Heavy SMS/Text users: post your thoughts on interface

[Devil's Refugee]

Hi,

I'm looking for real world experiences of owners using the iPhone's keyboard against conventional keypad texting (both with and without T9 enabled), in a variety of conditions (stationery, walking etc). People who send a good few texts every day to get a feel for how the transition went, whether they prefer one to the other and how adaptive the interface is to learn it's way around your texting.

Cheers

[jmacleodpc19]

I was a very heavy (and fast) texter with my old phone. I miss T9 and not having to look at the keys when I'm typing. Also, I wish there was some way to delete one or two messages from the conversation, and not the whole conversation.
But each day I'm getting more comfortable with the iPhone keyboard.

[mnit]

I like it. When on the move it's a little odd, because of course there's no tactile feedback, so you really do have to have your eyes on the phone the whole time (although a little bit of wobbliness can be dealt with, the autocorrect is quite good). It's just odd though, not difficult.

Stationary its brilliant, I can text on my iPhone many times faster than I ever could on a keypad.

[question fear]

One side effect of the iphone kb: Texting while driving goes from dumb to downright impossible, since you can't type without looking.

[dadsp33k]

One side effect of the iphone kb: Texting while driving goes from dumb to downright impossible, since you can't type without looking.

that's a downer for me too. other than that i'm pretty pleased with the interface. i text pretty much all day and night.

[Obey Giant]

All I want is to be able to send multiple texts at the same time and pictures!!!! It seems so simple!!!

[mrtune]

I love the interface. Never had a phone that showed my texts like chat logs. It's a dream for those who have texting conversations with multiple people all the time. The keyboard is nice too. I prefer it over my last smartphone with the physical keys. I text far more with this phone than any other phone i've had in the past.

My only main gripes are with no message forwarding, no multiple recipients, and no mms. These need to be added asap! I've never had a phone that didn't have at least the first two missing texting features I mentioned.

[DoFoT9]

I like it. When on the move it's a little odd, because of course there's no tactile feedback, so you really do have to have your eyes on the phone the whole time (although a little bit of wobbliness can be dealt with, the autocorrect is quite good). It's just odd though, not difficult.

Stationary its brilliant, I can text on my iPhone many times faster than I ever could on a keypad.

dangit thats one of my favourite times to text!!! multitasking hahahaha.
isnt it illegal though??

[Devil's Refugee]

O-ho. No SMS forwarding or multiple recipients ??

Are there any workarounds for this ? I've got a 5 year old phone that does this. How Apple missed simple things like this is pretty striking. I know with each software update new features are likely to be added, but come on did we really expect these features to be missing out of the box ?

[mrtune]

There is no work around to my knowledge. It's a shame. It sucks when I need to send out an event reminder to friends and I have to type my message once for each person. Very time consuming.

[Devil's Refugee]

Please tell me there's at least a cut and paste function for that ?!!! :eek:

[calvy]

texting while you are driving? Good lord people are truly stupid these days.

[erandall38]

Hi,

I'm looking for real world experiences of owners using the iPhone's keyboard against conventional keypad texting (both with and without T9 enabled), in a variety of conditions (stationery, walking etc). People who send a good few texts every day to get a feel for how the transition went, whether they prefer one to the other and how adaptive the interface is to learn it's way around your texting.

Cheers

Standing stationary or siting and being able to look at the iPhone I can type a lot faster then on a regular cell phone. I mean a lot faster especially with the help of auto correct.
Driving and texting is probably not the best idea.
Walking and texting is not that hard.
I can type with out looking a decent amount of the time.

[mrtune]

No cut and paste either!

[DoFoT9]

texting while you are driving? Good lord people are truly stupid these days.

youd be stupid while texting and driving (not looking at the screen and somewhat keeping focused on the road)
youd be stupider if you texted with an iphone.. with 2 hands.. hahahaha

[rriggs]

I probably use my texting more than the actual phone. Here's my review: Overall, fairly pleased. The conversational flow is nice.

