Branding Crimes: 3. The iPhone Keyboard

So simple… They probably just didn’t think about it, and they’ll go “aaah…” and smile when they read your post.

…maybe we all are the “who wants a stylus?” ones.

It’s all about branding these days. Isn’t it?

I suspect they’re listening.

The new iPod Touch does do a landscape keyboard - or at least the keynote speech at about 47 minutes in looks like it…

does the new iPhone?

The article states that “Test input” is not a minor function. I assume you mean “Text input”. It took me a while to figure out what you meant.

Also the article is a little “all over the place” (meaning that ut is too rambling).

The way I see it there are several issues with the iPhone keyboard. First is that not all applications rotate. As a programmer i recognize that it is probably a hard feature to get working and tested in all applications and still hit a short deadline. So i expect this will be fixed sometime. Second issue is that the apps should rotate while the keyboard is open. Third is that the autocorrection isn’t as consistent as I would like. What I mean by that is that while I am typing this comment on my iPhone I am getting autocorrections for certain words only some of the time. Like I and iPhone are being corrected now into the proper capitalization but were not corrected the first time I types them in this comment.

Finally, I wish there were arrow keys or somehow a good substitute. For example this comment field soes not provide me with a way to scroll back up. The magnifying widget is nice when it works but it often does not work correctly. In tight spaces it will appear off the screen. If the text is on the edge of the screen the magnifying widget doesn’t work. Sometimes you can scroll the text into the center and then use it but other times that is not possible. And if you overflow a single line text enter field - forget it. The scrolling does not seem to work in those situations.

You are spot on. I’m holding out until the horizontal text input is possible…. it’s too big a deal.

Loving ‘Branding Crimes’, btw. Nice job.

I like the portrait keyboard better, less travel for my fingers. It dynamically resizes the hitbox for the keys it thinks you’re going to hit (which it predicts well).

I don’t see the problem. I suppose having the option wouldn’t hurt though.

Look at that screen in horizontal / ‘wide’ mode. How much real estate is left at the top? The keyboard takes up pretty much the whole screen! It’s OK to use when entering one-line things like URLs. But I tried having a conversation in JiveTalk and couldn’t see any relevant conversation.

Just allowing people to ‘flip’ and go horizontal would actually require some additional application design so that the remaining screen space could be as useful as possible. I’m not saying that it can’t be done, just that there are other things to consider.

It’s all worth it, I think. Apple’s branding of the thing isn’t as much about the software keyboard as it is about the big-ass screen that can be adaptive to the application. I’m glad no space is wasted on a keyboard that is only needed in certain places. You don’t need it for iTunes use. You don’t need it when reading web pages. You don’t need it when browsing through maps. You don’t need it when watching video or flipping through photos.

If you’re so addicted to messaging and mail and typing, it just might not be the right product for you. Personally, I love my iPhone. It’s the first phone I’ve had that I actually enjoy using. It’s the first PDA-style device I’ve had in years that I actually use. And I’ll take that big touch screen and virtual keyboard any day compared to the chicken scratching or stylus tapping I had to do on my old Palm devices as means of data entry. And since I’m not addicted to corporate email, constant messaging, etc, I think the iPhone’s branding is much more targeted at me than it is at the BlackBerry crowd.

Sensationalism.

Big rants, guys, but don’t you have any solid points? Such as: “it’s not wide enough” or “it’s hard to use narrow” … you make a lot of claims with nothing to back it up.

You live in Japan, right? Have you used an iPhone, or are you basing this on hearsay and speculation?

No, the iPhone keyboard isn’t terribly accurate when it’s narrow. You have to learn to trust it. Whatever inaccuracies occur when using the keyboard, Apple’s software is smart enough to know that if you type “sjmilar” you mean “similar.” It’s really smart actually. Once I learned to trust it, I can type very fast (and inaccurately!) without worrying about misspellings.

Using an image on a screen to “test” how well you can use the iPhone keyboard is laughable. Actually holding the device is part of the experience, tapping your computer screen is no comparison.

I strongly agree with Cameron’s second post. I hat the opportunity to test an iPhone at an Apple reseller in Munich. Even when I used the keyboard one-handed and typed with my thumb (which covers almost three keys), I had no problems in using it. Of course, bigger keys would be easier to hit and Fitt’s law certainly has its implications for touch screen interfaces as well, but there are more points to consider, such as those made by Jeff and ryan.

Oliver: Used for a short time? So most of your rant is speculative (or perhaps, personal preference)?

Speaking as somebody who hasn’t seen, touched, played around with iPhone yet, I don’t see the problem with portrait style in terms of screen real estate. The landscape keyboard would give you the same operational experience as some game consoles, but space is confined. It always takes time to learn how to use/type on the phone especially, when I renew the carrier. I am sure it will take some time getting use to with iPhone.

Some of iPhone operations will become standardized even though we see and experience them as new. They always do and more people are getting use to it. Most of what we say as “common” or “intuitive”, is because of what Apple has done with their products already.

Also the phone interface doesn’t need an Apple logo, the phone itself is Apple, and the look and feel is distinctly Apple. Apple has been creating/building their style in our mind for years.

Having said that I cannot argue whether I like it or not, right or wrong at this stage. Thank you for bringing this up. And I’m curious about how to type Japanese on iPhone.

