Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 25th Oct 2012 14:52 UTC
When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, one of its most prominent and most controversial features was the on-screen keyboard. In as world dominated by devices with physical keyboards, it was seen as a joke, something that could never work. We know better by now, of course, but while I still prefer the physical feel and clicks of a real keyboard, a recent new endeavour of mine has made me appreciate the on-screen keyboard in a whole new way.
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RE: Are you really thanking Apple for this?
by Thom_Holwerda on Thu 25th Oct 2012 15:50
in reply to "Are you really thanking Apple for this?"
Member since:2005-06-29
RE: Are you really thanking Apple for this?
by tupp on Thu 25th Oct 2012 17:29
in reply to "Are you really thanking Apple for this?"
Member since:2006-11-12
I don't understand why you are thanking Apple.
Agreed 100%.
However, to get the point through the reality distortion field, it is important to be very direct and thorough in one's assertion, so I will continue...
From the article:
When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, one of its most prominent and most controversial features was the on-screen keyboard.
Apple did not invent the touch-screen qwerty keyboard -- they were late by decades.
Furthermore, Apple was not the first to put a qwerty touch-screen keyboard on a touch-screen phone.
Likewise, Apple was not first to put a touch-screen keyboard on a tablet.
In as world dominated by devices with physical keyboards, it was seen as a joke, something that could never work.
No. Touch-screen qwerty keyboards were not seen as a joke nor as something that could never work. Use of such keyboards was already well established on PDAs, tablets, slot machines, ATMs, etc.
Touch-screen keyboards were merely considered inferior to tactile physical keyboards for serious/lengthy input, as they are considered to this day.
RE[2]: Are you really thanking Apple for this?
by viton on Thu 25th Oct 2012 23:28
in reply to "RE: Are you really thanking Apple for this?"
Member since:2005-08-09
Use of such keyboards was already well established on PDAs, tablets, slot machines, ATMs, etc.
I still feel the pain of crappy tiny on-screen keyboard in my Loox 420 PDA designed for idiotic stylus. Everything was so tiny and COMPLETELY UNUSABLE that I frequently thought of stabbing these idiots in the faces with their stylus.
The screen was the same size as iPhone.
iPhone made it usable with fingers.
RE[2]: Are you really thanking Apple for this?
by leos on Fri 26th Oct 2012 14:00
in reply to "RE: Are you really thanking Apple for this?"
Member since:2005-09-21
Touch-screen keyboards were merely considered inferior to tactile physical keyboards for serious/lengthy input, as they are considered to this day.
Were talking about mobile devices here, and the device landscape proves that onscreen keyboards have won out compared to miniature physical ones. Fact is, iOS was the System that made that interface popular and usable with good autocorrect
RE: Are you really thanking Apple for this?
by subterrific on Fri 26th Oct 2012 17:34
in reply to "Are you really thanking Apple for this?"
Member since:2005-07-10
There is nothing new about onscreen keyboards as they have been included with desktop operating systems since at least Mac OS System 1.0.
FTFY.
http://applemuseum.bott.org/sections/images/screenshots/system1/das...
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2010-09-23
I have seen you write story after story about how awful it is when people rewrite history. Don't you realise that people have been using this kind of input forever? There is nothing new about onscreen keyboards as they have been included with desktop operating systems since at least XP. So although I am happy to hear that the onscreen keyboard on a phone is useful for you, I don't understand why you are thanking Apple.
PS. Typing on a regular keyboard with the IME set to Korean will soon be a lot faster than the onscreen keyboard trick you are using now. It is really fun to see Japanese/Chinese/Korean characters built up and combine and autocomplete while you are typing on a physical qwerty keyboard
PS2. I have exactly the same language experience as you with those 6 languages of which french is getting slowly worse and latin/greek are rotting away. My interests in typing in Japanese are because of my future wife