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Obsession with a real keyboard?

The iPhone keyboard drives me crazy -- whenever a friend asks me to input some information they always have to say "just trust it" -- LOL

anyway --- i don't have a smart phone device, I have a "regular" cellphone and a Palm Pilot TX that I use several times a day.

I use the IR keyboard a lot -- BUT i use the stylus with graffiti even more. I love writing on the Palm and if the iPhone offered such an option i'de be sold -- almost.

I've read of a few apps still in beta that will offer this feature in the future, but until it's native it's still a toy for the technophiles.

I use the documents To Go on my Palm Pilot quite regularly and no such support exists on the iPhone -- BUT it does on the Blackberry (and other smartphone devices), and I find myself breaking down daily for one.

I don't mean to hijack this thread and turn into a "iPhone for business; Yes/No" discussion but it be would difficult to convince me that the iphone is much more then an iPod video with telephone and web access. DISCLAIMER - I'm not asking anyone too
 
The other day I was playing around on my friends Verizon DARE phone. The phone has hepatic feedback but is TERRIBLE when it comes to typing fast. I told her that just try typing on my iPhone and she immediately said "I heard its so hard on the phone!" and I said "Just try it and trust that it will get your word right" and she tried it and then said it was amazing. I think a lot of people underestimate the ability for the iPhone to know what you want to say when you type it.
 
BrownManUPS said:
The other day I was playing around on my friends Verizon DARE phone. The phone has hepatic feedback but is TERRIBLE when it comes to typing fast. I told her that just try typing on my iPhone and she immediately said "I heard its so hard on the phone!" and I said "Just try it and trust that it will get your word right" and she tried it and then said it was amazing. I think a lot of people underestimate the ability for the iPhone to know what you want to say when you type it.
Click to expand...
Actually I find the auto-correction terrible. I nearly always type right but iPhone makes sure to get it wrong. Since I communicate both in Swedish and English I have to enable both keyboards, but the phone never knows which language I'm typing in (we use a lot of English slang and terminology in Swedish). When I write in Swedish it can sometimes 'correct' it to something completely wacko in English like "Please milk my hello oven". Also, it insists on correcting names of people, and names are of course the same regardless of language. The other day I tried to google "Tina Fey" and iPhone changed it to "Tuna fet" (fet = fat in Swedish). If I google the actor "Rutger Hauer", iPhone changes it to "Rutger Bauer" (Jack Bauer's retarded cousin?).

So... typing on iPhone isn't as bad as people think, but the auto-correction makes it worse than it could be.
 
Doju said:
What is with society's obsession with having a smartphone with a real keyboard? My father has a Blackberry Bold because, well, he has to for work, and the company offers it free. Before I bought my iPhone 3G, we used this as a 'family phone' more or less. If I had a soccer or tennis game out of town, I'd bring it to keep in contact with my parents, and I'd surf the internet somewhat and text friends a bit (okay; a lot) to pass the time.

Now, having an iPhone 3G, I love the virtual keyboard. I don't understand the hatecrime against it. Yes, it does take some getting used to, that's true, but after a week (or two at maximum) you should be a master of the virtual keyboard.

Practicality

The first positive I see is the obvious one, Blackberry, Palm, and other smartphones have keyboards there when they're not even needed. I'm watching 'Cars' on my dad's Blackberry Bold, the keyboard is of zero use, and just gets in the way of a potentially larger screen, to enjoy the video more.

Not with an iPhone! It's only there when you need it, I'm watching a movie, it's gone. I'm texting a friend, it's there. Why have it active when it doesn't need to be? The iPhone's keyboard seems to be a *massive* step into the future when it comes to practicality. How do you write in Japanese on a Blackberry efficiently? What about drawing Japanese characters? Nuh-uh.

All in all, having the ability to customize when you need something or not seems a lot more advanced than having it there whenever you don't even need it.

Speed

Ah ha! "But Doju, you can't type as fast on an iPhone as with a real keyboard!" you argue. Wrong, in my opinion at least. Having been an avid texter on a Blackberry Bold, I know my way around typing, and I know this train of thought very well, I even shared it for quite awhile.

But, the Blackberry has significantly smaller keys than the iPhone, and that's just in portrait mode. The iPhone's keyboard is 'smart' too, as Jobs said, and that it will almost help you write a word and find the write key. Can plastic keys do this? Nuh-uh.

And again, put 'er on landscape, and you just blew the Blackberry out of the water. Taking some tests, I average 12 WPM faster on my iPhone than I do with my dad's BB Bold. And that's not even in landscape.

Conclusion

Why does everyone want it? iPhone's keyboard is much more practical, and much faster. What more is there?
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I agree with you completely. Coming from a Blackberry Curve, the iPhone is SOOO much easier to type on and, like you said, more space efficient. The Blackberry's keys are sooooo tiny and I would mess up whatever I was typing way too often. I cannot imagine how people use those Palm Centro phones, not only because they suck, but because their keyboards are designed to be used by mice. LOL! :)

I also have yet to try out another touch screen phone with a more responsive and accurate touchpad. I've tried out friends' Voyagers or Instincts or Dares or Glydes and they are all inferior, especially with the haptic feedback. It's like having a personal finger tickler. HAHAHA!!!
 
I hate typing out emails on the iphone a real keyboard is better. The htc phone shows you can have a keyboard and a small form factor.
 
Coming from an LG Dare I love the iPhone's keyboard. I highly doubt there are any touch screen phones out there that come even close. I can see how it would be difficult to go from a physical qwerty but once you get used to it the auto-correction is great. (Provided you only use one language)
 
Doju said:
Conclusion

Why does everyone want it? iPhone's keyboard is much more practical, and much faster. What more is there?
Click to expand...

Tactile feedback. For me having the tactile feedback of an actual keyboard makes a lot of difference.

I also grown accustomed with and am very proficient at typing with my thumbs. I'm sure if I practiced a lot I could increase my typing speed on an iPhone, but I do not believe it would ever be as fast as typing with my thumbs on my (work provided) BlackBerry.
 
I like the virtual keyboard, it might be easier in landscape mode but i dont think its any more or less accurate then some of the other tiny keyboards on devices.
 
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