The original Samsung Genio, which is sometimes accompanied by the ‘Touch’ suffix, was a great entry level touch screen mobile phone for teens, but the one thing that it lacked was a decent enough interface to make messaging fast. And given that texts are sent in their billions each year in the UK, the addition of a full QWERTY keypad would make a whole lot of sense. With that in mind, the arrival of the Samsung Genio Slide does make a whole lot of sense. Not to be confused with the Genio QWERTY, which went for the monoblock design that aped BlackBerry smartphones with a slightly cramped keypad, the Samsung Genio Slide keypad is housed beneath the touch screen, out of sight until it is needed.

Samsung has done a good job of making the Genio Slide as similar to its touch-only cousin and very little weight or thickness is added to the package by the presence of the full QWERTY keypad. In fact the Genio Slide manages to be considerably thinner than other rival handsets that offer similar functionality. Messaging phones with large keypad and low prices are not particularly revolutionary, but the Genio Slide does prove itself to be the next step in the natural evolution of the technology.

The Samsung Genio Slide keypad has a total of four rows of physical buttons to get your fingers around. The letters of the alphabet are doubled up with symbols and numbers as secondary inputs and the shift key that activates these additional entries is located conveniently beneath the left thumb of the user, just as you would expect to find it on a full computer keyboard. You also get a backspace key, arrow keys for navigation and a couple of hotkeys that open up the messaging and browser functions quickly.

In terms of layout, the Samsung Genio Slide keypad offers all of the keys you would expect and a couple of extras thrown in. The next consideration is how easy it is to type on the keypad. Because Samsung has not been left with a whole lot of room for the keys in order to stick to the same basic design as the Genio Touch, you do not get kind of offset layout that you would on a full sized keyboard. Some larger full QWERTY phones do offer this, but in this price bracket and for a phone this size this is an acceptable limitation. Samsung has given each key as much area to work with as possible and as with all full QWERTY handsets you will need to take a while to familiarise yourself with the keypad before you get your typing up to speed. Once you are into the zone, the keypad will let you type far quicker than predictive text or an onscreen keypad could afford. An important facet of any keypad is the feel of the keys whilst you type and the action of the Samsung Genio Slide keypad is pleasingly chunky, for want of a better word. This does not mean that it is difficult to get your fingers round, but rather that each button is firm without needing force and supple without being flimsy. Considering that this is an entry level phone, the keypad feels decidedly premium in quality.

The question you may be asking is ‘why should I bother with a full QWERTY mobile when it has a touch screen anyway?’ This is a perfectly valid concern, but in reality the touch screen technology, particularly in entry level phones, is not quite up to the task of constant messaging yet. Even high end mobiles like the Nokia N900 and the Motorola Milestone have stuck with full QWERTY keypads to add to the touch screens they also sport. So for the Genio Slide, the addition of a keypad should be welcomed with open arms.

LG always looks to create a broad range of mobile phones in order to accommodate the tastes and requirements of all audiences. It has also been one of the key forces behind the popularity of the touch screen display, examples of which adorn a majority of mobile phones of low and high cost and quality. It is no surprise then that the GW520 has been created by LG in order to appeal to people who want the interface enhancements of a touch screen mobile in conjunction with a traditional physical interface to use when they cannot get to grips with the peculiarities of touch screen technology. In fact the GW520 joins a growing group of hybrid handsets from LG and other manufacturers which opt for a dual interface that blends the old with the new. The results in this case are rather impressive.

The LG GW520 keypad has the standard layout of a full QWERTY keyboard in terms of letters and also sports directional keys for navigation within the body of the text that you are typing. LG has taken the decision to provide good gaps between each individual key, which is something that higher end devices sometimes lack. This means it is clear precisely which key you are hitting and there is a very shallow learning curve for getting used to the keypad. Sometimes these hybrid handsets suffer from an overlooked flaw in the placement of the keys, but the LG GW520 keypad is difficult to fault from a technical point of view.

The keypad is hidden beneath the 2.8 inch touch sensitive screen, which needs to be shifted sideways to allow access. This sliding mechanism is fairly standard amongst mobiles of this type, but it is worth bearing in mind that the screen does not tilt as it does with some slightly more expensive mobiles. This would not be a problem but for the fact that the horizontal viewing angles on the screen are compromised by a drop off in the contrast levels. For standard use this is not a big issue, but you will have to angle the phone towards you slightly when you are using the LG GW520 keypad. That being said, the mechanism itself feels sturdy enough to withstand very frequent keypad access and the build quality of the keypad seems to have been given more attention than any other area of the phone, which is sensible, although corners being cut elsewhere does hint at the low price of this mobile.

The LG GW520 keypad can be used in conjunction with a number of applications which are preinstalled on the phone. It is obviously excellent when you want to type long text messages and the GW520 also has compatibility with push email for those who have a business account that they would like to access directly from their phone. If you have a webmail account you can use the built-in browser to view and reply to messages online, or you can download applications for your webmail client for quick access. The GW520 also has some social networking widgets to make use of and if you have a Facebook account you can use the keypad to keep in touch with your friends, family and colleagues. Whether you want to reply to a message or post your thoughts in your status you can do so swiftly with the LG GW520 keypad.

As soon as you open the keypad the phone will automatically rotate the screen so that it is in the landscape position. The physical keypad has advantages over an onscreen touch sensitive alternative, as there is far more room for viewing back the text that you have already typed and it makes editing much easier too.

