Comments on: The Truth About Software Keyboards

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:29:44 +0000

A touch screen keyboard that provides ample room is the Phraze-It Keyboard. You can type with your fingers on the large Phraze-It on-screen keys. It has the keys of a complete computer keyboard. The Phraze-It Keyboard is very intuitive and easy to use. No need to hunt around among the very crowded QWERTY keys.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:12:25 +0000

McCraken keeps putting his underwear on backwards. Seems lately, he can not find a thing he likes about an Apple iPhone. Maybe he should notice that consumers do not agree with him!

By: rwahrens

rwahrens — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:46:12 +0000

The holding of the letter on the iPhone keyboard for accented letters doesn’t just work on vowels, it will work on any key that takes accents.

By: JohnnyC

JohnnyC — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:57:14 +0000

I haven’t seen this mentioned in any of the comparisons yet:

Being flexible with the location of input and visuals, far outweighs the space tradeoff for the unadaptable and extremely limited functionality of a physical keyboard that may be rarely used. There are simply far more functions that do not require keyboard input, than functions that DO. This is particularly true with the iPhone and it’s endless ecosystem of software.

That’s just my pair of pennies.

By: James Dempsey

James Dempsey — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:41:49 +0000

I have no love for the physical keyboard on my LG Scoop. I can type quite fast on it, with little error, but I still feel like it wouldn’t make a difference switching to a software keyboard like the iPhone.

Perhaps I’ll get the opportunity to use an iPhone one day… when Apple kills the AT&T exclusivity deal – I just refuse to pay AT&T’s fees.

By: Champs

Champs — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:19:13 +0000

The iPhone’s keyboard works a treat, right up until you need a number, punctuation, or you make an inline typing correction and the OS stops auto-correcting the word. It fails. Accented symbols and the like are fine, but try a Sidekick’s hardware keyboard and get back to me.

Also note… deploying a hardware keyboard is also an effective screen unlock — so perhaps it’s not so “inconvenient.”

By: Terry

Terry — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:19:31 +0000

The Pre’s keyboard is unusable for me. I seriously don’t know what they were thinking. The best physical keys I have seen so far are the Blackberry Bold but I would not give up the larger screen for a physical keyboard the way you do with Blackberries.

By: N

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:11:52 +0000

Wow. I should probably post on Technologizer but …

Regarding #2, I haven’t found the lack of tactile feedback to be an issue. I have my typing clicking sound enabled so perhaps that helps psychologically.

Regarding #3, am I the only one who noticed that Apple widened the iPhone 3G last year with that black border on the right and left of the screen? For me at least, the wider dimensions enable me to comfortably thumb type in portrait mode versus the original iPhone.

Regarding #4, I’ll take it compared to a chunkier phone that won’t fit in my jeans pocket. Harry obviously didn’t receive the memo that many professionals dress casually nowadays and that man purses never took off in the US.

By: Andrew Sheridan

Andrew Sheridan — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:44:53 +0000

Tom, your comments on the landscape aspect of the virtual keyboard are spot on but you missed the fact that if you are using a Pre app in landscape (browser) and then wish to type, you have to turn the phone to do this.

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:19:25 +0000

I think everyone forgets doesn’t need localised hardware for every single country in which the phone is sold – saving large amounts of money in production.