and Droid 3, I wish the Nexus had one as well. It’d be the perfect phone IMO. The Droid 4 is a step down IMO. I despise the design, and I hate how they redesigned the keyboard from the Droid 3, even if slightly(minus the new glow outline), and kept to the crappy screen(though good in light).

  • I went from the OG Droid to the GNex as well. I tried using Swype on the OG but was never really satisfied. I’m in love with Swiftkey on the GNex. I type less characters. No need for a physical keyboard for me anymore.

  • This looks like a dream come true, but honestly, I hope they improved on the keyboard, & that it’s not just the Droid 4 Keyboard on it, which in my opinion, kinda sucks. I think the best Droid Keyboard was on the Droid 3, but I guess we’ll have to wait & see. Here’s to a Nexus Phone with a QWERTY keyboard at Google IO 2012.

  • YES!!! In two years Verizon will probably push me off the unlimited data plan so I’ll have to switch to sprint. This would be the perfect phone to replace my Droid 4.

  • I would kill for a gorgeous screen, a screen size similar to the GNex with on screen keys, either stock android or Moto Blur and a decent keyboard. I used the OG Droid from launch straight to a GNex and after 2 years the keys were warped and not the most pleasant to use but I still used it FOR EVERY TEXT MESSAGE. I just love having the keys and the tactile feel of the keyboard for messaging.

  • I went from a Droid 1 to Nexus last December, and while most of the time I am fine with the onscreen keyboards I do like a physical keyboard sometimes. Especially when doing work, Linux console work is so much easier with a physical keyboard.

    • Amen to that. I can’t imagine trying to edit shell scripts without a physical keyboard. When you use ssh on your phone more than Facebook the need for a physical keyboard becomes readily apparent.

  • After getting used to a touch screen, I don’t see a need for a physical keyboard. Although it’s great that Android provides for people that prefer them.

  • Back when ICS launched with the GNex I and I think a lot of people too thought most oem’s were going to move towards on screen buttons but they never did. I haven’t seen any other phones with them besides the leaked pics of new Motorola devices. So I wonder if Google had anything to do with that since they acquired Motorola. What do you guys think?

  • I honestly liked having the physical keys on my OG Droid. My wife prefers the physical keys. Every time she tries to use on-screen, it usually ends in a fit of rage & near-curse words! It’s generally good entertainment for me. I’ve been rocking the FlexT9 keyboard since I got my T’Bolt last year and have never been happier, but I’d consider a physical keyboard again if the phone were thin enough.

  • VERY excited about this. I have tried oh-so-very hard to migrate off my D2 into a non-physical keyboard. Not worth the sacrifice to me. No matter what virtual keyboard I try, it never even comes close to the speed and accuracy I can achieve with my physical QWERTY. Go Moto!

  • Choice is good. Let’s hope the screen isn’t a p.o.s like the D4. Also, for the love of God, is a Global capable phone too much to ask for? Speaking of which, I last heard that the D4 IS global capable but the suits/ass clowns at Verizon have disabled the function — they promise to enable it at some remote date in the future…likely when the phone is near obsolete and has reached end of life status.

    • If they treat it like the RAZR/Maxx then it will gain the “Global” feature with the ICS update. The option for Global radios is available on the ICS leak I have for my MAXX

  • That seems to be the exact keyboard from the Droid 4. This could be the impetus for my wife to let me switch us over to Sprint 🙂

  • Seeing fully rounded corners on a Moto device looks so unnatural to me. I would certainly consider a slider but it would have to be like this. Top of the line or near top specs (esp screen) If I am using a keyboard chances are there is something important on the screen im using it for. Above all else, I want a phone that looks and feels the exact same as a non slider with an extremely thin and minimal yet durable keyboard that I can use when necessary or when I feel. Like the aesthetics of the one x in a slide out keyboard but the phone could pass for a onex when the keyboard is not in use

  • Dont be surprised if it has the same 1.5Ghz S4 as the RAZR HD.

    Still trying to find out if it has the 720p screen.

  • I keep hearing on this site “I don’t like phyiscal keyboards so nobody should make them.” Well, a lot of people do. Coming from a D2 to a Gnex, I really miss the keyboard for some things–passwords with numbers and special characters, and writing longer messages. Hopefully if the rumors are true and there will be five nexuses next fall, one of them will have a keyboard and I won’t have to choose between a nexus and a device with a keyboard.

