Tim Cook: I've Given Up Physical Keyboards, Use iPad "80% of the Time"

[Sedrick]

Touch screens reduce even the best typists to hunt-and-peck...ers...

[baryon]

Well, the iPhone keyboard sure beats the old alphanumeric way of texting, which no one had complaints about for a decade. And that had predictive input to help too, and it was far worse than autocorrect.

Typing on the iPad is very easy and comfortable, too, and with the bigger keyboard, autocorrect becomes less intrusive. For most people, most of the time, typing is a minor part of their task, so it's fine. I really think portability nowadays is more important than having a proper keyboard.

I think it's silly to devote 50% of your device's weight and size to a keyboard, in most cases, so this all makes sense. The touchscreen is far more valuable, and also doubles as a fairly decent keyboard.

If you DO need a proper keyboard, which you will need when writing essays and long texts, then you'll easily be able to do that on any computer or with a keyboard accessory. Sure, it reduces portability, but what do you want? An iPad that's as portable as today's iPad, but with a physical keyboard?

[seble]

Originally Posted by baryon

Well, the iPhone keyboard sure beats the old alphanumeric way of texting, which no one had complaints about for a decade. And that had predictive input to help too, and it was far worse than autocorrect.

Typing on the iPad is very easy and comfortable, too, and with the bigger keyboard, autocorrect becomes less intrusive. For most people, most of the time, typing is a minor part of their task, so it's fine. I really think portability nowadays is more important than having a proper keyboard.

I think it's silly to devote 50% of your device's weight and size to a keyboard, in most cases, so this all makes sense. The touchscreen is far more valuable, and also doubles as a fairly decent keyboard.

If you DO need a proper keyboard, which you will need when writing essays and long texts, then you'll easily be able to do that on any computer or with a keyboard accessory. Sure, it reduces portability, but what do you want? An iPad that's as portable as today's iPad, but with a physical keyboard?

Well better go take a look at surface Microsoft seems to have the keyboard/ non keyboard idea covered

[dysamoria]

Originally Posted by OldSchoolMacGuy

Its all about learning to trust auto-correct. It fixes things most of the time. Just have to keep typing and let it do it's thing. It's MUCH slower to go back and correct your mistakes. Even if it doesn't correct them, it's still quicker to tap the word when you're done and choose the correct spelling than going back and fixing it at the time. People are always amazed when I bang out +70 words a minute on my iPhone or iPad. Once you get use to it, it's just as fast as on a physical keyboard.

Until your speed exceeds the device's ability to keep up. This is especially notable on crappy coded bloaty websites like KVR Audio. Even autocorrect doesn't work half the time there because the responsiveness is so bad. Yes I'm "still on" iPhone 4. But when only one out of ten sites has this problem, I know it's not the phone at fault.

But the phone also has fault: uncommon vocabulary usage, special vocabulary, a preference for replacing a word with a personal pronoun I've never heard and which is irrelevant to what I'm trying to type, text editing (got slightly unbroken again after the way they broke text selection in ios 5), etc.

I don't trust autocorrect. But I know how to use it to be quick at entering text (unless at the aforementioned crappy slow websites).

[baryon]

Originally Posted by seble

Well better go take a look at surface Microsoft seems to have the keyboard/ non keyboard idea covered

MS solved the problem. You can either use it as a lame tablet bound to a desk, or a lame laptop that doesn't really run anything…

[pearvsapple]

Tim is a casual user confirmed.

[faroZ06]

Originally Posted by fsck-y dingo

No it's not. But, when submitting a 500 word post the typical response tends to be tl;dr, "I didn't read all that but," "Nice wall of text", etc. Maybe this is where the world is headed. I can imagine a future where professors ask students to summarize lessons in 140 characters or less. Sad, isn't it?

That wouldn't be sad, just more difficult to do.

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Originally Posted by Jalopybox

Image

step*

[Stella]

Originally Posted by KnightWRX

You can't really expect the younger generation to know this or have any use for this though as these days, text entry is done through copy/pasting or scanning, not direct typing and people don't look at each other anymore, they talk via SMS or Facebook.

Nope you can't.

I know a lot of people who still do data entry - it can't be done via scanning - it must be manual.

Originally Posted by joesegh

I'm not that young. Implying that I am does make you sound old, though.

Yup - so old I have my coffin ready should I keel over! :-D

[shadowtrogan]

Seriously...Tim is living in the clouds. This dude is way out of touch with reality. Blame it on the checkbook. Sure this guy doesn't do his own laundry or make his own food.

[Cheffy Dave]

Originally Posted by Steveo13

Actually they really do. In the biography of Steve Jobs, the emails would go directly to him and he would read them and respond to you as well. This is most likely the same for Tim.

I suggest tcook@apple.com, works everytime!

[Pegamush]

physical keyboard are a bag of hurts

[dingclancy]

My issue with with virtual keyboards is that if you plan to write more than 1000 words, that is about an hour of you typing while looking down on an iPad at a bad angle. That would give me a stiff neck. Otherwise the virtual keyboard is actually good.

Still I do not want to develop a pinched nerve on my neck. I have difficulty enough working on a computer with my RSI and all.

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Another point is that virtual keyboards will get smarter and better and in 5 years, it is evolved enough that it surpasses physical keyboards.

You will also have a generation of young kids who grew up fiddling with iPads and are faster and more comfortable using virtual keys. Physical Keyboard will be for the senior citizens then.

