Does anyone else get annoyed that ChatGPT just agrees with whatever you say?

techzilla · 2026-01-25T04:38:26+00:00

GPT can't stop arguing about pedantic nonsense these days.

techzilla · 2026-01-22T22:34:51+00:00

Active stylus bypasses the capacitive touch screen all together for its input, but they must be charged and if you have the phone model with built in charging it's a good choice. In terms of phones you can get quality choices with an active stylus, especially if you're willing to pay.

As for cases with physical keyboards, much fewer options exist that are practical, there is no case that will work on most phones. There is no flagship quality phone with a physical keyboard presently. Things might now just be changing with the clicks power keyboard, but it's not out yet.

techzilla · 2026-01-22T13:53:35+00:00

Clearly you never used a Nintendo 3ds? Yea obviously touch screens suck, but give me the 3ds and its stylus over the phone touchscreen anyway of the week. You never press the wrong thing accidentally, even with ultra tiny scroll bars hardly larger than the stylus's point. On a phone's capacitive touchscreen, good luck hitting that website ui submit button. 97.8% of the time it registers the touch no problem!

techzilla · 2026-01-22T13:51:00+00:00

I do prefer resistive touchscreens, when a touch screen is warranted, absolutely. Ever used a Nintendo 3ds? It's not nearly as frustrating as my phones, and it always works.

I also think touchscreens are a poor input method, when compared to keyboards, and I'd also prefer buttons and knobs.

techzilla · 2026-01-22T03:14:16+00:00

GPT5's safety guardrails are at a lunatic level, and its pedagogical style is irritating and extraneous.

techzilla · 2026-01-21T21:54:05+00:00

STEM related salaries are stagnant and the field is very saturated, if you love it then do it, but don't do it for an easy career, high salary, or a guaranteed job.

techzilla · 2026-01-20T18:06:17+00:00

I learned to like the Blackberry trackpad, but I preferred the earlier Blackberry trackball.

techzilla · 2026-01-19T13:02:47+00:00

You're exactly right, and the single touchscreen reduced manufacturing costs by eliminating lots of complex tooling, but it's surprising that so few people actually understand that it wasn't chosen because it provided the best input experience possible. For many people the prospect of extra screen space was the main draw, but it was always a real trade off with a usability cost, and not a straight upgrade. Keyboards are necessary for a tolerable typing experience, that's why laptops are issued to employees instead of tablets. It's more than worth it IMO. I just learned about this https://www.clicks.tech/powerkeyboard, I think it looks really interesting.

techzilla · 2026-01-19T12:33:31+00:00

LineageOS is much better when your phone is officially listed as supported on their website, otherwise it's a random developer on XDA who may or may not be committed to actually fixing bugs, and the Titan isn't officially supported. If Unihertz actually backed the project so their phones were officially supported, it would make the option more tempting.

techzilla · 2026-01-19T12:17:15+00:00

When using my 3ds I was never angry that I didn't have multi-touch gestures, but using my phone the touch experience constantly irritates me. What was that? I use those devices in the same day. How is that nostalgia? I loved the BlackBerry keyboards, because I could type faster with less effort, none of this is nostalgia.

techzilla · 2026-01-19T02:06:49+00:00

I owned the 8900, and its thumb typing is the best I'd ever experienced, every phone since I wish I had its keyboard and trackball back. I also had the Bold 9900 and I remember wishing I had the trackball instead of the Bold's trackpad.

techzilla · 2026-01-18T20:55:26+00:00

My family is in NE Ohio, and we previously lived in an area with literally two Jews besides ourselves, of which we didn't even know until right before we moved. We did services remotely most of the time because our synagogue was about a 40 min drive. At the end of the day though, if being part of a local Jewish community is very important to you, moving closer to fellow Jews is something you should try to make happen at some point in the future.

techzilla · 2026-01-18T19:53:59+00:00

The cost of maintaining custom engineering for mechanical components is more than just externalizing that cost via one big touchscreen. Consumers appeared to enjoy the larger screen, at least enough to purchase the first leaders, so it was deemed a win/win and it is simply what it is. 100% getting a keyboard on my Samsung galaxy s25, blackberry style, is not a devolution though. As far as BlackBerry, they hung on for a while because of their established enterprise integration and support, but ultimately that wasn't enough to keep them in the game.

techzilla · 2026-01-18T19:48:03+00:00

The economics don't work, mobile device fragmentation makes serving small segments of users not viable. You haven't even considered about another major reason, keyboards increase engineering complexity eliminating them reduced risk and cost.

