Many people thought that the apple iPhone is the “sweetest” thing that happened in smartphone technology. Although, the iPhone has a lot of shortcomings (lack of keyboard, camera quality & expandable memory among many) people still find it irresistible not to buy one. In other words it became a status symbol to own an iPhone nowadays – no offense to Motorola Droid.
One of the problems need to be addressed is the iPhone’s lack of physical keyboard. Of course iPhone wouldn’t look as elegant as it is if it has one. However, several iPhone users found it daunting to actually type on a flat screen compare with a Blackberry or Nokia.
One company offered a creative solution to this problem – 4ithumbs. The 4ithumbs looks like a “screen protector” with custom keys positioned similar to iPhone’s keyboard allowing its user to “feel” the keys while typing. This way, user can type faster and with more accuracy. Plus, It doesn’t add weight, detachable during gameplaying, act as a glare protector and can be put at the back of your iPhone when not in use. See the 4ithumbs iPhone video trainer to learn more about this product.
4ithumbs comes in 2 modes either landscape or Standard. It costs $14.95 for the standard mode and $16.95 for the landscape mode. You can get both 4ithumbs mode for a bargain at $19.95.
Better than iTwinge?
Another company, Mobile Electronics, released a different physical keyboard for the iPhone – the iTwinge. Although the iTwinge looks completely different from the 4ithumbs the goal is the same. However, there are a few points we should check before jumping to the conclusion which one is better.
No doubt, the iTwinge comes with a physical “QWERTY” type keyboard and some additional buttons for other iPhone functions(although not all of them). The main disadvantage of iTwinge is that the user will not recognize other iPhone buttons once the user view was changed. For example, the iPhone changes its button functions while browsing the internet such that the .com button is there. With the iTwinge “space” function intact, there’s no way to determine that.
The iTwinge also looks bulkier, and the user may find it annoying where to place the keyboard when not in use. Also, you cannot do typing in the landscape mode since the iTwinge was built in standard mode. The price point of iTwinge is higher than 4ithumbs – $29.99.
Verdict
You can go for the iTwinge if you prefer a slick physical keyboard design for your iPhone. However if you opt the practical keyboard minus the bulkiness, inflexibility and steep pricing, 4ithumbs is definitely for you.
(source: 4ithumbs, mobile electronics)
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Tags: 4ithumbs, 4ithumbs keyboard, Apple Iphone, iphone keyboard, itwinge, itwinge keyboard, mobile electronics keyboard, physical keyboard, screen protector, Techtorial