[Drunken Master]

Originally Posted by Morod

Seems to me the writing is on the wall. For SL/desktop users, the end is near.

Oh FFS.

[Akarin]

Originally Posted by MacRumors

Tim Cook: I've Given Up Physical Keyboards, Use iPad "80% of the Time"

We now know that Tim only spends 20% of his computing time typing.

[JAT]

Originally Posted by bettaboy123

I type just as fast and accurate on my iPad than I can on a physical one. My Galaxy Nexus keyboard lags too much and does double letters, but I still can type about 10x faster than a stupid hardware keyboard on any phone! On my iPad, I have some shortcuts as my personal dictionary. In addition to stuff like "hwu" for "Hey what's up?" I also have "hahaha" for "hahaha" so I can use those words.

I use my iPad type multiple essays a week, write forum posts (I did an 800 and 1100 word one last week, mainly do them on The Verge), tweet, write emails, and take notes during class. As a high school student in AP Classes and taking college courses, I have adapted to 100% iPad (except printing off my school's printers). It took a little time to adapt, but I prefer it now way over any physical keyboard. Autocorrect saves my life lol.

Btw, I typed this comment on my phone.

Do you really think that using the tech properly is what people here want to hear about? C'mon.

[JAT]

Originally Posted by Digital Skunk

I know they did away with lessons in cursive at many public schools; they should've replaced them with lessons in touch typing.

They did. With the standard quality teaching we have available today. (you can add up the rest)

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Originally Posted by faroZ06

"Where" is a noun??

I'm a little confused that nobody else has mentioned this, plus you've got upvotes. The quote was using where as a verb, not a noun.

Still wrong, but a spelling issue more than grammar.

[BuzzMega]

Tim speaks so slow and deliberate, dictation probably does the job for him.

[Lark.Landon]

Originally Posted by bobbytallant

Wow a 500 word essay? Is that the demands of the US education system today

Yes, for the 5th grade. Why are you trolling kids?

[mattopotamus]

Originally Posted by dingclancy

My issue with with virtual keyboards is that if you plan to write more than 1000 words, that is about an hour of you typing while looking down on an iPad at a bad angle. That would give me a stiff neck. Otherwise the virtual keyboard is actually good.

Still I do not want to develop a pinched nerve on my neck. I have difficulty enough working on a computer with my RSI and all.

----------

Another point is that virtual keyboards will get smarter and better and in 5 years, it is evolved enough that it surpasses physical keyboards.

You will also have a generation of young kids who grew up fiddling with iPads and are faster and more comfortable using virtual keys. Physical Keyboard will be for the senior citizens then.

Not even 1000 words. Just typing this out is an annoyance on the full sized ipad (the mini being much easier). I restrict my virtual keyboard use to websites that I mostly read and not interact with. Productivity goes down the drain even typing on a forum w/o a physical keyboard.

[VenusianSky]

"I've given up physical keyboards...use iPad 80% of the time".

He should say that to his executive assistant.

[throAU]

Originally Posted by Sedrick

Touch screens reduce even the best typists to hunt-and-peck...ers...

Having spent a weekend with the iPad (finally got one on Friday), i beg to differ.

In landscape mode, the keyboard is reasonably close to the letter layout in terms of size and spacing to my wireless apple keyboard.

I can very nearly touch type on it after a couple of hours of playing with it.


The worst thing is the occasional lag on it (yes, on an iPad 4) which makes it fail to register keystrokes occasionally, if i start typing too fast before the app/keyboard has had a chance to fully swap into memory or whatever.

If a computer is lagging, the keystrokes i hit on the physical keyboard are buffered. If the iPad lags - the keystrokes are LOST. Which is annoying.

[whatever]

Originally Posted by smader12

He obviously doesn't do software development.

No, he makes sure that "coders" have jobs.

That's such a stupid statement!

I personally travel for a living (on the road 2 to 3 weeks a month) presenting and talking technology day in and day out. I stopped traveling with my laptop two years ago. I do have a wireless keyboard that I travel with, but more times than not, I don't even unpack it (I use it mostly when I need to remotely connect to my Mac at home and do some quick web development).

One of my peers works the same way as I do, recently purchased an iPad Mini and after a few trips will be using that exclusively on the road.

[Chlloret]

Originally Posted by venusiansky

"i've given up physical keyboards...use ipad 80% of the time".

He should say that to his executive assistant.

siri?

[Chlloret]

Originally Posted by whatever

No, he makes sure that "coders" have jobs.

That's such a stupid statement!

I personally travel for a living (on the road 2 to 3 weeks a month) presenting and talking technology day in and day out. I stopped traveling with my laptop two years ago. I do have a wireless keyboard that I travel with, but more times than not, I don't even unpack it (I use it mostly when I need to remotely connect to my Mac at home and do some quick web development).

One of my peers works the same way as I do, recently purchased an iPad Mini and after a few trips will be using that exclusively on the road.

Hear hear, the same for me. Got a mini one week ago and man, unbelievable. I was very sceptical at first, to small ect. But it's just right. Gave the full size iPad to the girlfriend. She got no problem with the size, being of the handbag species. I did buy a Google nexus7 before and that can only be described as toy, now collecting dust (nobody wants it, even for free) but the mini seems to hit the spot. If only the phone function would work, VoIP is not always the best solution, it could be the best ever until now.

[Otterblue]

Anyone notice Cook uses a white iPhone while Jobs used a black iPhone