Gripes:

No way to not display incoming messages unless you lock your phone. If someone txts you something private, POOF, there it is right in the middle of your screen for the whole world to see. I always keep my phone face down on my desk at work due to this. There should be options to a) not show anything, b) show you have a message, but not from who or what c) show from who but not what, d) show both (aka current display).

No MMS!!! To add insult to injury if you do receive one, you can't even use the iPhone to look at it because it's shown in Flash. Grrrrrr!!

When we do get MMS, if it's not obvious, if someone does send you a picture via MMS it should show up right in the current conversation.

No multi-recipient.

No way to forward a message.

No way to delete just parts of a conversation. When someone sends you something private you might want to delete a few lines, but keep the conversation.

It would be nice if it would make multiple conversations for a single person. Eg. If you could put a particular conversation into an archive for later viewing, that would be really cool.

If the person you are texting lives in a different timezone, it can get confusing on the times because you can't always tell if a time shown is their time or yours. Also, not every entry gets a timestamp shown. It would be nice if you click/hovered over an older portion of the conversation if it would popup the timestamp, options to forward it, etc.

The auto-correction is cool, although sometimes very aggrevating when it keeps changing a word to something you don't want! It does seem to have a dictionary of new words you can teach it, however, I've accidentally taught it some incorrect words that I would like to remove, but I can't figure out how to do so.

[ScottDrummer]

there is a setting to remove preview
Settings > General > Passcode Lock > Show SMS preview

[devilot]

Also, I wish there was some way to delete one or two messages from the conversation, and not the whole conversation.My BIGGEST gripe.

It's such a simple "feature" that's missing-- delete single messages, please, Apple, enable us to do so. And if not? Then at least allow the rest of my 8GB memory be allocated to allow for more messages! Argh!

... the autocorrect is quite good...Whole-heartedly agree. The auto-correct is superb (usually ;)) and the fact that it seems to be able to "learn" is really neat. Mine's learned some key words and phrases of mine and it's made texting not just easier but amusing, too. Teehee. <-- That's one word my phone "learned." :o

... pictures!!!! Yup. Prior to the iPhone I rarely used SMS messaging and never used MMS so I didn't see the appeal in being able to text images especially when I could email it out-- but just a few months later, I'm realizing how much I'd love and use picture messaging should Apple/AT&T allow it for the iPhone. Sigh.

[TuckBodi]

The auto-correction feature, do any other phones do this? If so, is it exactly how the iPhone does it? I've had people tell me their phone can do this when I'm explaining the features of the iPhone. Can't remember if it was the Blackberry or some other smartphone they were talking about.

[overcast]

The learning feature of custom words you use is fantastic.

[rayward]

I find the keyboard to be fantastic, especially now there's the double-space for period update. My gripes are mostly the same as everyone else: no MMS, no multi-recipient option, no forwarding. These are all software issues than can be fixed, whereas a regular "smart"phone is stuck with the hardware keyboard it comes with.

FWIW, my company just forced a BlackBerry on me as they won't let me use my iPhone to access work email. The interface is laughable compared to the iPhone. BBs may have superior emailing software, but Apple is working on that and RIM have about a 5 year head start on Apple. Will Apple get the software right before RIM can match the iPhone's interface? I know where my money would be.

[Avatar74]

Texting while driving is a surefire way to get killed on the freeway. Studies show people are three or more times as likely to get in an accident when operating their cell phone while driving. You can NOT keep your attention focused on driving when doing this... and you're not going to be truly productive by keeping your attention divided between one, two or three things. It doesn't matter if your eyes are on the road while typing... your brain's attention is divided and driving requires most of your senses to remain intently focused.

You have a choice to get one thing done right, or five things done half-assed and incomplete... and studies also reinforce this as well: MULTITASKING DECREASES PRODUCTIVITY.

I live in Dallas and 635 is as dangerous a freeway as you'll find... and every day I see morons "multitasking" in their cars who are on a death wish as there are multi-car accidents on that freeway every single day.

