GLOBAL – Last week, we asked you about how you prefer to operate your phone. Do you prefer to touch, and use a virtual on-screen keyboard, or are physical buttons a necessity? And of course, there are all kinds of hybrid opportunities from full keyboards stowed underneath the screen to the new ‘Touch and Type’ Nokia X3. But which option caught Conversations readers’ fancy? Find out after the break.

The results are actually very evenly split between what are arguably the two most technically advanced options: full touch or a hybrid touch-with-QWERTY device. Full touch got 43 per cent of the vote, while touch with QWERTY scored just under 42 per cent.

The remaining options came in at well under ten per cent, with touch plus twelve keys leading the runners-up – good news for the X3 team.

Of course, there were no budgetary constraints in the poll, while in real-life there are, sadly. I think the results also demonstrate that readers here tend to be technically very savvy and well-aware of the latest trends. In the global market, regular, 12-button, non-smartphone devices represent 80 per cent of the market. That’s changing, though, since even low-end devices now are internet-capable to some extent, can do Web, Instant Messaging and email, and offer multimedia functions. The definition of what constitutes a smartphone continually evolves – perhaps making the term ultimately not very useful.

Anyway, speculation aside, here are the full results: