Palm Pre to get third-party developed virtual keyboard?

Remember when the G1 launched without a virtual QWERTY keyboard? The fix came from the Cupcake firmware upgrade which included a decent QWERTY for Android pioneers. History has repeated itself with the Palm Pre. The handset was launched with just the sliding QWERTY pad, to the dismay of many users. With the Pre, a group of third party developers is working on bringing a virtual QWERTY keyboard to the phone.

Actually, the Pre already does come equipped with a keyboard on screen that changes orientation and is available in all applications and all fields. Currently, the only thing that this keyboard can be used for is to click on symbols or characters that are not included with the physical, sliding keypad. The developers goal is to attatch letters and numbers to the pop-up display that currently is on the phone, and viola! You would then have a full, virtual QWERTY keyboard that would work in landscape mode and in portrait mode without opening the slider.

Progress is being made, but the developers state that the current software should be characterized as pre-alpha and extreme caution taken if you decide to download it on to your Pre. For more information, check out the source link.

source: webosinternals via Brighthand