Apple today released the latest in the company’s recent string of iPhone videos: “iPhone Keyboard.”
Apple advises:
• Start with just one index finger
• At first, be very deliberate with your finger taps
• Pay particular attention to the confirmation pop-ups and where your finger touches the screen
Apple has clearly spent a lot of time developing iPhone’s virtual keyboard. iPhone constantly checks what you’re typing against its built-in dictionary. When it finds a mistake, the iPhone makes a suggestion. To decline and keep the word as you typed it, just tap the suggested word. To accept iPhone’s suggestion, just tap the space bar. iPhone also uses its built-in dictionary along with complex mathematics to help correct mistake via pattern matching (for example, typing “ouzza” leads iPhone to offer “pizza” as a suggestion). iPhone also uses its built-in dictionary to predict the next letter you might tap and dynamically resizes the tap zones. It makes the next predicted keys larger and the others smaller as it zeros in on the particular word you’re typing.
iPhone changes its keyboard for different tasks, adapting its layout and keys for different apps.
The trick is to just type away and trust the intelligence of the iPhone keyboard. As you become more comfortable and more proficient, you can graduate to typing with two thumbs and, Apple says, “in less than a week you’ll likely discover yourself typing faster on iPhone than on any other small keyboard.”
The video (in your choice of sizes) is here: http://www.apple.com/iphone/usingiphone/keyboard.html
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Isabelle” for the heads up.]
A better solution would be you tap the word to accept and it automatically leaves a space for the next word so you don’t need to use the space bar. And when you don’t want the suggested word you continue typing.
Think also of a situation where it suggests more than one word, if that’s possible, then you just tap one of the words.
I paid $599 for a 60 GB 4th gen iPod that did photos. No video at all. And I know they sold a bunch of those. I suspect we’ll know on Friday how many people will turn out to buy one.
@Steve:
$500 includes a 4GB $200 iPod nano (and WHAT an iPod!). I paid $450 for my Treo 650 (back in the day), $500 for a 4GB iPod with a phone, internet browser, e-mail and all the other things coming down the pike is a real bargain.
On a separate issue one could reasonably argue that if a 4GB Nano is $200 and an 8GB Nano is $250, why isn’t the 8GB iPhone $550?
@M.A.D.
In M$ Word, I hit the “return” key to accept a suggestion, so Space bar is as good as anything. And the reason you hit the suggested word to decline is because right next to the suggested word is a little X in a circle which means “close”. So by tapping on the word you’re actually “closing” that suggestion. I know is “sounds” counter-intuitive, but visually it makes a lot of sense.
@ It could be better
” better solution would be you tap the word to accept “
No, no, no!! I don’t want to go hunting all over the screen to tap suggested words to accept them. The space bar never moves, I know exactly where it is all the time. And since most of the time the suggestions will be correct, that does seem to be the correct GUI…
Just my $0.02 worth
@Steve,
The biggest psychological barrier is the fact that iPhone is being called a phone.. However, iPhone is less a phone than it is an ultra-portable computer. Sure, it has limitations compared to a full-fledged notebook computer, but iPhone is a legitimate computer that runs OSX.
When you think of the device in those terms, the $500 price tag is much more justifiable.
Seriously, if iPhone was called something else and it didn’t have phone functions, people would not have the psychological barrier of paying $500 for a phone.. They’d be paying $500 for a full-screen touch iPod and ultra-portable internet and email computer.. Phone calls are just icing on the cake.
@ MacMan in response to It could be better:
Agreed!! Typing is all about rhythm, and hitting the space bar to accept the suggestion, just like you do after every other word, keeps that rhythmic groove flowing. Something tells me the “It could be better” solution is the one that Microsoft would’ve adopted.
On a separate issue one could reasonably argue that if a 4GB Nano is $200 and an 8GB Nano is $250, why isn’t the 8GB iPhone $550?
—————-
Because iPhone uses a different (more expensive) type of flash memory. (at least that’s what was explained by forum members on Apple Insider by posters who seemed to know what they were talking about.)
None of the movies will play for me (small, medium or large). Can’t even download the thing. What’s up with that? Have Apple servers finally met their match?
These videos are excellent!
I recommend everyone who gets an iphone to download these.
To be honest, after seeing all the videos I dont think I would ever need to look at the iPhone manual at all!
I love this.
Apple doesn’t like to pre-announce products before they ship, but when they do they listen to the nasty 6 month buildup of FUD and wipe it away with clearly presented facts in these videos. It’s great how Apple makes to astroturfers look even more scared and stupid.
The more I see them the more I want an iPhone.
Unrelated to the post but has anyone heard anything about Apple Care being provided for the iPhone? Seems like it would be pretty odd for Apple to release hardware without this option. No one has mentioned it so I’m left wondering. Thanks!
I heard Applecare would be $60 bucks, but then again that’s a rumor. I know for a fact that AT&T will not be offer its standard insurance on the iPhone. Which is no huge loss. I dealt with them twice, they weren’t bad, a little on the bureaucratic side but on the whole pleasant. But I would rather pay up front instead of 4.99 every month. I am going to go with the 8 Gig model, might as well have the biggest one in terms of storage space. I am also waiting a couple of weeks to let the mob have its fun. Then I can walk into an AT&T store and just take care of business.
