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What I never use for serious productivity is any kind of handheld with a built in keyboard. I am not a particularly keen texter and will only do mobile email if I can do it seriously which for me means using webmail on a machine that gives me full and easy access to attachments and a large enough screen to properly read press releases, view images and deliver viewable Web pages. I’ve got a Vodafone 3G card for my laptop, and that’s fine for this job. I have used devices like BlackBerry and the Treo 650 for mobile email, and they do work for me on occasions, but they are not my ideal choice.

Incidentally I’ve also been using Orange’s brand new SPV C550 for webmail. A recent week’s holiday in Lithuania saw me try to travel extremely light – just the C550 and the LifeDrive for company. Vilnius airport provided a free WiFi connection which was very thoughtful of them and allowed me to use the LifeDrive to clear an overfull inbox of its junk while waiting to board my return flight. While travelling around, the C550 provided my connection to the Internet and email. It worked, but it’s not what I’d choose on an everyday basis.

Anyway, back to keyboards.

Most of the keyboards built into handhelds are woefully inadequate for all but the smallest amount of text generation. Those vendors who have recently announced that they are taking on the clamshell designed HTC Universal Pocket PC such as i-mate with the JASJAR, O2 with the Xda Exec (expect a full review of this on Tuesday) and Orange with the M5000 (expect a full review in a couple of weeks), must be hoping that the keyboard will be a real draw.

Don’t be fooled. I’ve been using this device in pre-final mode (supplied by a vendor I can’t name) for a little while, and the keyboard just isn’t good enough for serous data production. By ‘not good enough’ I don’t mean its hardware design is poor. This aspect is actually very good. The keys are as large as they can be in the (about) 12 centimetres of width and (about) five centimetres of height available. The problem is that this just isn’t enough space for touch typing. Hunt and peck using both thumbs while holding the device in both palms was the fastest and most physically comfortable way I came up with for using the keyboard. Even then, I’d never get the kind of speed I need to make notes in a press conference.

Now, the HTC Universal is the first 3G-capable Pocket PC, and as a mobile video calling terminal, it’s superb. But I think slapping a keyboard into it and turning it into a bulky clamshell device is a prime example of octopussing. Most professional people are still going to need to carry a laptop for serious work and might therefore give this device a miss as it’s just too bulky to carry as well as a laptop. The only possible markets are email-on-the-movers. Lots of these people already trade off functionality for ease of use and small hardware size when they choose BlackBerry, so the game here is to wean them onto a larger device with improved features.

Here you are pitting a large keyboard in a bulky device that has more capable additional software against a small keyboard in a pocket friendly device designed primarily for mobile email. If all you want is the email, what’s the point of carrying the rest around?

At least with the number of vendors taking up this piece of hardware, nobody can be accused of being first by any meaningful margin. They are all fighting for the same market this time. I wonder if it exists.