Hey guys,
After a friend showed me an interesting feature on the iPod Touch using the Japanese keyboard, I've got an idea about how Apple could easily solve the copy/paste problem.
On the Japanese keyboard, the delete/backspace key does more than just delete one character/word at a time. You can drag your finger to the left to delete multiple words, and if you go too far simply drag back to the right and the deleted words and characters automagically re-appear. It works MUCH better that the single character deleting on the English (US) keyboard. It's much faster than the English keyboard's method.
So how about doing that for copy/paste? What if pressing SHIFT turns the delete key into a Copy key? Then, just drag to the left to select the text to copy, and when you release your finger, it's copied! To paste, simply position the cursor as usual, press SHIFT (to enable the Copy key) and double tap the Copy key. Voila! Problem solved. Hell, they could even add Cut functionality by doing a SHIFT followed by a double-tap-drag of the Copy key. That's a little more complicated, and probably not really that necessary - but it could probably be done with (relative) ease.
The way I see it, this method would work with any language, doesn't require any additional keys on an already cramped keyboard, is simple and elegant and easy to use. What do you guys think?
After a friend showed me an interesting feature on the iPod Touch using the Japanese keyboard, I've got an idea about how Apple could easily solve the copy/paste problem.
On the Japanese keyboard, the delete/backspace key does more than just delete one character/word at a time. You can drag your finger to the left to delete multiple words, and if you go too far simply drag back to the right and the deleted words and characters automagically re-appear. It works MUCH better that the single character deleting on the English (US) keyboard. It's much faster than the English keyboard's method.
So how about doing that for copy/paste? What if pressing SHIFT turns the delete key into a Copy key? Then, just drag to the left to select the text to copy, and when you release your finger, it's copied! To paste, simply position the cursor as usual, press SHIFT (to enable the Copy key) and double tap the Copy key. Voila! Problem solved. Hell, they could even add Cut functionality by doing a SHIFT followed by a double-tap-drag of the Copy key. That's a little more complicated, and probably not really that necessary - but it could probably be done with (relative) ease.
The way I see it, this method would work with any language, doesn't require any additional keys on an already cramped keyboard, is simple and elegant and easy to use. What do you guys think?