Would I pay $500.00 for a phone? …. no …
Would I pay $500.00 for a computer running OSX that is the size of a phone?
Sounds pretty cheap to me …..
I’ve always had a hard time with predictive keyboard spelling and have always had that feature turned off on TextEdit. I can see the benefits of using this, especially on the iPhone where time is of the essence, but at the same time I have a hard time with the computer telling me what it thinks that I’m trying to type. I love having the auto spell checking feature on and I get that dotted underline on questionable spelling.
Still, it looks like predictive spelling is the future and I should really learn to work with that and learn to use it correctly. It’s like anything else; you learn to use it, and it soon becomes second nature.
“iPhone’s intelligent, predictive keyboard”
That should come in handy when I need lottery numbers, stock values and sports scores.
“It’s great how Apple makes to astroturfers look even more scared and stupid.”
They do an excellent job unassisted.
I’ve been thinking the same thing as Teflon, for months! For people who are concerned about the small keyboard, or for fatties with sausage size fingers…
…why oh why, hasn’t Apple allowed the keyboard to expand in landscape mode when you tilt the iPhone sideways???!
It would increas the size of the keypads and create more space between the keys.
It would be an optional keyboard size people could choose whether to use or not! Why are we not seeing this!?
Maybe it’s an engineering problem? – doubt it.
Maybe they don’t want to confuse people? – doubt it.
Maybe if there’s two sizes available they are afraid people won’t learn it as effectively? – doubt it.
Maybe they think the small size is good enough? But it still takes people a week to adjust to it… that doesn’t sound *perfect.*
And what about when you’re typing on the bus and it’s vibrating? What about when your glasses are misplaced?
What about the casual user who only types a few words a day and never adjusts to the keyboard?
What about your grandmother or parent who will be quickly discouraged with any tech device learning curve?
What about typing and walking at the same time through the airport terminal?
Wouldn’t it all be easier with a landscape keyboard?
Why else would Apple leave it out?
Why?
Is it just me, or does the guy doing the demos look like he’s been computer-generated by Steve’s friends over at Pixar. The guy rarely blinks, and has a weird “artificial” quality (enhanced, no doubt, by the black-on-black photography style).
Does anybody know FOR SURE that this is an actual human being? (And not a computer-animated facsimile?)
And yes, I’m serious about this.
re: Mac84
I agree with you about landscape keyboard entry. As someone who has particularly stubby fingers — I’m an extra-large guy with extra-small hands — I also thought a landscape keyboard would be great. But I’m guessing there wouldn’t be enough room to display the text of the message once the keyboard was displayed. Maybe in version 2.0??
Why else would Apple leave it out?
Why?
——————–
Because in landscape orientation, the keys would fill up the whole screen and not leave any room to see the associated text and/or application. If they shrunk the keyboard so that you could see the application, the size would be the same as it is in portrait orientation..
Think about it, a qwerty keyboard is more than twice as wide as it is tall.. If you shrink down the height, you will have blank space on the sides which defeats the purpose of landscape.
Mac 84: Perhaps they ran out of time?
Here’s a better question. WHY are you copying and pasting the exact same tirade on multiple MDN threads?
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
Pete’s right, it wouldn’t work. The only way to type and see text in landscape view is to size down the keyboard leaving the keys virtually the same size as in portrait view, but even less room to see the text up top.
Do you really think that Apple engineers didn’t consider this? If a landscape qwerty was more efficient and worked properly, it would have been implemented.
Maybe if the keyboard were in landscape mode, there wouldn’t be enough room (vertically) to see the conversation or email that you’re typing?
Does anyone know FOR SURE that the keyboard won’t work in landscape mode, even when entering a URL?
One thing that would be nice (if it’s possible to implement) would be if the keys actually got bigger as your finger hovered over them, the same way Dock icons grow when your pointer gets near them and shrink as the pointer moves away. It would make it much easier to see what letter you’re about to hit. A precision enhancement/modification to the iPhone’s proximity sensor (the sensor that knows whether the phone is close to your face or not) should make this possible.
Maybe if the keyboard were in landscape mode, there wouldn’t be enough room (vertically) to see the conversation or email that you’re typing?
Yes, that seems to be the general consensus.
Does anyone know FOR SURE that the keyboard won’t work in landscape mode, even when entering a URL?
No, but since a landscape keyboard has never been shown (even in the instructional video,) chances are slim.
One thing that would be nice (if it’s possible to implement) would be if the keys actually got bigger as your finger hovered over them, the same way Dock icons grow when your pointer gets near them and shrink as the pointer moves away.
It does this to a point with predictive typing. Watch the video.
What impresses me is that by typing the space bar, you’d be banishing often-misspelled words like “definately” into oblivion! Of course, if you regularly write in three or more languages….
I think the system has been through a rigorous testing program and therefore be given the benefit of the doubt. I’m not sure, though, what supports the iPhone in the demo where he’s typing with two hands.
“Does anybody know FOR SURE that this is an actual human being?”
How do we know YOU are?