How essential are smart phone keyboards?

John Gruber says people who’ve never used a smart phone with a keyboard won’t miss them. Tim Bray differs. I’m not sure where I come down in this debate. I like keyboards – I use one all day, but I’ve only had an iPhone, and I don’t regret not having a physical keyboard. It could be that I just don’t know what I’m missing, but that’s Gruber’s point. There are a lot of people who won’t know what they’re missing. I do know that I love the fact that the iPhone is remarkably thin and small and has a huge screen, and I am sure you’d have to give that up to some extent to have a keyboard. I’m willing to remain ignorant of the physical keyboard advantage.