HTC’s QWERTY sliders like the Sprint Mogul or AT&T Tilt may work great as a text entry device, but dialing on the touchscreen or even the keyboard sucks a big one. Their latest patent shows a device that combines the texting convenience of a QWERTY keyboard but keeps a dialpad in as well, without having to have extra thickness like the Helio Ocean.
How do they do it? By having the phone slide diagonally into the QWERTY position, then diagonally back into the dialing position. Hopefully, there’s also a sliding into the “closed” position where all keys are hidden, but seeing as how the keyboard is larger than the screen, that seems unlikely. Maybe that’s why the idea is just a patent now. [UnwiredView]
