Physical keyboards are sooo 2009
Sunday, June 7, 2009 at 12:09PM Lukas Mathis speculates in Virtual Keyboards, Real Keyboards the reason for the iPhone's virtual keyboard:
…I would assume that the reason why Apple went with an on-screen keyboard is not that they thought it afforded a better typing experience than a physical keyboard. They went with the on-screen keyboard because they thought the trade-offs were worth it.
I agree with Lukas here, but I think there's more. Yes, having an input area which can be keyboard, canvas, or aircraft controls is alone enough justification for not including a physical keyboard when text-entry is not key. If you do *have* to type, a real keyboard wins.
BUT! The current iPhone (etc.) keyboard simply copies how mechanical keyboards work. Tap, tap, tap. Darn, I missed the G. The strength of a touchscreen is not its tap detection — if anything, that's the most unreliable part of the interaction. Trying to type fast on the iPhone is like trying to play 'Flight of the Bumblebee' on the Double Bass. Sure you can do it, but it's not a good match. Instead, I'm eagerly anticipating development in alternate touchscreen text-entry approaches combined with the addition of better touchscreens, haptic technologies and new sets of software idioms.
And I don't believe I'm the only one. I think Apple is predicting a near-term future where touchscreen text entry methods actually outperform full-size mechanical keyboards. And that this future is near enough to require them to commence the evolution of their technology, and their users, in order to get there. I believe the aping of the QWERTY physical keyboard is a transitional step.
Keyboard, apple, interaction, touchscreen in Trends
Reader Comments (3)
One input method I would love to see ported to touch screens is Dasher ( http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/ ). It looks intimidating at first, but it's easy to get up to a reasonable speed with, and it's designed for use with alternative interfaces (the 1D mouse is very interesting)
The only problem I can see is that the pointing finger may get in the way to the letters, but I'm sure there's a way around this.
What it really needs is a Web 2.0 website!
I'm sure with more practice you'll get faster at typing on your iPhone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qu-dbBiadk
Haptic feedback I imagine would be a substantial improvement to the experience of using a touch screen keyboard, as someone using it would presumably be able to feel each key and form a mental spatial map. Our memory of all the key places is what makes us so effective at typing, and especially coupled with the ability to use the feel and shape of the keys to get our fingers directed into hitting the right one.
For keys laid out in the style of a keyboard (a squat rectangle), the QWERTY layout is going to be easiest for almost anyone to use. A different keyboard layout isn't going to provide a radical improvement in speed or ease.
I am convinced though that in five or so years time touch text input will be done using something much different. (Swype looks really promising, yet for the moment it too continues to use QWERTY.)
So, which prototypes seen today look like serious contenders to knocking the QWERTY keyboard into history?
@Stuart,
Yes I agree, Dasher looks very cool…but for the most part it's not taking full advantage of our ability to input multiple streams of data at once. Which for that matter is the same as Swype, and I've not seen a multi-touch non-traditional text input method.
@Syphon,
LOL at the double bass video. My apologies, I was thinking of playing it without the bow — plucked/pizz. style.
I stand corrected.