We definitely experimented with some less orthodox keyboard configuration. One member of our team tried to convince us that with the D-Pad we could build an innovative 'Quaternary search' (that's a 4 way binary search).
When we tested it with actual people, they all were able to enter text faster with a good old QWERTY keyboard than anything else.
Here's a sneak peek of a user actually using it. (and a bit more candy to go with it)
