Comments on: Branding Crimes: 3. The iPhone Keyboard

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 09:11:44 +0000

I've tried the iPhone keyboard. I've tried the Samsung i900 Omnia keyboard. Neither works well for me in portrait mode. My fingers are too big and the iPhone doesn't seem to guess what I want to type (and half the time leaves the gobbledygook I've typed on the screen.)

The Samsung Omnia, however, DOES give a keyboard in landscape mode when typing email and other things. It works well enough for me that I am considering moving from my old Treo (whose keyboard works for me because I can type by "feel").

That's it. The touchscreen portrait keyboards are just too small for my big thumbs.

By: Chucky Fields

Chucky Fields — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:20:56 +0000

I agree the iPhone should allow a flip into a horizontal input layout. IT'S SO OBVIOUS!!!! APPLE, smarten up. It's the most obvious blunder in the phone.

Is there some sort of hack application out there that enables this function? Does anyone know? I've heard that there is but I cannot locate it.

By: K9vap

K9vap — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:03:20 +0000

Personally, I find the portrait easier to use as the finger has less travel. What really annoys me is the position of the ‘send’ button right next to the ‘P’ which I keep hitting & sending my texts prematurely. Also….no way to stop once its sent. If they stuck the send button next to the ‘Q’ it would be more sensible, or even on the bar at the top of the screen where it would really be out of the way. Hitting this button by accident is irreversible, unlike a typo!

By: max hodges

max hodges — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:11:12 +0000

it's obvious to me too: bigger keyboard = less mistakes. Maybe some of you have little pre-teen fingers, but I don't.

True, a bigger keyboard would take up more space, but who cares? You could still use the portrait keyboard as an option, but most of us are not composing novels on these devices.

By: macfan406

macfan406 — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:48:01 +0000

good article except for a real test, make the images real size.. (i have an iPhone,so i can tell…) I would like to see 1.1.4 have the keyboard rotate in every app, and not just safari. my fingers are about 1/2 inch thick and the buttons are 1/4 inch, so it is a pain to type on. NOTE TO APPLE: MAKE THE KEYBOARD ROTATE IN EVERY APPLICATION, NOT JUST SAFARI I miss thumbtyping… :(

By: Shap

Shap — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:17:04 +0000

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.

By: Kaisen

Kaisen — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 03:33:29 +0000

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

By: ACTPOB

ACTPOB — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:17:38 +0000

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By: Oliver Reichenstein

Oliver Reichenstein — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 23:22:45 +0000

Dae,

Seriously? For every application?

By: dae

dae — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 22:34:40 +0000

THe new ipod touch has a landscape keyboard!