You're absolutely, unquestionably, totally and completely an idiot if you drive and send text messages at the same time. You can't be productive when you're dead.

On top of that, I see horrible enough communications from people who e-mail from their desktops... It's really atrocious how people communicate in text messages, and it's contributing to a decline in the overall quality of work when employers accept this linguistic laziness. It just adds to the lost productivity when someone has to figure out what the hell you were saying and it's downright unprofessional when grown adults communicate like third graders.

[jecapaga]

I probably use my texting more than the actual phone. Here's my review: Overall, fairly pleased. The conversational flow is nice.

Gripes:

No way to not display incoming messages unless you lock your phone. If someone txts you something private, POOF, there it is right in the middle of your screen for the whole world to see. I always keep my phone face down on my desk at work due to this. There should be options to a) not show anything, b) show you have a message, but not from who or what c) show from who but not what, d) show both (aka current display).

No MMS!!! To add insult to injury if you do receive one, you can't even use the iPhone to look at it because it's shown in Flash. Grrrrrr!!

When we do get MMS, if it's not obvious, if someone does send you a picture via MMS it should show up right in the current conversation.

No multi-recipient.

No way to forward a message.

No way to delete just parts of a conversation. When someone sends you something private you might want to delete a few lines, but keep the conversation.

It would be nice if it would make multiple conversations for a single person. Eg. If you could put a particular conversation into an archive for later viewing, that would be really cool.

If the person you are texting lives in a different timezone, it can get confusing on the times because you can't always tell if a time shown is their time or yours. Also, not every entry gets a timestamp shown. It would be nice if you click/hovered over an older portion of the conversation if it would popup the timestamp, options to forward it, etc.

The auto-correction is cool, although sometimes very aggrevating when it keeps changing a word to something you don't want! It does seem to have a dictionary of new words you can teach it, however, I've accidentally taught it some incorrect words that I would like to remove, but I can't figure out how to do so.


I think to correct auto-correction from continuously putting in a word you don't want or mis-typed at some point is to hit the 'x' when the word comes up and it's deleted from the dictionary. If i'm wrong, someone correct me. hah.

[rayward]

You're absolutely, unquestionably, totally and completely an idiot if you drive and send text messages at the same time.

Bluetooth hook-ups in cars are becoming more prevalent, but I think it should be mandatory on every phone and in every car. It's a cheap option anyway and as Mr. Honda once said when asked about the cost of putting radios in every car, it's not expensive when you put one in every car. Then we would all be safer on the roads as most people would opt to go hands free while driving.

Of course, there'd still be plenty of numpties out there who just have to have their phone clamped to the side of their head whilst driving. But if it was mandatory to have Bluetooth in new cars, it would be easier to outlaw non-hands free cell phone use whilst driving. Texas, for example, has voted on this multiple times and the vote is always close and always falls short.

People with older cars can get a Bluetooth headset or get a Bluetooth kit added to their car. Or they can wait til they're done driving, or they can pull off the road.

[mdwsta4]

i agree with just about all these points. on older phones i found myself texting more than talking because it's convinient. i actually do like the keyboard and can type extremely fast/accurate which is great.
no copy/paste really stinks, but i could live with it... IF i were able to forward messages or send messages to multiple people. when you send out something like 'what's up tonight?' having to type that same phrase to 10 different people is annoying as all hell.
i would love to be able to delete certain lines of the conversation or even better make multiple conversations for the same person.
i guess i don't mind that the message pops up on my screen as the phone is typically in my pocket, but it irritates me how apple's interface always defaults to your last visited page. if i receive a message from person A, but was previously texting person B, i would need to go into SMS, go back to messages, then select person's A conversation. why every menu can't default to the 'main page' of the app is beyond me. likewise with the address boko part of the phone. if i was previously looking in the R's, then performed other tasks on the phone and went back into the phonebook, i'm still at R's. so unless you remember exactly where you left each applciation it's a crap shoot as to where you'll be.
little annoyances like these will be the reason i'm getting rid of the iphone. i like it for certain features, and it looks so great, but it performs too weak in major phone tasks. can't wait to get a SE k850.