    • Not only all that, but we really shouldn’t have to compromise on screen size and uber-factor when getting a QWERTY phone. I really think this fact as much as the fact they slowly quit making them has contributed to their falling. Ever since iPhone, the uber-phone competition has always been slates like the iPhone with QWERTY stuff being bargain options to move QWERTY feature phone sorts into smartphone land while ignoring that some of us smartphone people might want an uberdevice with QWERTY and Huge screen and the rest and maybe only compromise a bit on total thickness.

      I am all for new QWERTY devices, but can say right now I will NOT consider them if they aren’t exactly equal to the other top device option on aspects other than maybe thickness and battery size. IF they focus on thickness and sacrifice battery size, I better have an upgrade option to thicker bigger battery option though. These 4″ QWERTY options just won’t cut it though after I have tried a 4.65-5.3″ device.

    • Same user here; D2 to GNex. I am with you 100%. It just seems that at least once a day I am doing something on my phone where i think to mysaelf: “d**m, this would be so much easier on my D2.” I also just love the feel of actually pressing buttons physically instead of tapping on the screen.

      I like the Galaxy Nexus a hell of alot, but if it were a little thicker with a QWERTY physical on it… oh baby.

      I have never bought a phone at full value before but if this phone is released by google in the fall with the right specs… I may just have to break that streak.

        • I wore out my keyboard to the point i had to replace it with another one on my D1. After i wore it out and was replacing the keyboard I started using voice to text option for everything and haven’t looked back. I notice with the voice to text option with the microphone, as long as you speak like a robot using a mono-toned voice its pretty accurate.

  • If they can keep the damn things relatively thin (maybe like 10mm thick?) and keep the same screen sizes that phones without physical keyboards, then I don’t see why not. I have been using my Nexus since release…if they had one with a physical board and basically the same size and obviously the same specs, I would have bought it.

  • Unlock this bootloader and throw it on VZW and I’ll gladly trade my Nexus for it!!!

    • I think it’s clear by now that an unlockable bootloader is something that Motorola just isn’t going to offer.

  • my wife can’t live without a physical keyboard, i know that. there’s still a market for them.

    • i’m really curious as to why i’m getting downvoted for answering the question at the end of the article. perplexing.

      • I think it is the phrase “can’t live without”. Some people seem to take that way to literally and down vote any message containing that phrase with any usage short of “can’t live without oxygen”.

        Also, I once made the mistake of saying that I felt crippled having to use an onscreen keyboard instead of a physical one and I felt like I got the equivalent of an electronic stoning. For the record, my dad is a paraplegic and I volunteer to help the NDAD (Association for the Disabled). But, when I can only see half of my screen and I can only type half as fast I think it is an apt hyperbole. I think some people just look for an exuse to be offended.

    • My wife is the same. She won’t even consider a phone without a physical keyboard.

    • My wife and I both prefer physical keyboards. I’m just not going to Sprint for one. We’ll stick with our Strats for a while. Not the greatest, but my Droid was getting long in the tooth, and her Ally sucked gangrenous monkey testicles. Looked at the D4, but I found the lack of a replaceable battery untenable.

  • Locked bootloader, probably Pentile screen, Blur, and virtually no developer or manufacturer support? One word: pass. Pass with extreme prejudice.

    • If you’re referring to the D3, the support has been limited more, I think, because of Verizon than Moto. Also, Sprint has usually been good with their bootloaders. Comparatively, anyway. I would jump ship for this.

    • i’ve been wondering this for a while too but didn’t want to be “that guy”. what’s up with android life? it’s a ghost town, and was even when it used to get updated after the grand re-opening. can we please just reunite the sites already? it was a failed experiment. all the good non-verizon/non-droid news gets posted on this site anyway.

      • Agreed. I only occasionally visit AL. I typically only go there if I’m reading a “From AL” article on DL. Time to make the merger happen, guys! Nice try, but we can’t all have 2 awesome websites. 1 will suffice for us.

      • Holy cow, you’re right! The last posting in there is dated for May 24–Almost a full month ago! That’s like three years in tech time! I just think they don’t want to take it behind the shed cause the gunshot will cause too much attention. Best to just put it in the basement…

  • Toward the end, the only thing I used my OG Droid’s physical keyboard for was sliding it in and out just to have something to play with. That’s what she said.

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