I think early BlackBerries had that too.

But I think an even better input method is the scrollball, and the small trackpad on later BlackBerries. I have the last one that had a trackpad (the 2014 Classic), and to this day I'm still amazed at how fast and precise it is. Rather than moving a mouse cursor like laptops, it moved the focus from control to control. Combined with a hardware back button beside it, you had full control over the device by moving your thumb slightly. It worked with gloves too! And desktop websites were not an obstacle because it gave you a proper mouse pointer that could precisely target small controls.

Nothing else comes close to it. The Classic had a small touch screen compared to today's phones, but I think a trackpad paired with today's phablets would be a great combination.

I remember the Rockbox firmware for MP3 players having something similar. I was (and am still) amazed how efficient the UI/navigation was in relation to how limiting the (hardward) controls were on some of those players. It took a little while to understand how it works, but that tiny bit of learning curve was well worth it.

This was also present on early Sony phones (1998-ish)

Top left corner here https://youtu.be/htzwTVNfsRI

And a bit later (2002-2007) the Sony Ericsson smartphone series based on Symbian: the P800, P900, P910, P990 and P1.

How about the dial on the original iPod?