Nokia E90 - does the keyboard live up to expectations?

Oh dear.  Initial reports on the Nokia E90 are trickling in, and like a warm rivulet of liquid down your inner thigh it’s not particularly great news.  A bone of contention - and demonstrating just how subjective smartphones really are - is the keyboard.  My Symbian readily heap praise on it:

“Only good words can be said about the keyboard. It has the same height as the keyboard of the 9500 and the same width as the keyboard of the 9300(i). And, just like with the dimensions of the device, it’s a PERFECT combination. What’s more, in contrast to 9500’s and 9300’s flat keys, the keys in the E90 are slightly convex and shaped in the way that makes you clearly feel where each key begins or ends”

This, however, stands distinctly at odds with The Register’s hands-on report, where they find the keyboard to be too small to touch-type on and perhaps too broad to comfortably thumb-type with: “Alas, unless you have very small fingers indeed, you’re going to be disappointed.”

It gets worse, as their reviewer finds that accuracy when using the thumbs is sub E70 or E61.  So far I’ve seen plenty of excited links to the My Symbian review - people really are happy to see a return of the Communicator styling, and there’s no denying that the handset is a powerhouse - but very few second-opinions on the keyboard, and my worry would be that after the initial flurry of excited buying there’ll be plenty of letdown-complaining that won’t help Nokia one bit.

[via Origami Portal]