Oliver, I did try it before “bitching about it”. I tried tapping the .gif on your site, and it was nothing like the iPhone. (I have one, you know.)

Yes, I read Khoi’s article. Khoi himself states he’s not an expert, why do you take his word for absolute truth? I take everything I read with a grain of salt.

I’m not trying to be an Apple fanboy or apologetic. In fact, I think both landscape AND portrait keyboard suck the same amount; both aren’t very good for typing, but neither are any worse than the other, in my opinion. Tapping a touchscreen keyboard is just no replacement for a real one.

And I think your argument (which is simply “it’s obvious!”) is shaky at best. The bigger keyboard takes up more screen .. it’s not better, just different. I bet if you took a survey, iPhone customers use the portrait keyboard practically exclusively.

However, I avoid using the keyboard when possible. I only use it for short SMS, email or web addresses. I primarily use my iPhone for consuming content, not creating or writing.

And when I do use the keyboard, I only use one finger. In my opinion, it’s too awkward to use my thumbs (maybe they’re just too big). So maybe I’m not the best person to evaluate the iPhone’s keyboard.

You know, you act like your opinion is the absolute truth, and no one could possibly think different, or even prefer different. It may be obvious to you. But c’mon: different strokes for different folks.

Apple doesn’t need to follow the rules. They’re making up rules for the iPhone; they’re in the process of finding out what works. Who are you to tell them that the portrait keyboard doesn’t work, and hurts their brand? It’s not like you have some special training in multi-touch interfaces, or Mobile OS X interface design. You only used one for a short period of time.

Really, if you had presented this article as your opinion, instead of absolute obvious truth, I might actually have something good to say about it.

Cameron, all I say is just my opinion. I try to found it as good as I can, given the reduced time and space frame a blog entry gives you. If I wanted to write a scientific report on the Apple keyboard, I’d have to take an out time and dedicate myself to that particular goal. I still believe - and yes, this is just my opinion - that the current keyboard is silly and wrong. I base that opinion on

1. tons of material on the subject that I DAILY encounter on the web
2. my (very deceiving) personal experience tapping on the iPhone keyboard
3. my almost 10-year professional experience as an interface designer and brand consultant with a 6-year academic background

So I have given this good thought and I consideration. Yet it is a blog entry and not an academic white paper. It is supposed to start a conversation not generate an entry in Wikipedia.

I am convinced though that one could turn this into an interesting scientific project entitled: Are touchscreen keyboards with clearly touchable keys more efficient than keyboards with keys that are too small to hit with a man’s thumb?

And then again: What do you think is the probable answer to this simple question? I think we both know the answer already. Of course, scientific research often bears surprises. To tell you the truth: I’d be more than happy to be proven wrong.

But saying “Well that’s just your fucking opinion man” doesn’t do it. What is so strange about my opinion? That it is easier to type big keys than small keys, and especially since you have no tactile feedback on a touch screen, being able to hit a key IS key? Or that I suggest that people actually use the two pictures to test it for themselves? I never said that my gifs are an equivalent to the experience of the iPhone. The gifs are supposed to illustrate my point. Ah, I am getting bored of this…

I’m pretty sure that Apple has psychologists, HCI specialists, anthropologists, ethnologists who have been working on their products. However, Apple ignores/doesn’t care what is happening in the market. This is one of their ways of business. Touchscreen keyboards with touchable keys are of course efficient as I sometimes do at a shopping mall to find my destination. I thought we are talking about here is “touchscreen” on Apple iPhone, right? It’s interesting what are based on your opinion for this blog and I would love to read your scientific report on the Apple keyboard if you wanted it.

Based on the photos here, i have to base my comments on these, since i have not invested my money into an iPhone as I have been waiting for the iPod(touch).

I thought your comments were quite interesting. There should be a horizontal keyboard for chatting. But a vertical keyboard would make me feel cramp and enclosed with no room to read up. The keyboard is also so standard, it makes me want to personalize it. Flexibility here should be emphasized. I would like to design my own keyboard in my own colors and looks.

Your comments on the branding was nice. There is a very small open space for apple to again put a logo. But branding in smaller technologies and in a 3d environment is entirely different than branding on big open spaces such as a 1024×768 monitor. If you turn the phone around, there should be a big Apple logo on the best space on the phone.

THe new ipod touch has a landscape keyboard!

The mock-up is great for a better, and less error-prone input from users. However, holding the iPhone horizontally will require the use of both hands; meaning it is not very effectively in situations where the users only have the use of 1 hand, such as grabbing on to a rail in a crowed train, or eating a cheeseburger, not trying to smudge the mayo over his face while struggling to type in a message at the same time.

Personally I feel that apart having a qwerty keyboard, there should be an option to allow the users to choose and change to a mobile phone input keypad.

This dramatically increase the space for thumbs to touch while holding the iPhone vertically with one hand, it helps to cut down learning curve for users who have never touched a Palm, Treo or any similar PDA devices in their entire life.

Or it could also be designed to cater for both situations; such as displaying the mobile phone keypad when holding the iPhone vertically, and switching it to a QWERTY keypad when holding horizontally.

Cheers, Kaisen

NO! When you use original iPhone keeboard, you can type text by one hand and push on the buttons by first finger. If you will hold iPhone in horizontal placement, you will need second hand.