iPhone’s keyboard is “2x slower” than “other phones”
It seems that a survey company, namely one conducted by Chicago-based consulting firm User Centric, seems to indicate the following: The iPhone’s keyboard is slower than your average phone keypad. How much slower? Roughly 2x as slow, taking study participants almost twice as long to compose messages than it did on other QWERTY-equipped handsets. Okay…we’re willing to entertain the idea, but there are a couple of glaring issues here that bear exploration. First off, the study participants were not iPhone users. They were all given an iPhone, and asked to type 6 messages. 6? That’s assuming one heck of a quick learning curve, as it took me way more than 6 emails to get used to the new keyboard layout on my BlackBerry 8800, let alone an unorthodox design such as the iPhone’s touch-screen. Second, the study explored the habits of just 20 participants, hardly enough to establish the groundwork for such a sweeping accusation. The iPhone’s keyboard is a different beast, and it’s fair to say that some people are having issues with it, but twisting statistics to create a sensational headline is a bit ridiculous if you ask us…that said, in an attempt to counteract the points levied in this study, we did a little "study" of our own. The results: The Boy Genius can type faster on his iPhone than anyone. Anywhere. Anytime. Do I smell a challenge here? Bring on the iPhone-typing YouTube videos!
When will these fools ever learn? Another publicity attempt in my opinion to try and steer would be buyers away from buying an iphone. Like I’ve said before and I’ll say again. Nothing beats using the device for yourself and actually challenging yourself to learn how to text on it. Did they all get 300 page bills too? -nudge, nudge-
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did you type this post w/ your iphone?
“The Boy Genius can type faster on his iPhone that anyone. Anywhere. Anytime.”
that = than?
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I just want the fuc*ing kaiser to drop on T-Mobile. Who cares about the iPhone!?!?!?
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The picture looks like you can now type text messages in landscape mode. Did they fix that?
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I believe it. I tried one of these and while it is pretty impressive, it takes too long to place your finger exactly on the letter you want. Right now I prefer the BBcurve’s keyboard, nice small keys with a little bit of space between each.
But who knows, maybe the Apple people or someone else can figure out a better virtual keyboard–could be easier to improve than a regular keyboard since it just requires an improvement in the keyboard software.
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Hoax Meister,
The whole trick to typing fast and accurately on the iPhone keyboard is not to sweat over placing your finger exactly on the letter you want. I can now get 25-30 words per minute at 99% accuracy typing with just a single finger.
That’s at least as good, if not significantly better, than many Blackberry or Treo users. Plus, I don’t have to worry about Blackberry thumbitis, which is a serious health/ergonomic issue with many users.
In the end, to make the claim that the iPhone’s keyboard is “significantly slower” when one is able to type at 25-30 wpm after just a few days is ridiculous, and just amounts to nothing but FUD on the part of iPhone detractors.
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Joshua, it seems that they were measuring the user-friendliness of the soft keyboard to that of hard keyboards with new, ‘untainted’ users. No surprise there, the hard keyboard won out.
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Hey everyone,
An aside to Hoax Meister: This is going to sound weird, but try not thinking about where your fingers land too much. In a strange way this is a lot like true touch typing, where you develop a “feel” for where the keys are without thinking about where they’re physically located. Apple’s software does adapt to your style after awhile if you stick with it.
That said, I agree with your take about keyboard alternatives: while I like the current virtual keys, I’ll be the first to eschew a “one size fits all” mentality. As my ex-boss likes to say, “let a thousand ideas bloom!”.
As to this “study” — I liken it to seeing video of Shawn Whites (gold medal Olympic skate boarder) first time on a skate board — He fell flat on his butt a few times, I’m sure. But it doesn’t mean skate boarding was a useless endeavor for him! As with all new things, practice is key. I know it was actually hard for me, a long time 10 finger typist, to switch to what is more of a “hunt and peck” style (without the hunt, actually), particularly when using my thumbs.
Does anybody here know if anyone has gotten that laser generated bluetooth keyboard to work with the iPhone? I think that would go a long way to helping people who have trouble with the virtual keyboard on the iPhone for anything other than ultra-short messages.
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Not for nothing let T-mobile launch a decent 3G service first then maybe they can talk about getting the kaiser, till then look for it on at&t as the Tilt or 8925. gameSETmatch against T-mobile once again.
signature: if you thought rollover was a gimmick try just calling 5 people and not being able to call the same people in your network unless you pay an additional 10 bucks and more than likely those 5 people you pick will be on at&t. ;D
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You can type in landscape mode when using Safari….
I would love to challenge BG in a iPhone type off. I am a BEAST with typing on this thing. I previously had a BlackJack and I definitely type faster and much more efficiently with my iPhone…
Holla At Me BG…we can put money on the line.
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Lotsa PBKAC — problem between keyboard and chair — issues apparent by the self-annointed Genius.
It looks like you write in English, but people actually trained in the language say, issues “bear exploration” — not “bare,” as in the issues expose the exploration of them (bass ackwards).
In contrast, the “2X slower” claim is only correct if the speed on a perfect keyboard were infinitely fast, the QWERTY that people were using took 30 seconds, and the iPhone, at 90 seconds, had twice as much _additional_ delay.
You could say, “people inexperienced in the iPhone took twice as long to type as when they used a QWERTY keyboard that they now use.” That’d convey both the very narrow insight of the statistic as well as show that you understand math claims in general.
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“…but there are a couple of glaring issues here that bare exploration…”
Um, that should be “…bear exploration…”, as in “support”.
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I think that this is totally true since the devil phone has a processor that can barely handle most of the internet, yes I know this from experience, so whenever I type on it, it comes out something like “hasafsdlkj dlkspoo kinder sifj ssans” and I once typed “iPhone” on it and it came out to say “g fone” so I think it’s totally true or at least possible but if they had them type somewhere around 20 messages after letting them use the thing for a day or so and maybe they could roam the country for a month testing about 100 random people from 48 of the states then it could be a bit more legit. But for now it’s definitely true but it still needs more testing.
Oh Yea,
…Kaiser…14 days to drop…
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Iphone sucks why bother?
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Exactly why doesn’t everybody pick up a Blackberry or a Kaiser. Reality check iPhone guys it’s not as good as the sales guys said it would be but hey they’re sales guys so of course they’re gonna say it’s the best, they’re sales guys. It’s what they get paid for.
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Do people buy the iphone to type on? It seems to require so much patience and concentration.
Joshua - How fast can you type on it?
BG - How would you compare your typing speed on the iphone to the BB Curve, or any BlackBerry for that matter.
Enquiring minds want to know.
CB
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I want to know how they compare their typing on a devil phone to typing on a Kaiser.
Enlighten us BG guys, what’s the best FULL QWERTY keyboard on a smartphone/PDA phone out there?
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Tried the iphone twice, felt like throwing the damn thing. That keyboard is a totall dealbreaker for me. Typing and editing text is way too important to me to ever even reconsider the iphone. I love my Blackberry.
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Hey at least if you threw it maybe it would be useful for one thing, stress relief. although that’s a really expensive stress relief ball…brick.
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This description sums up the iphone:
http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:mPHjYmhkcu4J:www.mobile-review.com/articles/2007/iphone-name-en.shtml&hl=en&strip=1
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I tried out the iPhone’s keyboard at my local Apple Store, and found that it is pretty difficult for someone with large fingers like me to use. The buttons are very narrow, and pressing them within the borders of each key is difficult. not to mention the lack of tactile feedback.
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