Android 
Admittedly, one of the first things that worried me when I first got the Samsung Galaxy S, was the fact that it didnt have an actual physical hardware Qwerty Keyboard.
Thankfully though, that wasnt a worry very long, thanks to the sweet capacitive touchscreen on the Galaxy S, and the quick UI of Android 2.1. Even with Samsung’s Touchwiz v3.0.
As you can see in the screenshot above, the Qwerty Keyboard occupies the whole of the screen in landscape mode. As you tap on an individual on-screen key, it expands as to acknowledge your input. The keys are large enough that you dont accidentally tap two keys at once (although I’ll be lieing if I said that didnt happen once in a while). There’s a Caps Lock (Shift) key indicated by an up arrow, a number key (that takes you to the list of numbers and symbols) and a settings key on the left side of the spacebar. On the right side is the backspace key and Enter key.
The Numbers/Symbols key takes you through 3 other menus of Numbers, Symbols and Smileys.
The keyboard also adapts to portrait mode though it’s a lot harder to type in this mode though. Unfortunately there wasnt a choice to switch to an Alpha-numeric keypad in this mode though, which would have made one-handed texting a lot easier.
One thing that’s particularly cool about the keyboard on the Galaxy S (and hence Android) is that it adapts according to the situation or menu you’re in. For example, notice the @ symbol and “.com” that appear in the keyboard above, for the email text field.
But if the Qwerty Keyboard doesnt keep you happy, there’s also Swype that’s pre-installed on the Samsung Galaxy S.
For those of you that are unfamiliar with the app, Swype is a totally new way to enter text on a touchscreen device. Used with an on-screen Qwerty keyboard, Swype works by letting users drag (or swipe, hence the name) across the screen from letter to letter in one seamless motion rather than tapping out individual characters. The result is a text input method that is proven to be faster than any other text entry method so far. Heck, a Swype user even officially set the Guinness World Record for fastest text message on a touchscreen mobile phone.
Since Swype doesnt actually ‘look’ different onscreen, instead of taking another screenshot, here’s a quick video overview of Swype and Text Input on the Samsung Galaxy S.
So as you can see, the Samsung Galaxy S does handle Text input quite well. Especially with Swype, which I admit, does actually take a tiny bit getting used to. At first I didnt think much of it, but after a day of usage, I want it pre-installed on every touch device.
Thinking of getting a Samsung Galaxy S? Any questions about Text Input? Something we missed? Do let us know in the comments y’all.
Clinton is currently based in New Delhi, India and is executive editor for UnleashThePhones. He is responsible for all editorial decisions, and covers all forms of Mobile things.
Cj is addicted to caffeine, social media, and technology. Always up for a good conversation, you can reach him through the contact form, his website, on Google Plus 
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