Even folks like myself who swear by sliding QWERTY keyboards want the option of having an on-screen keyboard. It comes in handy for those times when you don't have both hands free to type. That's why one was added to the T-Mobile G1, and also why Pre users have been complaining at Palm to give the Pre one during its next update. Unfortunately, Palm doesn't appear to be listening.

The good news is, someone was. According to Pre Central a developer named WebShell has put together a native, onscreen keyboard for the Pre. This new hack apparently works in portrait and landscape mode. It's still in pre-alpha phase at the moment, so only developers and people willing to deal with some extra hassle should bother downloading it at this point. That said, you'll want to keep an eye on this development for when they get a final version out.

While it's good that these folks put together a useful keyboard app for the Pre, it's kind of annoying that it took this long for us to get one. Palm really dropped the ball here, and there's no good reason why they still haven't even addressed the issue. There's a reason the Pre is getting eaten alive by Apple in the marketplace, and Palm's lack of responsiveness to issues with their product is a big part of that reason.