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Does the iPhone keyboard really suck?

By Joshua Schnell Sat, May 2, 2009 @ 12:31 PM

2681441953 50f6d50f54 m Does the iPhone keyboard really suck?I would like to petition our loyal readers.  We know you’re there (we see the stats), so drop us some quick insights into the comments.  If you have a Touch or an iPhone, I would really like to find out if you loathe the iPhone keyboard or not.  I’ve read a couple of articles and watched a video this week that argue the merits of tactile feedback, but I’m not 100 percent sure that I agree.  CNET has even posted an interesting video competition between an iPhone and a Netbook.

I think the problem with the iPhone steams from the occasional slowdown in response time that occurs on occasion.  With a tactile keyboard you know you’ve hit the appropriate button when the operating system slows down and needs to catch up a little. This doesn’t happen with the iPhone, typo’s are harder to realize.  I type the best on the device when I’m not worrying about my typing and trust my fingers.  If i’m going slow, I tend to make a lot more mistakes.

So what do you think, is the iPhone keyboard as bad as the haters say it is?

  • http://i-corey.com Corey Harris

    I really like the iPhone keyboard. I have never had any issues at all. I type about 55 wpm on the iphone and rarely make a big mistake. The mistakes I do make normally get corrected by the iPhone too. There will always be haters that want real buttons or tactile response, and you will never change their minds. I can say that I have written emails and blog posts to my site using the iphone and I have never had an issue with it at all.

    • http://www.macgasm.net macgasm

      The auto correction feature is amazing. It really helps with typos. I think that the quality of the auto correct really masks any of the problems I have with the keyboard. If it corrects things before I know I've made a mistake, then it's difficult to know just how crappy the keyboard actually is with the device. The auto correct feature is full of win.

  • http://grantbrunner.com Bassguy

    All mobile keyboards are awful when compared directly to full desktop keyboards. I will never be completely satisfied with any tiny keyboard. That said, I don't find the iPhone/Touch's keyboard to be much better or worse than the competition. If anything, I find it slightly less bothersome than the Blackberry keyboard.

  • ChazFrench

    I hate it. I'm a touch typist on a real keyboard, and I can go pretty fast thumbing it on a blackberry, but the iPhone…. As much as I love my iPhone, I hate the keyboard even more.

    • http://www.macgasm.net macgasm

      I really don't mind it. The only problem I really have is when I start worrying about making typos. Once that happens the whole process goes down the crapper for me. Hopefully the landscape keyboard across all the applications in 3.0 helps the situation.

  • Andre

    I don’t use the iPhone as my business phone strictly because of the crappy keyboard. Instead I use it as my personal phone and use a Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 for business, with it’s wonderful slide-out keyboard. Firmware 3.0 will be interesting because I think it will fix this issue with the landscape keyboard being available across all apps.

    • http://www.macgasm.net macgasm

      I think landscape mode across the phone is going to change a lot of people’s opinions about the keyboard. It’s a lot easier to type on.