iPod Touch lesson learned: no iPhone for me
I finally got the iPod touch and the first thing that crossed my mind was that it made me realize that purchasing an iPhone would have been a bad decision. The on-screen keyboard totally sucks—I kept on pressing the wrong buttons and I continuously had to press the back button to correct it. Mossberg mentioned that the virtual keyboard is a “non-issue” but it was because of “smart software that corrects typing errors on the fly.” Try using the keyboard to type Tagalog words, or even entering user names and passwords. Good luck if your email ID is pedro99 and your password is pque1589—there is no way this will ever appear in the dictionary. I have no idea how some people claim that this keyboard is a wonder of engineering. I am more with Marc Hedlund’s opinion:
The iPhone keyboard blows. Let’s not mince words, here: text input was better on a Newton. The keys are way too close together, full stop. The auto-suggestion works okay if you’re typing dictionary words (and not, say, street names, as in the Google Maps app) and if you’re in a context where typing space to accept is useful (in URLs, for instance, there is no space bar). The amazing thing to watch is everyone blogging about how they “need to get better at typing” — that’s the drugs talking. The iPhone needs to get better at typing, not you.
So that settles it. I am not getting an iPhone. It’s not because of the lack of 3rd-party apps. It’s because I text more than I call. And if I spend most of my time correcting input errors, then forget it. Who cares about eye-candy if I end up getting frustrated with something I consider as a basic functionality.
October 25 2007 07:12 am | iPhone and iPod
