DAMNIT! This can be sooo easily solved with the addition of a slim add-on fold back keyboard custom fit to iphone OR a CASE that implements a slide out keyboard. OR has anyone seen that playstation 3 controler keyboard, the one that starps a small qwerty right on the controler, did you know that that thing is BT and can work with iphone. You can just mount your phone on your car dash and hold that little ps3 qwerty in one hand and type.
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Why do reviews say the iPhone 3Gs NEEDS more buttons and a physical keyboard?
- Thread starter iHalo
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To me the real problem is that the journalists discount the usefulness of virtual keyboards to a percentage of the population, just like you seem to discount the usefulness of a virtual keyboard (which is just as "real" as the physical keyboard, by the way).
Journalists are supposed to leave their biases at the door and not insert them into the article. Yet, this is exactly what they're doing. That's why I get annoyed when they consider the lack of a physical keyboard a negative.
Other than the lack of touch typing (which I/we/you shouldn't be doing in the car anyway), I type more quickly and more smoothly on the iPhone than on T9, Blackberry, or any other mobile device I've used. Hardware keyboards feel awkward, honestly.
But that's just me.
But that's just me.
I really don't think Apple will ever have a physical keyboard on the iPhone because it would add more bulk to the phone.
Well put my man. A lot of stupid, senseless statements in this thread. People can't prefer different things, the must a think alike according to some on here. It's a matter of choice.
I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in this but I can touchtype on the iPhone's keyboard.
Touchscreen phones didn't have physical keyboards for many years. The combination is actually fairly recent, and was seen by most consumers as a high-end feature.
There were also alternative input methods, such as handwriting recognition, long before physical keyboards were used in combo.
What Apple was first to do in the mass consumer (not industrial) market, was to have a large enough screen that a soft keyboard could be made usable by finger instead of stylus.
(Notwithstanding the third party soft keyboards such as the original landscape version from SPB in Russia, which was easy to use on even small WM touch phones.)
Speaking of inserting bias: Please pull your head out of whatever overly defensive world it's in right now and show me where I "discount the usefulness" of anything on this thread. All I said was that some people like physical keyboards.
The implementation of the onscreen keyboard portion is awfully clumsy on these but consider some of HTCs phones, they have both methods and offer you the choice. The iPhone and the classic blackberry designs don't offer you that choice. (And I for one think both phones are better for it, being good at one thing is better than being mediocre at two). Someone who likes having a choice or who prefers the "other" method isn't going to be happy with the "wrong" phone.
I'm an iPhone owner, by the way. With no intention of changing that.
I can do this too. In landscape or portrait (I've had landscape through jailbreak for a while) without looking at the keyboard. Of course the software cleans up mistakes, but it does that when I look as well. Maybe I just text too much
Actually thy wouldn't sell that many more units because of a physical keyboard. I doubt most people not buying iPhones are doing so because of physical keyboards.
I disagree with this. I used to agree, in fact, I was certain I'd always be staring. Then one day after spending almost an hour instant messaging with an old friend who was almost never online while I was stuck waiting for an appointment, I realized I was doing something unthinkable.
I was typing without so much as looking at the keyboard at all!
I was so interested in the messages flowing from the other person who had no idea I was delayed in my typing from being on a phone that I had finally adapted to the virtual keyboard.
It's really quite simple, and of course, it's the reason I now hate the landscape keyboard (whoops!). I simply memorized where my fingers had to be for each key, subconsciously, and no longer have to stare. This is the same as touch typing on a physical keyboard I realized as with proper touch typing, you orient for the home keys but you do not somehow slide your fingers around the keyboard to feel where the next key is, that's preposterous.
When you touch type on a real keyboard you've simply memorized where your fingers should move relative to your original position. On the iPhone, my "home" position is the relative position of my fingers with my phone held with two hands in a specific way with my pinky fingers supporting it from the bottom and so forth.
So frankly the idea that you can't touch type on an onscreen keyboard is just yet another lie born from people's failure to realize that all interfaces besides the nipple are learned.
Actually on all accounts Sony did this before apple with their UIQ based P series phones. The all came with attached keyboards that were optional and could be removed with a couple screws and an onscreen keyboard would replace them. The onscreen keyboard would also come on for alternate input methods.
That said, Apple's implementation is way better.
Honestly I think what the quote you've pasted here is actually saying is that, despite the often derided lack of physical keyboard, or multitasking, iPhone is still managing to remain the market leader (at least in mindshare, as they say.) I do think think this quote is meaning to complain about the lack of keyboard or multitasking, just to refer to those common complaints and how they haven't stopped iPhone's popularity.
is it possible to calibrate the keyboard at all? My fingers are larger than normal (6' 5" athlete) and i'm having a tough time with this keyboard. It seems as if you have to touch above the letter not on the center of it. This is my first iphone (3GS) and i love it. Slowly I'm getting the hand of it, but I do like the physical much better.
I was thinkning the same thing as I was reading this thread.
If Apple gave the option of a physical keyboard and an OSK, I would most certainly pick the OSK. the auto correction feature just makes it work flawlessly.
Agreed. They are ignoring the innovation and trying to put a square peg in a round hole. The iPhone is not a Blackberry killer. They are two different devices with strengths and weaknesses for any given purpose. At work we issue HTC Tilts with WinMo for wireless e-mail. That works for some, but others are returning them to use iPhones. We call the iPhone a "convenience" e-mail device. Not for a a road warrier.
This is also my first iphone. One of the reasons that I didn't purchase the iPhone in the past was because of its lack of a physical keyboard. However, I just purchased an iPhone 3GS, and I am never going back to a physical keyboard! I love the virtual keyboard! I've only had this iphone for 2 days, and I am already able to type fast because of the auto-correction. I also love the fact that after texting my fingers do not hurt. Most physical keyboards are too small and stiff.
Because these reviewers are just looking to stir the pot. Hey, everyone's entitled to their opinions. There's plenty of Blackberry's sitting on the shelves. They can go get one of those!
I've always liked the virtual keyboard, and I'm happy with the iPhone's (especially the auto-correct
).While there are, undoubtedly, people who just have a personal preference for physical keyboards, it would be interesting to see just how many complainers are "older people", simply ingrained with using a physical keyboard. They may just be having trouble adjusting.
(oh, and for the record: I'm likely older than most people here.
)
Wow, that's good to know. I debated the Pre and the iphone for a while. Decide Pre just too buggy and the keyboard lousy!
I am making the jump from T9 to this, never used a physical keyboard on a phone. I assume because of this my adjustment is much easier. I think people just get used to things... physical keyboards have been a mainstay from the start of the smartphone.