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haroldo
join:2004-01-16
USA

3 edits

haroldo

Member

[rant]I'm starting to really hate iOS keyboard

I'm not going to switch (I still love the ecosystem), but I'm really starting to hate the keyboard and typing on iToys. The more I hear (on the news, never played with one) about the new Blackerry's and Droid's predictive typing, the more I realize that half of the time (or more) I spend typing revolves around editing, correcting errors, reviewing, etc.
I know no one knows for sure and understand Apple locks down acces to their keyboard, so no third party apps, but is this something that has a hope of being improved?
This is a real problem and I foresee them losing share because these are counterproductive devices.
If two smartphones can both access a web browser, email, Facebook, Angry Birds and take pictures, eventually they will be seen as commodities. Won't ease of use start to factor into individual's purchasing decisions? Are iToys really that much easier to use than Android? (serious, not sarcastic, question).
Please tell me they'll improve the typing experience (or do they expect us to use Siri).
End of rant
I made over thirty typing corrections whilst typing this
Okay, this is the real end of rant

dirtyjeffer0
Posers don't use avatars.
Premium Member
join:2002-02-21
London, ON

dirtyjeffer0

Premium Member

i don't find typing is that bad on it (iPhone5 and iPad)...it too has predictive text (hence the autocorrect funnies) so as long as you watch what you are typing, you should be able to catch things easily...for longer messages, why not simply use the voice to text feature (the little mic beside the space button)?...that feature works great and you don't need to type a thing.
Liberty
Premium Member
join:2005-06-12
Arizona

Liberty to haroldo

Premium Member

to haroldo
I too am not all that impressed with auto correct
I turned it off

Settings / general / keyboard

not quite right
I'm not cool enough to be a Mac person
join:2001-06-23
Puyallup, WA

not quite right to haroldo

Member

to haroldo
I see this as being a "grass is greener thing". I've never found my typing speed or accuracy improved using a tactical, or touch screen keyboard from any cellphone manufacture. It's more of a perception at best. Tiny buttons are tiny buttons, shity spelling is shity spelling. As for the iPad goes this is the only thing that will improve your experience when doing any heavy duty typing : »www.logitech.com/en-us/p ··· rd-cover.

Octavean
MVM
join:2001-03-31
New York, NY

Octavean to haroldo

MVM

to haroldo
Over time I have seen features added to iOS that were available elsewhere well in advance and thought "it's about time".

Still, I don't know about jumping ship simply for little things that may come along in due time. And even if one did jump ship it would be a gain in one or some area's and a loss in others.

haroldo
join:2004-01-16
USA

4 edits

haroldo to dirtyjeffer0

Member

to dirtyjeffer0
said by dirtyjeffer0:

...it too has predictive text (hence the autocorrect funnies)

Never used it, but I believe predictive typing is different from autorcorrect.
Predictive typing guesses that if you type Please shut the do.. (I believe) the predictive typing will suggest door.
Apple's autocorrect suggests crazy words that bear no semblance to the flow of the sentence.
I typed Doo and it suggested Foo (is that even a word?).
I typed Please shut the doot and autocorrect suggested foot. The D is next to the F and the R is next to the T, so it's a 50/50 guess that I meant DOOR or FOOT (if I missed the correct key by typing the adjacent key). A predictive would guess DOOR, based on the context. A random guess based on flipping a coin would suggest FOOT.
BTW, how do you shut a foot?

Mike
Mod
join:2000-09-17
Pittsburgh, PA

Mike to haroldo

Mod

to haroldo
I like the android suggest words feature (it takes a lot of real estate though) but it sounds like you need to work on your accuracy.

Stacy
FotoDogue
Premium Member
join:2001-11-02
New York, NY

Stacy to haroldo

Premium Member

to haroldo
My son suggested all keyboards should have a .com key. It would sure make browsing the Internet a little bit easier and faster.

Hall
MVM
join:2000-04-28
Germantown, OH

Hall

MVM

said by Stacy:

My son suggested all keyboards should have a .com key. It would sure make browsing the Internet a little bit easier and faster.

On Android, some keyboards do have that (as well as a "@" key). They only become visible under certain circumstances though, such as filling in an email address field. Even then, it doesn't always turn on.
Hall

Hall to haroldo

MVM

to haroldo
There is a difference between the two. On my Android, for reasonably simple sentences, I can often get away without typing ANY words except maybe the first one. It will show (3) words as it's prediction and does a damn good job ! I showed my wife and she thinks it "scary".

Auto-correct does like you say, by looking at nearby letters when a word is misspelled.