There is currently something of a boom in the market for mobile phones which target a younger demographic. Relatively simplistic handsets are being released by a majority of the major manufacturers which focus on the function that teenagers and young adults are likely to use most: namely SMS texts. In the past most youthful phone owners would wear their thumbs to the bone using alphanumeric keypads and predictive text. But this is the age of the full QWERTY keypad, borrowed in part from business phones and now available on pared down handsets such as the LG GW300.

The LG GW300 keypad has all of the keys that you would expect to find on a standard computer keyboard. That means it is designed specifically to make typing SMS texts and emails far easier and quicker. There is a bit of a learning curve for using the LG GW300 keypad if you have not previously used a mobile QWERTY keypad. The individual keys are fairly close together and at first you may find yourself making quite a few mistakes. Luckily, once you get the hang of it, things become a lot more straightforward and since it is aimed at younger users whose supple minds and nimble fingers can adapt to changes in technology at a pace, this should not prove to be a problem.

The design and layout of the LG GW300 keypad is suspiciously reminiscent of the BlackBerry Curve and the keypad is virtually the only noteworthy piece of technology included with the GW300. However, you will get access to a built in email client which you can sync with any existing account in order to send and receive emails directly to your mobile. Many other phones have offered this for some time now, but there are few other low-priced devices of this kind which have the QWERTY keyboard.

There is also a built in Facebook application as well as a web browser. The main issue with both of these inclusions is that they are somewhat hampered by the lack of a high speed 3G connection. However, the LG GW300 keypad does at least make it easy to update your status or type in search fields when browsing, even if the individual pages will take longer to load than you might like.

The LG GW300 keypad itself makes the phone broad and pleasing to look at, with plenty of detailing on the keypad highlighting the subtle colour scheme which is offset by the predominantly black fascia. Some may be slightly put off by the size of this device, but usability comes at the cost of portability in most cases. LG already has a phone with a full QWERTY keypad in the LG KS360, though in this case the keys are tucked away beneath the screen which has to be slid sideways to give the user access. Overall the LG GW300 keypad is easier to use and more durable than the other mid ranged texting alternatives, although some texting buffs may prefer the more simplistic design the hidden keypad on the KS360 affords.

For all intents and purposes the GW300 is a lightweight business and social networking handset that takes its technological and design cues from handsets released over a year ago. This is not necessarily a bad thing as it does at least represent value for money. The GW300 may see some stiff competition from the Samsung Genio QWERTY as their feature sets and keypad layouts are very similar. The GW300 does, however, have slightly more grown-up styling and the keypad does not feel as tacked-on as it does on the Samsung model.

The HTC Touch Pro 2 is an interesting beast. It has a large touch sensitive interface, uses Windows Mobile and looks suspiciously like a Nokia N97 from certain angles. But it is the HTC Touch Pro 2 keypad that sets it up as a business/smartphone hybrid. It aims to blitz the competition in terms of the levels of communication and connectivity it facilitates and at the core of its assault is the innovative design of its keypad.

Phones featuring full QWERTY keypads are not new. Teenagers have been using such devices for years in order to text each other. HTC has previously produced a smartphone with a full QWERTY keypad hidden beneath the main screen. However, not every QWERTY keypad has been particularly well thought out. In the past they have suffered from unresponsive keys, oddly placed controls and difficult to use interfaces. The HTC Touch Pro 2 keypad aims to rectify all of these previous issues.

The first thing you will notice about the Touch Pro 2 keypad is the way in which the keys are organised. There are five rows in total, with numbers sitting along the top and the space bar and other controls along the bottom, sandwiching the main alphabetic keys in-between. The Touch Pro 2 even manages to squeeze in directional arrows which make editing documents and writing long emails far less painful than on other similar devices.

The keys benefit from being well spaced out and the handset itself looks like it has been stretched slightly in order to improve typing comfort, perhaps at the cost of some of its good looks. The keys are also slightly raised, which although a small adjustment improves the typing no end. The final benefit of the QWERTY keypad is that the keys are misaligned, just as they are on a standard computer keypad. This makes typing feel intuitive and natural straight out of the box, with only a minimal learning curve in order to get to grips with the interface. Whilst other full QWERTY keypads often present clustered, difficult to distinguish keys, the Touch Pro 2 is in a different league all together.

Another core strength of the HTC Touch Pro 2 keypad is that it works in perfect harmony with the screen. Other manufacturers have simply included a slide mechanism in order to hide the QWERTY keypad, but here HTC has integrated the slide function into the design in a practical way. The screen not only slides upwards to reveal the keypad, but it also angles itself towards the user. This means that when you are typing on the keypad the screen is at a far more suitable slant. It also means that you can sit the Touch Pro 2 on a flat surface such as a desk and type without having to strain your neck over to look at the screen.

The one minor issue which some may pick up on is the thickness of the Touch Pro 2. It is caused by the keypad, the angled screen and the powerful hardware hidden beneath its skin. The Touch Pro 2 could not really be described as sleek and it is important to realise that this handset is not trying to gain traction in the iPhone marketplace. It is, instead, firmly aimed at the serious business user. Obviously the keypad helps enormously when typing emails, messages and documents and there are other business-specific communication functions as well. One particularly focused aspect of the Touch Pro 2’s design is the Straight Talk function. This is essentially a powerful speaker phone function designed for use in board meetings and it is certainly a nice touch for potential business users.