More Apple-like response?

[Agrajag]

Cyril/Guys,

This past week I played around with a friend's iPhone and was pretty shocked at how dramatic the difference was with the virtual keyboard on it versus all the virtual keyboards on the Droid. I could type much faster and rarely hit a wrong key where on the Droid I seem to hit one all the time.

The first thing that struck me was just how much space their keyboard APPEARS to have. Their screen is slighly larger but not by much. Could that be the only difference?

That got me thinking about hot spots for keys. With the iPhone I got the impression that the accuracy was due in large part to it having a much smaller hotspot for each key. That got me wondering if, perhaps, having a test feature where we could dynamically select the size of the acceptable hotspot might show better or worse results than the default. For example, what would happen if each key could only be hit by touching a single pixel at the dead center of each key? Would that be impossible to hit or would it reduce incorrect "neighbor key" hits? I'd be curious to find out.

Then the other thing I'd be curious to see if Cyril could pull off in Pro has to do with the iPhone's ability, in any input box, to utilize a Magnify feature simply by holding the space in an input box. Hold your finger there and bang, you zoom in where you are and can easily move left or right a character or two. I go nuts now when I want to remove just a single letter and often end up on the wrong side if it several times before I can get the cursor where it needs to be.

I realize this is a bit out of scope but it is related. It's all part of a better virtual keyboard experience even if it isn't just hitting the keyboard. Cyril, do you even have access to be able to do something like that?

Thoughts?

[cyril]

I agree with you, there are many things to learn from the iPhone, and improving speed is something I would like to achieve if possible (I don't know yet)
Meanwhile, I am working on the iPhone skin, it will be out soon

[Fat Fingers]

Cyril/Guys,



Then the other thing I'd be curious to see if Cyril could pull off in Pro has to do with the iPhone's ability, in any input box, to utilize a Magnify feature simply by holding the space in an input box. Hold your finger there and bang, you zoom in where you are and can easily move left or right a character or two. I go nuts now when I want to remove just a single letter and often end up on the wrong side if it several times before I can get the cursor where it needs to be.

This (or similar) functionality exists on the Blackberry Storm as well. I share your frustration with getting the cursor precisely where I want it when correcting typos (especially in between letters). See the other thread in this forum regarding getting arrows added to the Smart Keyboard for exactly the same reason. Whether it be arrows or the magnifying feature, the Smart keyboard would benefit greatly from solving this problem. Based on Cyril's responses in the other thread, it sounds like the arrow approach is not too tough for him to implement. Hopefully we will have that soon.

[gOdiE]

Yeah, iphone's skin would be nice! .

[Agrajag]

An iPhone skin would be nice but it would have to be more than cosmetic really. I'm still trying to figure out why it's so damned easy to hit the keys in it. Is it really just their look?

Glad to hear about arrows. Sounds like a solution though I would slightly argue that magnify is just so freaking cool that it bears consideration. When I first saw it on the iPhone it just reeked of well-thought-out polish.

[gOdiE]

The iphone screen is more responsive and sensitive.

Cyril , please check this link :

http://www.ismashphone.com/2010/01/nexu ... uracy.html

[Fat Fingers]

Glad to hear about arrows. Sounds like a solution though I would slightly argue that magnify is just so freaking cool that it bears consideration. When I first saw it on the iPhone it just reeked of well-thought-out polish.

I am not at all opposed to the magnifying window, but I suspect that would be a lot more Development. Ideally it would be nice to have both, but I would be thrilled with either. And of course, the sooner the better. All my friends suddenly think I have become a drunk since I got my Droid. With all the typos going out, I can see why.

[Agrajag]

I can tell you this: the new iphone skin is dramatically improving my accuracy. I may finally be able to cut the others loose.

[Fat Fingers]

I can tell you this: the new iphone skin is dramatically improving my accuracy. I may finally be able to cut the others loose.

Yes, it helped, but ultimately I am a helpless typist. I need arrows or magnifier to go back to crrect all my errors. I am still in my 30 day return window for my Droid. If Cyril or Moto does not solve this issue for me, this Droid that I otherwise love so much will be getting returned. If Cyril does get this built, his app immediately differentiates itself from the others.