What is the least-sucky Android phone with a physical keyboard?

The newer blackberries are capable of running Android apps. http://www.cnet.com/how-to/the-easiest-way-to-install-android-apps-on-bb10/ The best one of the new crop is, in my opinion, the Passport, which is not on Verizon; however Verizon does offer the updated Classic, which runs BB 10 and thus is capable of running android apps, and using the Amazon Appstore. So since you says you don't root your phone, it seems unlikely that you'll miss the fact that Android is built on top of linux; BB 10 is built on QNX so at least it's still *nix, ish.

Just chiming in to say you are going to have a hard time with this. We use Verizon and my wife likes a slide out keyboard. Basically they really don't have any models available and it doesn't seem like its a popular enough feature to stock. We spent a lot of time finding hers and from what I was told they are phasing them out.

I love physical keyboards, but they just aren't very common anymore. I used to usehttp://www.virginmobileusa.com/shop/cell-phones/kyocera-rise-phone/features/ and I loved it, but it's a bit outdated now (as reflected by how much cheaper it is now). I'm sure it would be fine if you don't do a lot, but if you're a multitasker like me or using heavy apps, you need something with more power. I rooted mine to get as much crap off of it as possible (rooting is actually extremely easy these days -- feel free to PM me), but it would be a big downgrade from a Galaxy S5. I'm not sure why there isn't a manufacturer making a quality Android phone with a slide out keyboard -- it makes emailing and typing so much faster and less stressful. I've upgraded to a touchscreen phone and it's better in many ways, but I sure miss the qwerty keyboard.

I don't know of any decent Android phone for Verizon that would have a keyboard, hate to say it but you are looking for a Blackberry, I've played with the Passport at work and it really is a very nice device. Depending on how long you can wait I would bet money that Blackberry will switch to running Android asap . Alternately you could get something like this keyboard case for a Galaxy Note: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00OP1N1K6/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/

Hrm. I'll shut up after this, but on reflection if anyone has a suggestion that doesn't fit the Verizon / CDMA constraint but is otherwise good, it's still something to look at, so please fire away. Re: Blackberry, I don't think I could handle it based on their older stuff I've used, but I will take a look just in case. The keyboards are nice.

I used to use a slider on Sprint (so, CDMA) and gave it up only very reluctantly because there really don't seem to be any close-to-current-gen ones. Up until about a year ago I was using a Samsung Epic 4G, but the 0.5GB of RAM started to hurt eventually. The Motorola Photon Q LTE and the LG Mach were, I think, the most recent CDMA sliders, and neither is really fantastic, particularly by comparison to an S5.

Phonescoop search results for http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/finder_results.php?m=s&w=s&sao=y&car=0&avr=r&av_1=y&av_2=y&plr=r&pl_20=y&f58r=r. None of them are very new or full-featured, unfortunately. Two of them appear to be CDMA. Of these, I've used the Kyocera Rise. It's not great, or very fast, and the OS doesn't seem to deal with having a slide keyboard very well. Not the most stable phone ever, but the keyboard was pretty nice to have. I'm with you on the unpleasantness of touchscreen typing. The NEC Terrain looks pretty good to me (the Android flakiness seemed to center on the slide mechanism with the Rise, so I'd hope just having the keyboard out all the time would help.) Some AT&T phones will work on Ting, so I'd probably go that route if I were to get one of these.

As pointed out above, keyboards really aren't the In Thing right now. But modern phones (both Android and iOS) can use Bluetooth keyboards, and there are various companies that make slide-out or flip Bluetooth keyboard cases for cellphones. For example http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/05/boxwave-keyboard-buddy-iphone-case-review/; search for Boxwave Keyboard Buddy. Something like that might be a workable solution for you. I'd certainly recommend a decent phone without a keyboard, and a Bluetooth keyboard, over the crap that's available with built-in keyboards. That said, I used to be you but I found Fleksy (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.syntellia.fleksy.keyboard&hl=en, freemium) to be more or less usable and never actually purchased a slide keyboard.