I probably use my texting more than the actual phone. Here's my review: Overall, fairly pleased. The conversational flow is nice.

Gripes:

No way to not display incoming messages unless you lock your phone. If someone txts you something private, POOF, there it is right in the middle of your screen for the whole world to see. I always keep my phone face down on my desk at work due to this. There should be options to a) not show anything, b) show you have a message, but not from who or what c) show from who but not what, d) show both (aka current display).

No MMS!!! To add insult to injury if you do receive one, you can't even use the iPhone to look at it because it's shown in Flash. Grrrrrr!!

When we do get MMS, if it's not obvious, if someone does send you a picture via MMS it should show up right in the current conversation.

No multi-recipient.

No way to forward a message.

No way to delete just parts of a conversation. When someone sends you something private you might want to delete a few lines, but keep the conversation.

It would be nice if it would make multiple conversations for a single person. Eg. If you could put a particular conversation into an archive for later viewing, that would be really cool.

[mozmac]

texting while you are driving? Good lord people are truly stupid these days.

It really isn't that hard to do if you have a tactile keyboard. I had a BlackBerry 8700 and could write a complete message without removing my eyes from the road. I didn't do it when I was in intense traffic, but if I was on a long straight-away.

[fromthineyes]

besides the fact that you can't type without looking at the keyboard, I love the txt messaging. In fact I have been clocked typing at 40-50 wpm on average with surprisingly high accuracy.

Something to think about:
yes, after you type something you will have to edit it, but no more than you would with t9.

Also, a tip to type faster:
TRUST THE KEYBOARD. the biggest problem I have seem people have with the keyboard is that they spend too much time hunting and picking. If you just trust the keyboard and just act like youre hitting the right letters, 99% if the time it guess the right word.

Another feature u wish it would have though is a corrective program like microsoft word's where it corrects when you mix up letters or misspell. The corrective programming in the iPhone only corrects hitting the wrong buttons.

[Avatar74]

It really isn't that hard to do if you have a tactile keyboard. I had a BlackBerry 8700 and could write a complete message without removing my eyes from the road. I didn't do it when I was in intense traffic, but if I was on a long straight-away.

Still stupid. Even when not looking your mind has to be divided between the road and thinking of the message you're typing as well as the background calculations that aim your fingers to the right keys from memory. This mental coordination weakens your ability to focus on the road and the traffic to which you have to respond with consderable timing and reflexes. Even people communicating wearing headsets are more likely to get in an accident. People text messaging, even while looking at the road, are several times more likely to get in an accident.

Sorry... it's just plain freaking stupid. You can stop somewhere and type the message or wait until you get to the office. As I said before, you can't be productive when you're dead.

Bluetooth hook-ups in cars are becoming more prevalent, but I think it should be mandatory on every phone and in every car. It's a cheap option anyway and as Mr. Honda once said when asked about the cost of putting radios in every car, it's not expensive when you put one in every car. Then we would all be safer on the roads as most people would opt to go hands free while driving.

Of course, there'd still be plenty of numpties out there who just have to have their phone clamped to the side of their head whilst driving. But if it was mandatory to have Bluetooth in new cars, it would be easier to outlaw non-hands free cell phone use whilst driving. Texas, for example, has voted on this multiple times and the vote is always close and always falls short.

People with older cars can get a Bluetooth headset or get a Bluetooth kit added to their car. Or they can wait til they're done driving, or they can pull off the road.

What does a bluetooth hookup have to do with text messaging? By the way, even with headsets you're still more likely to get in an accident. Studies have demonstrated that they help somewhat, but not as much as simply staying off the phone until you can stop somewhere. Your attention is divided between concentrating on driving which is much more complicated than just pointing your eyes at the road, and concentrating on a conversation which ties up more of your conscious thought than you think.