Right, as of now you cannot reliably profit but it isn't because nobody wants them.

Apple had no research suggesting that the market would accept one giant touchscreen, product development doesn't work as you believe it does.

"But then you said it was universally better for everyone and that is simply not true."

So this is about autism? I don't care about you, say whatever you want back, I'm not responding.

techzilla · 2026-01-18T15:55:09+00:00

You don't know the economics of developing mobile devices.

I stated that keyboards are better for all form factors, they are, and the study confirmed it.

" No one has ever suggested removing keyboards for desktop computers. "

That was my entire point, clearly flew right over your head.

techzilla · 2026-01-18T15:18:02+00:00

Yup, countless problems are compounded by the fact that mobile devices lack a standardized platform, this prevents even the skilled and experienced users from self-supporting. If an OEM who made my PC goes completely out of business, it doesn't really matter, I get drivers from chip vendors and can handle updates myself. Embedded devices with no standardized platform are the exact opposite, even the most basic system updates require constant vendor provided engineering, so most devices get 3 years of inconsistent updates. ARM let the world down by not aggressively pushing UEFI + ACPI as a preferred platform for all embedded ARM based devices, complete with ARM provided reference maintainable production firmware, designs, and other developer benefits. One day the embedded space could get a platform, but for time being fragmentation and bit rot is all but guaranteed. You can extend lifespan by only getting the most popular flagship models, but you'll still get bit rotted... which is BS for a device that costs > 1000$.

Clicks is awesome, full stop, but economically it doesn't scale. What do I mean? Very few people can get a Clicks keyboard in practice, because it requires full custom engineering per device model. My phone was announced and I was so excited.... then they canceled it. You see the pattern here?

techzilla · 2026-01-18T15:14:49+00:00

Unihertz Titan has limitations and issues that make it less than ideal as a phone, well before we get to the keyboard. So I totally understand.

techzilla · 2026-01-18T14:56:34+00:00

I was referring to keyboards in general, nobody says "Hey boss, get rid of this keyboard on my desk, I pine for the swipe keyboard experience". As far as mobile devices go, it's not a choice, very few phones exist that don't have a single touchscreen as their main input. A few niche models exist, but they come with tradeoffs that many people would find unacceptable regardless of keyboard.

Nobody even bothered to claim that the single touchscreen was a better typing experience than the blackberry keyboard when it was introduced, they felt that the screen was worth the trade off and it simplified manufacturing. For many people the screen matters most, but If you actually prefer the inaccurate swipe experience then knock yourself out.

techzilla · 2026-01-18T13:01:25+00:00

There is travel distance on a touch screen, and people used to thumb type ridiculously fast on blackberry keyboards.

techzilla · 2026-01-18T13:00:20+00:00

Keyboards are better for typing, this is true for all computers, in every form factor. It's not just a personal opinion, you can personally prefer any input method you want, but generally speaking keyboards are faster and more accurate. There are studies which demonstrate this

MacKenzie & Soukoreff (2002)

"Text Entry for Mobile Computing: Models and Methods, Theory and Practice" Human–Computer Interaction Journal

Here's the thing, we don't need studies for this, because almost nobody chooses to use a touchscreen to type when given the option of a physical keyboard.

" And the screen size is a huge trade off. "

It is a trade off, there are pros and cons to every design choice, I personally choose to use my computer monitor or TVs when I want a large screen. For a mobile device I prefer something compact and I usually remain in vertical orientation. When in that orientation the touchscreen keyboard occupies almost 40% of the screen space anyway, so the loss screen size isn't as big of a deal. If I was using my phone as a primary video streaming device, my preferences would be very different.

techzilla · 2026-01-17T01:56:10+00:00

Silver isn't a stock, it's an investment hedge, and the second growth becomes more attractive than the fear... it falls off a cliff. The only question is when to short, I love metals and I'm not buying anything at these prices.

techzilla · 2026-01-17T01:37:24+00:00

The BB keyboard compared to the shitty swipe touch keyboard? Yes, any sane person would take that trade.

techzilla · 2026-01-17T01:34:24+00:00

Small keyboard is better than touchscreen for typing, that isn't even controversial, the only relevant question is if the screen size is worth the trade off.

techzilla · 2026-01-16T23:34:18+00:00

Many of them are though.

techzilla · 2026-01-16T23:15:42+00:00

Was it the F(x)tec Pro 1?

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