iPhone Keyboard

[R.Youden]

So this will probably be the 200th post about the iPhone, but I wanted to talk about something specific, the 'keyboard'

From looking at the pictures the keyboard is only going to be a 1.5 inches at most in width? That is way too small for most people with their fat fingers, even with error correction software. I used to own an O2 XDA mini s but I dumped it due to the terrible OS (Windows Mobile 5). The one good point was the input method. You could have either hand writing recognition (yeah, that worked well!), a full QWERTY keyboard (screen too small) or a T9 input shown in the photo below.

It worked really well with a stylus and was alot faster that then conventional phone inputs as you didnt have to physically press the buttons. I think this would work great with the iPhone and I hope that Apple at leats looks at more than one input method.

 

[MattyMac]

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

 

[R.Youden]

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

No, not to use a stylus, still using your fingers, you could use your fingers with the XDA and it was much, much faster.

 

[yoko]

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

 

[TequilaBoobs]

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

 

[ITASOR]

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

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.

 

[yoko]

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

 

[aricher]

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?

 

[Cooknn]

Fred Mossburg of WSJ and David Pogue of NYTimes, say that the flat, tactile-less keyboard is an issue...

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