I drive 635 in Dallas every day and it is NO place to be talking on a cell phone or texting, headset or not... If your attention is diverted for even a second, it can be the last mistake you'll ever make.

Driving is not some trivial thing. You really don't understand how much deadly force you have at your hands while driving a 3000-4000 lb car at 70mph until you're in a nasty crash. I was rear ended on 635 a month ago and while I had no bone injuries I'm still in a good deal of pain just from whiplash and soft tissue injury.

The problem is that it's too easy to get a license here. There should be a tiered system like in Germany where permissions for varying levels of road access have to be acquired sequentially and not all at once. Driving on the freeway requires a lot of skill compared to driving local roads. Also, regulations on the Autobahn are very strict... e.g. you can only pass on the left under most conditions, you cannot run out of gas or stop for any other reason than a legitimate emergency, etc. And there are very high fines for infractions, insurance costs a ton and the scores of tests you have to complete to get a license end up costing so much that by the time you do qualify you've made a serious investment and consequently have a vested interest in not seeing that investment go up in smoke with traffic violations.

Kids get their licenses here early and get in crash after crash because, like many other aspects of life, teenagers are infantilized in our country, taught no real responsibility until suddenly they're 18 and thrown to the world. They get on the road unprepared, and consequently car accidents are one of the leading causes, if not the #1 cause, of teenage deaths in this country.

[rayward]

What does a bluetooth hookup have to do with text messaging? By the way, even with headsets you're still more likely to get in an accident. Studies have demonstrated that they help somewhat, but not as much as simply staying off the phone until you can stop somewhere. Your attention is divided between concentrating on driving which is much more complicated than just pointing your eyes at the road, and concentrating on a conversation which ties up more of your conscious thought than you think.

I drive 635 in Dallas every day and it is NO place to be talking on a cell phone or texting, headset or not... If your attention is diverted for even a second, it can be the last mistake you'll ever make.

Went off on a tangent from the texting-while-driving aspect of this thread.

How is driving while talking on a headset any different than driving and talking to a passenger? I'm not saying that it's no distraction, but it's infinitely better than having your phone and hand clamped to the side of your head.

[Avatar74]

Went off on a tangent from the texting-while-driving aspect of this thread.

How is driving while talking on a headset any different than driving and talking to a passenger? I'm not saying that it's no distraction, but it's infinitely better than having your phone and hand clamped to the side of your head.

I didn't say it's different from talking to a passenger... which is, as you said, also a distraction. I think it's possible to have a conversation with passengers or on a speakerphone/headset but it's still more of a risk than not doing so... and I have to weigh every day whether even that amount of risk is worth it. Sometimes I just have to be rude and tell people in the car not to distract me.

My point is that a motor vehicle, we often forget, is a dangerous instrument of transportation... and it should be treated as such. We have laden these transportation vehicles with all kinds of bells and whistles and distractions which contribute to our perception that these are toys for joyrides but driving on a busy freeway is a seriously dangerous activity. It doesn't seem so when traffic is flowing uniformly but as soon as there's a speed differential... someone changes lanes, or brakes, etc. the situation changes in the blink of an eye.

I don't know where you live but here in Dallas, people change lanes in heavy traffic without warning, without turn signals, ALL the time. If you're distracted for even a fraction of a second, you're risking serious injury or death.

Do you really want to take chances with anything that might possibly impede your attention or reflexes when there are lives at risk?

[aljlin]

I really like the new text.. On my old phone, I would use it, but only send maybe 300ish texts, and wasn't much of a text hound. Well now i'm 180 degrees different and I text ... ALL THE TIME... lol. It's kind of scary. I think before I had the iPhone, the max I would ever use is around 150? on a good month that is.... the first 3 weeks of my iphone, i went through about 1000... LOL. and then each subsequent month is around 1500 now. (First day I used about 300... yipes!) It's a little overboard, but .. I don't know it's just so easy to talk and make plan.. and I know how to type on this pretty fast.. don't have many problems with having to correct and stuff. :-) I do want to be able to send multiple texts to multiple people, but I'm not going to complain. I think the interface is nice, just additional features for SMS/MMS/ mult recipient txting could be improved.

