Motorola Droid 5 photos leak out — but will anyone care about a new physical keyboard phone?

Let’s face it, the era of smartphones with physical keyboards is just about over. Software keyboards like SwiftKey offer great typing experiences, and even the hardline physical keyboard fans are being swayed away.

So it’s tough to get excited for these alleged leaked photos of Motorola’s Droid 5, which recently popped up on the Chinese social network Weibo (via The Verge). The device is reportedly being developed for Verizon’s network, where the original Droid launched with a massive ad campaign from the carrier (and was notable for being the first truly successful Android phone).

Just like the latest Droid devices on Verizon, the Droid 5 photos resemble Motorola’s older, boxy hardware design. There’s a good chance that Motorola was contracted with Verizon to release these new Droids, which is why it’s spending far more energy promoting the Moto X.

Outside of BlackBerry’s new Q10 phone, we’re not seeing many new smartphones with physical keyboards these days. That scarcity could end up working in Motorola’s favor — though I have a feeling the company would much rather working on building out its new Moto X brand.

via VentureBeat http://venturebeat.com/2013/08/24/motorola-droid-5-photos-leak-out-but-will-anyone-care-about-a-new-physical-keyboard-phone/