The Evolution of Motorola Phones • Hacker News Board

Re: The Evolution of Motorola Phones

#31

Post by jfk13 » Thu, Mar 09, 2023, 10:14 PM UTC

i80and wrote: post #23

bluGill wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only problem is nobody knows how to make a useful keyboard that fits in my pocket. I hate touch screens in general, but a phone in my pocket is useful in many situations where I wouldn't bring a keyboard.

I got to play with an HP Veer circa 2011, a phone the size of a credit card, specifically to try out the keyboard (specifically, I remember visiting this website). It was a far better typing experience than the iPhone SE ever was. Tactile feedback was solid, shockingly so.

But could you swipe entire multi-syllable words in a single fluid gesture, and have it recognise what you meant? Sure, if I were pressing keys one by one, that tactile feedback would be great. But that's hardly ever how I "type" on my phone.

Re: The Evolution of Motorola Phones

#32

Post by korroziya » Thu, Mar 09, 2023, 10:24 PM UTC

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #26

korroziya wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish the CEO's had been right. Keyboards > touchscreens. The iPhone allowed normies to ruin everything. Instead of programs, we have apps. Instead of websites, we have walled gardens. Instead of bbs systems and forums, we have IG, Facebook and TikTok. Blame the normies. Edit: Your downvotes mean nothing to me. I've seen what makes you upvote.

My brother, any time I see someone use 'normie' unironically, I automatically stop listening to what they have to say. 'smart' phones prior to the iphone were terrible from a user experience point of view.

You can pretend that average people aren't making things worse all you want. Does not take away from the truth. Internet was better before the iPhone made it easy for normies to access it.

Re: The Evolution of Motorola Phones

#33

Post by gumby » Thu, Mar 09, 2023, 10:51 PM UTC

The most amusing thing to me about the ROKR was Jobs' clear distain for the device when presenting it on stage.

I wonder how much influence/impetus it provided for the iphone. I'm sure we'll never know (and I'm equally sure there are various articles claiming the impact was lots, or little).

Re: The Evolution of Motorola Phones

#34

Post by simplyaccont » Thu, Mar 09, 2023, 10:58 PM UTC

no mention of motorola e1000 (it was good phone with good feature set but motherboard died on me 3 time) or motorola atrix, which was first phone with dock that you could hook up screen/etc to and run ubuntu desktop from

Re: The Evolution of Motorola Phones

#35

Post by hulitu » Thu, Mar 09, 2023, 11:02 PM UTC

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #26

korroziya wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish the CEO's had been right. Keyboards > touchscreens. The iPhone allowed normies to ruin everything. Instead of programs, we have apps. Instead of websites, we have walled gardens. Instead of bbs systems and forums, we have IG, Facebook and TikTok. Blame the normies. Edit: Your downvotes mean nothing to me. I've seen what makes you upvote.

My brother, any time I see someone use 'normie' unironically, I automatically stop listening to what they have to say. 'smart' phones prior to the iphone were terrible from a user experience point of view.

And after iphone they are still terrible. The lock screen on Iphone is a dark pattern. The emergency button is below the password field. I have always to force myself to not touch this button.

Re: The Evolution of Motorola Phones

#36

Post by cjdoc29 » Thu, Mar 09, 2023, 11:23 PM UTC

I know this isn't a Motorola phone as a standalone, but the StarTac had an accessory that you can add to the back of the phone which was a PDA. This was probably my favorite thing from Motorola (I was a kid).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/redfiremg/3952257080

Re: The Evolution of Motorola Phones

#37

Post by aidenn0 » Thu, Mar 09, 2023, 11:24 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #14

korroziya wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish the CEO's had been right. Keyboards > touchscreens. The iPhone allowed normies to ruin everything. Instead of programs, we have apps. Instead of websites, we have walled gardens. Instead of bbs systems and forums, we have IG, Facebook and TikTok. Blame the normies. Edit: Your downvotes mean nothing to me. I've seen what makes you upvote.

The only problem is nobody knows how to make a useful keyboard that fits in my pocket. I hate touch screens in general, but a phone in my pocket is useful in many situations where I wouldn't bring a keyboard.

The Palm Pre had a surprisingly useful keyboard for its size. I've heard good things about the blackberry keyboard too.

Re: The Evolution of Motorola Phones

#38

Post by 58x14 » Fri, Mar 10, 2023, 12:08 AM UTC

Sad to see no mention of the Motorola Q (1) which I got in 2006. My first mobile phone was also my first ‘smartphone’ with a full keyboard. I didn’t have any cellular service (I was a child) so I downloaded a ~2gb package with 350,000 text-only Wikipedia articles onto a MiniSD card (before microSD!), and that kept me endlessly occupied.

I still have that device, quite possibly my oldest possession. Maybe one day I’ll find a way to get it working.

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Q

Re: The Evolution of Motorola Phones

#39

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Mar 10, 2023, 4:07 AM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #14

korroziya wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish the CEO's had been right. Keyboards > touchscreens. The iPhone allowed normies to ruin everything. Instead of programs, we have apps. Instead of websites, we have walled gardens. Instead of bbs systems and forums, we have IG, Facebook and TikTok. Blame the normies. Edit: Your downvotes mean nothing to me. I've seen what makes you upvote.

The only problem is nobody knows how to make a useful keyboard that fits in my pocket. I hate touch screens in general, but a phone in my pocket is useful in many situations where I wouldn't bring a keyboard.

[deleted]

Re: The Evolution of Motorola Phones

#40

Post by statquontrarian » Fri, Mar 10, 2023, 4:11 AM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #14

korroziya wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish the CEO's had been right. Keyboards > touchscreens. The iPhone allowed normies to ruin everything. Instead of programs, we have apps. Instead of websites, we have walled gardens. Instead of bbs systems and forums, we have IG, Facebook and TikTok. Blame the normies. Edit: Your downvotes mean nothing to me. I've seen what makes you upvote.

The only problem is nobody knows how to make a useful keyboard that fits in my pocket. I hate touch screens in general, but a phone in my pocket is useful in many situations where I wouldn't bring a keyboard.

The BlackBerry KEY2 was great. I was hoping a KEY3 would come out but haven't heard any updates. I recently tried Unihertz and F(x)tec phones but they were both terrible quality (WiFi dropping out and callers intermittently couldn't hear me on a phone call, respectively). For now, I've given up on keyboard phones. Coincidentally, I just bought a Motorola Edge 5G. There wasn't much logic to it: I wanted to be different/hipster, so I didn't just want a Samsung or Pixel. It has been good. The price was good for the quality.