[dcv]

I'm a heavy SMS user and regularly send & receive LONG (and trust me I mean long!) text messages. I've not played with an iPhone yet so can you please tell me:

- if there's any limitation on length of messages?

- if it's possible to sync/copy your text messages to your mac (as plain or rich text files, or ichats or whatever format)?

[diamond.g]

I'm a heavy SMS user and regularly send & receive LONG (and trust me I mean long!) text messages. I've not played with an iPhone yet so can you please tell me:

- if there's any limitation on length of messages?

- if it's possible to sync/copy your text messages to your mac (as plain or rich text files, or ichats or whatever format)?

I have typed out some pretty long messages. I think it will just split it up on the other end. So I am not sure if there is a real limit to the length. iTunes backs up your SMS conversations. But there is no (easy) way of accessing (or reading) them. AFAICT the conversations are stored in what looks like a database of some sort. I think the database is locked to a certain size (I think <512KB). So you won't be able to keep all your text.

[dcv]

I have typed out some pretty long messages. I think it will just split it up on the other end. So I am not sure if there is a real limit to the length. iTunes backs up your SMS conversations. But there is no (easy) way of accessing (or reading) them. AFAICT the conversations are stored in what looks like a database of some sort. I think the database is locked to a certain size (I think <512KB). So you won't be able to keep all your text.

Thanks for the reply. I often send 5-10 part SMS messages and receive things of a similar size but have in the past (and quite recently) received stuff that was 40-something parts long!! No kidding. My SE phone did crash and restart the time I received a 43-part SMS but it was still all there and I can easily download the text to my mac via BluePhoneElite - so it's kinda important to me that I'd still be able to do this. Doesn't really sound like it's possible with the iPhone then, hmmm...

[rayward]

I don't know where you live but here in Dallas, people change lanes in heavy traffic without warning, without turn signals, ALL the time. If you're distracted for even a fraction of a second, you're risking serious injury or death.

I think you're being hyperbolic, but I do understand the problem. I live in Houston where some of the nicest, most polite people you'd ever care to meet...outside a car...will run you off the road for 3" of pavement. I simply imagine the most retarded thing that any car around me could do, and then expect that. I'm rarely disappointed.

[GTiPhone]

The SMS app itself is missing features that are critical to the device and simply embarassing that they haven't been included or rolled out yet.

However, sending a single text, carrying on a conversation, is amazing.

It is the simplest, easiest, and fastest way to send a full sentence text message. Period.

It really is the best. I do not envy anyone still using T9Word.

[Avatar74]

I think you're being hyperbolic, but I do understand the problem. I live in Houston where some of the nicest, most polite people you'd ever care to meet...outside a car...will run you off the road for 3" of pavement. I simply imagine the most retarded thing that any car around me could do, and then expect that. I'm rarely disappointed.

I wish I were being hyperbolic... but I'm not, really. Every single day there are multi-car accidents on Interstate 635, most of them occurring on the stretch between US 75 and Dallas North Tollway. A good number of these accidents are fatal because they occur at high speeds, and traffic is held up at least 3 days a week due to such accidents... I was in one myself a month ago.

Also, I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that it's estimated that 25 percent of Dallas drivers are uninsured.

I kid you not... take your eyes off the road for a second and you're risking serious injury or death. Note I didn't say "guaranteeing"... I said risking...

[gceo]

My friend has been on a BBerry for years, and a heavy user. After 2 weeks on the iPhone, I was able to type just as fast as him. We had a little race, and he was pretty bummed to see me keeping up with him.

I concur on the driving thing too. Tough when you can't feel the keys.

[kyrow123]

I find the testing to be quite good on the iPhone, although it took some getting used to (not having the tactile feedback and all, but the button response noise helps that somewhat).

