iPhone Keyboard

A big thing for apple was not using a stylus. I dont think they want to go that route.

 

A keyboard for iPhone that does work with fingers

I used MessagEase on my Palm and it works great with a finger, as the keys are larger and fewer. But with it you can ener ALL characters (even &*%$#@ etc).

The trick they use is to use slide or drags for less frequent letters, making this ideal for a touch screen (but not discrete keyboard).




They even have a simulator for iphone here:

http://exideas.com/ME/DeviceSimulators/iPhone.html

 

fat fingers still have a point, unless your fingers are flat at the tips.

 

I used that on both my Palm Zire and HP Pocket PC and it's really awesome once you get good at it. Like they say, I could almost type as fast as a conventional (desktop) qwerty keyboard.

 

Since most reviews, including Fred Mossburg of WSJ and David Pogue of NYTimes, say that the flat, tactile-less keyboard is an issue, this keyboard can solve many problems of iphone, least of which being the awkward way you'll have to enter characters like @ or / or €, especially € (for me!).

-Y

 

Apple's also losing out on the ever growing baby boomer with arthritic hands crowd. My mother, an ex-IBMer and tech guru is 60 and has arthritis in both hands. He can't use the small keypad on most cell phones but has become quite adept at using the stylus on her Palm. She took one look at the iPhone and said, "finger as stylus? I guess that counts me and most of my friends out."

Then again, Apple isn't marketing to the boomers are they?

 

I guess neither of those guys has a GPS. I've been using a flat, tactile-less keyboard on my Garmin for well over a year with no complaints. The letters are a lot bigger than they appear to be on the iPhone though Another point worth mentioning is that I hardly ever have to clean it - hopefully Apple uses the same type of touch screen material.

this post composed with a BlackBerry Pearl