OSNews

The problem with these virtual input methods is that they're gimmicky and unnatural. I do think they are tackling a legitimate dilemma with virtual qwerty keyboards on small screens and they are innovative in many respects. The issue is that don't think people really want to learn a new way to write/type unless it is very natural or intuitive. Otherwise, although these methods may be faster, they really aren't "easier" than just typing out the word because that's how we learn to spell and write whether it's on paper or on a computer. I've never relied on autocorrection or dictionaries and even though it may take a little longer, i prefer just spelling out the word. Plus, people use too much slang, abbreviations and what-not that the dictionaries aren't aware. I think one answer to the problem is to stop treating physical keyboards as something that needs to be abolished. Compare the size the iPhone's virtual keys and keyboard to a Blackberry's. The iPhone's are proportionally much bigger to alleviate the "fat finger" problem inherent on virtual keyboards. As a result, the virtual keyboard takes up over 50% of the screen when open. So, what's the advantage of virtual there? Isn't there a benefit to just tacking on a physical keyboard there for typing and leaving the screen 100% dedicated to non-typing things?