I am however, disappointed that there is no MMS as of yet. Let us all keep our fingers crossed for Apple to add that in an update.

[BanjoBanker]

I never sent text messages from my old phone. The few times I tried, I wound up p****d off and frustrated. Do I hit the 5 twice, or once for an L? Since 200 texts comes with my iPhone plane, I thought I would give it a try. Boy howdy am I pleased!:) The predictive text works great and I have no problem with the keyboard. I love it. Now I am going to have to get another plan for more texts:eek:

[Lord Sandwich]

I thought I was a heavy text user with my QWERTY-keyboard HTC phone, but the iPhone has turned me into an addict. I don't know if it's the keyboard or the threading, but I've used 300 messages in a week and if this continues I'll have to upgrade to unlimited. :D

[philhyde]

Regular user of SMS on Bberry, and I find the iPhone interface to be very nice.

As far as the keyboard, I'm slowly getting used to it. Auto-correct seems to be spot on, except when you completely misspell a word and end up with another completely valid word!

[seedster2]

I've become acclimated to the keyboard and its almost as fast as my BB. The auto correct feature is really convenient.

There are some sever shortcomings though. The inability to send mass messages is further compounded by the absence of cut/paste capability. You can forward either and of course as we all know there is no MMS.

If this is a major feature you plan to use i would set my expectations real low.

[megfilmworks]

When I am driving it is virtually impossible to text without risking an accident.
But texting is either illegal or soon will be virtually everywhere while driving, so who cares?
When I am still I can blaze much faster on it than any BB keyboard I have used, and a big part of that is its great error correction scheme.
As with many previous posters, I would like to see single message delete, and cut and paste. I'd like to see these two features globally on the iPhone!

[chr1s60]

Before I owned an iPhone I used a Razr and I was very good at texting with it. The iPhone is really good for text messages, but it does have some slight drawbacks. If you are simply sitting down and texting there is no issue at all, in fact you will probably text faster than ever when doing this. The problems with iPhone texting come when driving or walking. Since there are no actual keys it is impossible to feel what button you are pressing, for this reason most of the time you need to look at the keyboard. When driving, it is extremely difficult to text and I would not recommend trying. When walking texting is a little easier. After using the keyboard for a few weeks it is pretty easy to walk and text while only glancing down at the phone every few words to make sure you aren't misspelling anything. Overall, I think the iPhone is great for texting. The typing is fast and easy and with some use it only gets easier.

[NC03M3]

My last phone was the Sony Ericsson W810, which was/is the best mobile hands down IMO for features and ease of use (Sony has the BEST camera phones period).

I texted more than talked, and the Sony was perfectly balanced for one hand texting. I could text fairly accurately without looking at the phone.

Now, with the iPhone, there is no balance. I think it would be more clever if the keyboard were on TOP of the message screen instead of the bottom - or at lest allow the user to choose where the keyboard is located.

T9 would be nice. Another suggestion would be to allow the user to choose a mini keypad (like a regular mobile) for texting.

Plus, all the other points like deleting individual messages, or saving/downloading individual messages. And of course, MMS (no brainer - this one kills me). Finally, more options for incoming text message sounds.

Cheers!
PFitz

[maestro55]

I have only had my iPhone for a couple of days and so I am still getting used to the keyboard. I had been texting with QWERTY keyboards for a few years now and so I got to the point that my speed was very good. I hate that the plan only comes with 200 text messages, it wouldn't seem that hard for them to include atleast 1000 with the plan, but I guess AT&T want's to push the unlimited text message plan since the internet plan is cheaper than with other smartphones. I was paying $14.94 for 1500 Text messages and 5MB of data on my Razr, so to get unlimited Data for $19.99 I am very happy.

But to the first point, so far so good, it will take awhile but I suspect to get my speed up. I don't text while driving, and usually not when walking, so I should be able to get up to 40-50wpm, like others here I send very long messages and would often have to send several part messages on the Razr.