Back in 2010 I was given an HTC Touch Pro 2 that ran the positively ancient Windows Mobile (hence "given"). Someone had ported both Android and Ubuntu to it, and I used it with Android as my primary phone for some months. The hardware was great, the UX on Android was OK, but had enough quirks that it was replaced with an LG P500 (which lasted for 2.5 years; now that was a great phone).
Ugh I had a Touch Pro (the first one) on Alltel. It was a piece of junk. I ended up having four of them. Every time I took it back because something was broken, I waited for weeks to get a replacement to find out that the replacement had something else broken. Alltel was being bought by AT&T/Verizon at the time, so they weren't getting new phones and the Touch Pro was the best phone they had so they couldn't replace my phone with a new, similar phone. Sprint was giving everyone who had a Touch Pro a Touch Pro 2 for free, there were so many issues.
When I finally was able to get a new phone, I got a Palm Pre which was (and still is) the best phone I ever used until HP ruined it.
An HTC Touch Pro 2 was my primary device for years. It had the best keyboard that I have ever used on a phone. I've been trying to get used to software keyboards for three years, and I still _HATE_ them. Modern phones are worthless, and it's the lack of any means of inputting (discreetly - I hate talking at my phone) more than a few sentences that makes them junk.
Why don’t you just get a keyboard case then? I’ve no direct experience, but this[0] came up on my first search query and looks reasonable enough and inexpensive.
