it winge

Okay, we admit it: a physical QWERTY keyboard on a smartphone is nice. Tactile analog feedback for pressed keys is still what our digits throb for, and the haptic vibration of a touchscreen just doesn’t quite do it for us yet (although our brains our rapidly getting retrained).

But is a physical keyboard on a smartphone nicer than a larger screen? No. Which is why the iPhone’s solution is so nice: although the virtual, onscreen QWERTY keyboard is less precise than, say, a Blackberry’s, the iPhone’s auto-correction does wonders, and it’s all worth it for widescreen video and browsing capabilities.

But wouldn’t a “best of both worlds” compromise be nice? Sure it would. Too bad Mobile Mechatronics’ iTwinge iPhone and iPod Touch keyboard isn’t it.

Mobile Mechatronics is being a bit vague about what exactly the iTwinge is. All they are claiming is that it is super lower power and doesn’t require any software to work with the iPhone 3G or 3Gs.

The promotional images makes it all even vaguer. Clearly, the iTwinge supplies users with a physical QWERTY keyboard… albeit one overlaid half of the touchscreen. But are depress buttons simply pushing against their applicable virtual key on the touchscreen, or does…