Stacy
FotoDogue
Premium Member
join:2001-11-02
New York, NY

Stacy to Hall

Premium Member

to Hall
said by Hall:

On Android, some keyboards do have that (as well as a "@" key). They only become visible under certain circumstances though, such as filling in an email address field. Even then, it doesn't always turn on.

My son was talking about physical keyboards.

J E F F4
Whatta Ya Think About Dat?
Premium Member
join:2004-04-01
Kitchener, ON

J E F F4 to not quite right

Premium Member

to not quite right
I got the Origami case and Apple bluetooth keyboard. Works beautiful!
J E F F4

J E F F4 to Stacy

Premium Member

to Stacy
said by Stacy:

My son suggested all keyboards should have a .com key. It would sure make browsing the Internet a little bit easier and faster.

Sure would be. The nice one thing with the pre Z10 BBs was that hitting the "space" bar would put in the "." when going to a website, or the "@" when typing in for a e-mail address. (because obviously spaces are useless in emails addresses and website addresses)

banditws6
Shrinking Time and Distance
Premium Member
join:2001-08-18
Frisco, TX

1 recommendation

banditws6 to Stacy

Premium Member

to Stacy
said by Stacy:

said by Hall:

On Android, some keyboards do have that (as well as a "@" key). They only become visible under certain circumstances though, such as filling in an email address field. Even then, it doesn't always turn on.

My son was talking about physical keyboards.

I don't think they really need a .com key, so long as you are aware of the existing keyboard shortcuts in the major browsers.

In current versions of IE, Firefox and Chrome, if you type the domain name into the URL bar and then press Control+Enter, the browser will prepend "www.", append ".com" and immediately go to the site. For instance, you just type "dslreports" and hit Control+Enter, and you immediately go to www.dslreports.com. I use this all the time.

In Firefox, you can also do Shift+Enter to append ".net" instead of ".com", or Control+Shift+Enter to append ".org".

Edit: Sorry for the PC-speak with my mention of the Control key. Not sure what the equivalent is on the Mac but I assume this function is present in OSX Safari as well.

Alcohol
Premium Member
join:2003-05-26
Climax, MI

Alcohol

Premium Member

On chrome for android you can just type the url and it will suggest .com/.net whatever is the first result on google search.

Also, the keyboard i use (swiftkey) has the ability to swipe up and select gmail.com/hotmail.com on the @ symbol. Probably my 2nd most used feature after flow (swyping to type).

Wonder why OP prefers the ecosystem that locks things down while demanding the opposite.

banditws6
Shrinking Time and Distance
Premium Member
join:2001-08-18
Frisco, TX

banditws6

Premium Member

said by Alcohol:

Wonder why OP prefers the ecosystem that locks things down while demanding the opposite.

He might already be trapped in the ecosystem and, despite having realized that there may be things he'd like to try on a different mobile platform, leaving that whole ecosystem behind would cause serious inconvenience.

Hell, even though my iPhone is the only Apple device I personally use, losing access to iMessage with all the people I know with iPhones (my wife most importantly; she is a 100% Apple convert) would be a real pain in my ass as I will not pay the highway robbery charges for text plans. And no, I cannot expect most of these people to start using Google Voice to text me should I decide to switch to another mobile OS, so that's out.

Combine that with the hassle of having to find replacements for my existing workflow and app usage patterns on some other mobile OS, and my answer is "why bother." I suspect for others it is a similar situation. When it comes to my workstations, I care enough to bother. My phone just needs to work when I pick it up and go away when I put it down, that's it.

robbin
Mod
join:2000-09-21
Leander, TX

robbin to haroldo

Mod

to haroldo
said by haroldo:

Won't ease of use start to factor into individual's purchasing decisions? Are iToys really that much easier to use than Android? (serious, not sarcastic, question).
Please tell me they'll improve the typing experience (or do they expect us to use Siri).

So you are suggesting that iOS is possibly no longer the easier or the best? I think they have already lost share and continue to do so. I love my iPhone and iPad as tools. They were really the only choice at the time. Times change.

haroldo
join:2004-01-16
USA

4 edits

haroldo

Member

said by Alcohol:

...Wonder why OP prefers the ecosystem that locks things down while demanding the opposite.

