Video of the G1’s new virtual keyboard in action

I hate the keyboard on the G1, T-Mobile’s first HTC-built phone running on Google’s Android platform. So it’s with great pleasure that I present the video below, a G1 running a fully virtual keyboard on its screen — yes, like the iPhone.

This virtual keyboard is part of the so-called “cupcake” development branch for Android that Google is working on. (You can read about other cupcake work here.) It gives the G1 (and other Android phones), an iPhone-like virtual keyboard, for those, like me, who either can’t stand the ergonomics of the physical keyboard, or hate that you have to slide the device open every time you want to use it.

It’s not clear from the video if this virtual keyboard will work in both vertical and horizontal mode (it’s only shown in vertical mode), but this is definitely a step in the right direction as there will undoubtedly be quite a few Android phones released in 2009 that have no keyboard at all — like say, perhaps, a G2?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4Nvy3iRffM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&w=480&h=385]