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June 19, 2007

iphone

iPhone’s keyboard may think different

Posted Jun. 19, ’07, 9:34 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | iPhone

iPhone keyboardMuch has been said—most of it unfounded—about the iPhone’s touch-sensitive keyboard and whether or not it will be able to supplant the spot currently occupied by plastic smartphone keyboards in the hearts of dozens. Jobs has talked up its predictive features, and it looks quite smooth when he uses it or it’s shown in the demos, but that’s hardly trustworthy. One small chink in the armor showed at WWDC when Apple VP Scott Forstall slipped up and mistyped something during a demonstration—something he blamed on nervous, shaky hands.

Blogger Will Mon has spent some time—too much probably—staring at the videos showing the iPhone’s text input, and he’s put together a theory of how the keyboard works: most importantly, he hypothesizes that the letter doesn’t register until you lift your finger from the keyboard. By Mon’s observations, while your finger is in contact with the screen, you can shift it to another letter if you’ve hit the wrong one. This “on release” behavior is of course the opposite of how traditional keyboards work, but it jibes with what Steve has said about the keyboard taking some time to get used to. And coming from Apple, I believe that a little detail like this could make the iPhone’s keyboard super-effective, or at the very least, more effective than critics have suggested.

Ten days, and we can lay this to rest. Or, at least, start an entirely new chapter of iPhone obsession.

[via Apple 2.0]


3 Comments

Mark Beattie said:

It's not like the iPhone is the first touch screen smart phone ever made, just the most beautifully executed. I bought my Motorola M1000 in Japan last year, and that's exactly how it's on-screen keyboard works - if you hit the wrong key you can nudge your finger over to the correct key before releasing it. Nothing new there.

June 19, 2007 5:08 PM
Will said:

I'll admit that I did spend way too much time staring at the videos, although the thought came in between those views :)

June 19, 2007 7:44 PM
niclet said:

This keyboard should be able to work in landscape orientation to get bigger keys.

June 19, 2007 10:04 PM

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