Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ keyboard accessory draws nostalgia, mockery

'What year is it?'

Samsung has released a clip-on Qwerty keyboard for its new phones, provoking the scorn and nostalgia of the internet.

Phone companies have been gradually dropping hardware keyboards in favour of touchscreens. But the change isn’t appreciated by everyone — and unwillingness to switch over to the new technology kept BlackBerry popular for years.

Now, Samsung is trying to harvest some of that nostalgia for real keyboards, selling a block that slips onto the bottom of the phone and lets users type on real keys. The company had been rumoured to be planning such a product, and unveiled it alongside its new phones last night.

The Samsung keyboard even got its own (mostly unfunny) parody account.

The release follows a similar attempt to bring back the hardware keyboard by Typo, a company backed by American Idol host Ryan Seacrest. That worked by connecting to the phone via Bluetooth, and clipping onto its bottom, extending the length of the phone downwards.

But Typo had to stop selling the keyboard following a patent dispute with BlackBerry.

Instead, the Samsung keyboard slots on top of the phone. The keys press down onto its screen, so that it doesn’t need to be paired with the phone or have power.

The S6 Edge Plus, which was released alongside the keyboard accessory

When the keyboard is finished with, it can be slotted onto the back of the phone in the same way.