HTC P4350 (aka HTC Herald) opens the wrong way?

I was having a conversation with a software developer the other day and he mentioned something about the HTC P4350 that, while I’d noticed, I hadn’t really considered.

Take a look at the picture above. Those of you with an HTC TyTN or Orange M3100 notice anything ‘strange’? The keyboard on the HTC P4350 opens in the other direction to every other sliding keyboard device from HTC.

“So what!?” I hear you say. Well from a developer point of view you can no longer make the assumption that when the keyboard is open and the device is in landscape that the keyboard is to the left of the screen, now it could be to the right too!

So should anyone else care? Well as I look at the device I think that the keyboard opening to the right is going to suit me better. As a left handed person it will be easier for me to slide open with one hand.

Is there a good reason for this change or is it just because the designer at HTC is left handed? Any thoughts?

Matt

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