OP is probably expressing a frustration and being honest in his assessment.
A fanboy (I really hate the term) blindly defends all aspects of a product with fierce, almost belligerent, loyalty willing to overlook any/all shortcomings.
On the other hand, I (the OP) like most, if not all, of the way things work, but am not afraid to reflect when I see flaws. I think Outlook (brought to you by the nice folks at Microsoft...BOO! HISS!) is far superior to Mail. I prefer Safari to Chrome, but regularly switch back and forth between the two and prefer the way Chrome does a lot of things.
It's not an "all or none" proposition, I can look towards what each product offers and hope that one adopts the other's features (and then the patent lawyers can fight it out).
As to "locking down", I actually prefer the controlled environment. I feel, (for me, mind you, not something preferred by others) the benefits of an enhanced level of safety (against apps with malicious intent), ease of use and the inability of user to "break things" is more important than being able to do something (or do it with one or two less clicks). I don't jailbreak. I'm old enough to prefer "it just works" and young enough to realize that it doesn't always "work the best".
said by banditws6:

He might already be trapped in the ecosystem and, despite having realized that there may be things he'd like to try on a different mobile platform, leaving that whole ecosystem behind would cause serious inconvenience...

No OCD here! (I know enough of those people to know I ain't got it LOL). I can easily move at 100 MPH, stop on a dime and do a complete turn around if I deem it necessary.
While its impossible to make a complete assessment about the choice without having thoroughly used both systems simultaneously (which I doubt few people have), I think I know enough about what iToys have to offer (in relation to non-iToys devices) to feel comfortable with my decision.
As I said above, it's not all or none. I like 95% of the functionality and 5% I don't like and hope for improvement.
I certainly wouldn't switch for a better keyboard.
said by robbin:

So you are suggesting that iOS is possibly no longer the easier or the best? I think they have already lost share and continue to do so. I love my iPhone and iPad as tools. They were really the only choice at the time. Times change.

I agree to an extent.
Nothing lasts forever.
Just look at the the news...the three greatest civilizations from a few millennia ago, Egypt, Greece and Rome/Italy, have become economic or political basket cases .
Or look to the more recent past with titans, retailers such as Sears, camera manufacturers Polaroid or Kodak, mobile dveice companies such as Sony, Palm or Blackberry, long distance providers AT&T (the original one, not the current one which was a different company that just took the brand name) or WorldCom, and so on.
Success, like beauty, is fleeting, here one minute, gone the next (just ask the dinosaurs, ruling the planet for millions of years, now reduced to being poured into a teen ager's moped engine).
The smart survive by adapting, the weak perish.
I'm not suggesting for a minute that Apple will disappear because their version of spell corrector isn't "tops in the field", but I am suggesting that Apple is (temporarily) ruling the roost because of two very important attributes...ease of use and a reputation for top quality.
As long as they remember that and strive to continually improve their offerings (maybe a smarter keyboard, for example) they'll continue to keep and win new customers. If not, they'll slowly evolve into a 'yesterday' company.
Microsoft was once a hot young company and for the last few years they were viewed as "grandpa's" company, with Apple the 'new kid on the block'.
Well, now the tables are turning.
Samsung/Droid has been aggressively courting and capturing the young crowd (off topic, I was at a 90 year old's birthday celebration just last week, her friends gave her an iPod Touch...her granddaughter took a photo of the event with a Samsung Smartphone...I think there's a subtle message there, no?).
The sleeping giant, Windows, has woken from their coma and is charging full force into mobile and, unlike the ancient days of mobile (where Apple had a free run for a few years) there's now a real competition out there.
So, in a long round about way of saying it, I agree with you.
In some regards, they're not the easiest nor the best, in others, clearly, they are.
I can't think of one product that is far superior to all the others in every single category. That's the nature of the free markets, where each can produce a good that appeals to the whims and fancies of each and every consumer. Bentley can compete with Chevrolet and the Chevy wins hands down (...only on price and availability).
For now, I love Apple's products.

Okay back onto,the original topic...is there any rumor as to them working on an improved keyboard?

Hall
MVM
join:2000-04-28
Germantown, OH

Hall to banditws6

MVM

to banditws6
said by banditws6:

Edit: Sorry for the PC-speak with my mention of the Control key. Not sure what the equivalent is on the Mac but I assume this function is present in OSX Safari as well.

In case you're not aware, "iOS", as noted in the subject, refers to the operating system for Apple's iPhone / iPod / iPad lines.

Mospaw
My socks don't match.

join:2001-01-08
New Braunfels, TX

Mospaw to haroldo

to haroldo
I have an iPad and an Android phone & tablet.

I loathe the software keyboard on iOS and the lack of arrow keys. Using the magnifier is clumsy to me. The fact that the system keyboard is not fully replaceable is silly to me.

My Android devices' system keybaords are better than Apple's "out of the box". That there are plenty of replacements as well that suit my needs even better.