It sure is. The keyboard is simple and effective. I prefer it to every android keyboard replacement I have tried. I wouldn't turn down the addition of Swype like functionality if apple maintained the current spacing and responsiveness though.
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No keyboard improvements for iOS 6?
- Thread starter saintforlife
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It sure is. The keyboard is simple and effective. I prefer it to every android keyboard replacement I have tried. I wouldn't turn down the addition of Swype like functionality if apple maintained the current spacing and responsiveness though.
Probably a feature apple is holding back for the next update. 
Either that or they think the keyboard is perfectly fine. Either way sucks for the end user.
Either that or they think the keyboard is perfectly fine. Either way sucks for the end user.Am I correct in assuming you have never used swype? Swype is by far the best android keyboard, hands down. It wasn't in the android market (wasn't when I used it, not sure about now), so it didn't really gain popularity.
I do find the keyboard very responsive on a 4S. It really doesn't matter though as one of the secrets of using the the iOS keyboard is to not look at the keyboard while typing. It generally autocorrects to the word you want. However, it has started autocorrecting real words into non-real. I'm not sure why as I've never added them the dictionary by tapping on the suggestions. But then again it's using a dictionary that's been updating since iOS 2 so maybe starting fresh would fix that.
Also, I find that it only lags on certain web forms. For instance: Discuss is awful but this macrumors mobile form is like native (no lag).
For those who don't like moving the cursor around, I find it extremely accurate, easy and quick to do. Just tap where you want it, if you want it in the middle of a word (it assumes you want it before or after) then you tap near the word then drag between letters. Not sure why others are having issues.
You have to consider things relatively. While the touch method is not terrible, it is not as quick or accurate as arrow keys. In less time than it takes to bring up the magnifying glass the insertion point could have already been moved into place.
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I don't know that arrows are the solution, but I agree that text selection should be easier. That said, iA Writer's implementation is pretty nice:
It seems to include your custom dictionary much more than it did on iOS 5. I found that after resetting my keyboard, it's generally better than iOS 5. (probably learned some bad behaviours)
There have been one or two changes to the alternate keys that I actually dislike, however. If you swipe up on ", it now enters a closing quotation mark rather than an opening quotation mark, for example.
Have you tried setting up keyboard shortcuts? I have a ton on my iPad (and now they sync across devices with iOS 6) ranging from things like hry = How are you? and imo = in my opinion, to quick access to mathematical/other symbols that are otherwise "hidden" such as correct fractions: 1/3 to ⅓, arrows: --> to →, ellipses: ... to … (you can swipe up on the second-layer . but I find ... quicker) and so on.
It takes a little bit of setup initially, but the end result is faster, as I don't have to see what the keyboard predicts my next word will be, it always gets it.
While some of the Android/other keyboards have some interesting ideas, in practice, I always find myself preferring the iOS one. I'm always getting strange message from people that are running Android when they expect the keyboard to do one thing, and it types something else entirely. "Hi, how are you" might be the normal suggestion you get from SwiftKey, but then something causes it to make a different suggestion for the second word next time and the sentence you expected comes out as something entirely different if you were typing with muscle-memory rather than reading the screen.
What device are you using? I've never had that issue. (unless I try to type something within a second or so of switching apps using a swipe on my iPad)
Do you actually correct it, or do you just start deleting? If you tap the correction to dismiss it, it should learn.
Nothing wrong with efficiency.
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If you make the same typos a lot, especially if you hit the backspace key when typing it, sometimes it seems to think it's a word you intended. Every major iOS update, I reset the dictionary, as they seem to change its behaviour subtly each time.
The only thing that I really find to be an annoyance with the keyboard is that if I accidentally hit , rather than m in a word, it doesn't try to correct it, and I often end up with space n if I miss a double space. This is only when using the split keyboard on my iPad though.
It's generally a lot quicker to double-tap a word and type it again, or use "suggestions" to teach it, than try and correct a word manually, you should try that.
I find it quicker than using arrow keys. Instead of a bunch of arrow keys it's tap or tap, slide. Maybe it's because I don't have larger hands. I don't know.
That's the thing, you have to jailbreak your phone to get useful tweaks. Which Apple seems to incorporate in later upgrades anyways. You'd think Apple would come up with some of these great ideas on their own. ie. in iOS 5; using volume buttons as shutter control for camera, quick access to native camera app, mail features, and word definition and substitution features. Apparently, these were all jailbreak tweaks before they were included in iOS 5. I've also heard that some new features Apple is incorporating in iOS 6, are current jailbreak tweaks as well.
Let me start by saying that I've had an iPhone (1st gen, 3GS, 4) since Feb 2008. To me, the keyboard is just okay......a 6 out of 10. It gets the job done, but just barely. If I have to write anything longer than a few lines or a paragraph, I wait until I'm back home with my MBA.
When I type really fast, I find that there is usually at least one misspelled word in each sentence and I have to go back and correct the mistakes. When I take my time while typing, it's not really a problem.
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the iPhone keyboard. I just think it could be better than it is.
When I type really fast, I find that there is usually at least one misspelled word in each sentence and I have to go back and correct the mistakes. When I take my time while typing, it's not really a problem.
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the iPhone keyboard. I just think it could be better than it is.
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New but familiar text input method - Fleksy
Disclaimer: I am a cofounder of Syntellia / Fleksy:
We have developed an extremely powerful autocorrect system and coupled it with a unique User Interface that strikes a great balance between old paradigm and innovative features:
http://fleksy.com
Hope you find it interesting!
Kostas
Disclaimer: I am a cofounder of Syntellia / Fleksy:
We have developed an extremely powerful autocorrect system and coupled it with a unique User Interface that strikes a great balance between old paradigm and innovative features:
http://fleksy.com
Hope you find it interesting!
Kostas
LOL! Wow! That is pretty cool! It does take some time to get used to. Like switching between uncommon symbols like # @ % & etc... As well as using twitter short forms. But once you start getting the hang of it, your finger or thumb literally moves like speedy gonzales. I didn't even have to worry how bad I was missing keys (which ironically enough, wasn't missing often, no matter how fast my thumb or finger moved). At one point, I wasn't even trying to be accurate, I was just going for pure speed, and it was still hitting the words I wanted. Waaaaaaaay better than the iPhone's auto correct. Definitely much better than the default keyboard. The demo is impressive enough for me to want to upgrade. Does the upgrade allow you to turn off the voice? As helpful as it is, it does get annoying after a while. As well, I'm guessing you would have to do a lot copy and pasting, particularly for iMessage, web browsing or any other type input within other apps? But none the less, it is a pretty impressive app. And yes, I do hope Apple uses your technology and incorporates it in their iOS so that it can be integrated into the iphone's current keyboard technology. Thanks for pointing me to your app.
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I would agree with you, but because you have to go through SIRI for that, and SIRI is server based, it's very laggy. I do understand it's still in beta stage, but almost a year?
I read somewhere yesterday that it is no longer in beta. Not sure if that is true.
A friend of mine has been testing iOS 6 dev, and he says SIRI does locations now for our area, in Canada. SIRI never had location service. And he says it works pretty good. Quick too. Hopefully this will be a full version of SIRI and not an updated beta. But at least it will be useful now that it allows for location services outside of the U.S.