Comment by Marsymars

The delta between modern soft keyboards and phone-size physical keyboards just seems too small to make the bulk of a physical keyboard worthwhile.

If someone is really "typing long emails or editing documentation with just their phone's touch keyboard" they're probably not doing that while standing/walking, so they're probably better off getting a little stand for their phone, and a portable Bluetooth keyboard, which will be far more functional than a keyboard for thumbs.