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WebWord Weblog Posting Posting Date: November 25, 2002 Mobile keypad gets real (bbc.co.uk) -- "If widely adopted, the keypad could end the need for predictive text systems in phones and mean you no longer have to tap several times to write letters in text messages."
Reader Comments...
This is one of the most useful product innovations in a long time. I want it now! Posted by: Joshua Kaufman on November 25, 2002 09:25 AM
It does take up a bit more room than a modern mobile phone number pad, and looks cluttered & ugly, but it's an interesting idea. Hopefully picking out the tiny buttons and pressing more than one at once for numbers won't prove as frustrating as multiple presses & spelling out the words predictive text systems can't get right. I find predictive text works pretty well and has improved over the past couple of years though, I've posted to WebWord from my phone without too much effort.
That new keypad is an excellent piece of human engineering - a simple solution to a simple problem. For the next development I'd like the ability to jam every other mobile phone within a 100m radius. Failing that I'd like a mobile phone that comes complete with a free 16lb sledge hammer - that would put paid to everyone else's mobiles. Dougie Lawson, Basingstoke, UK Via the BBC Talking Point I do like the built-in phone jammer. Can I have one without the mobile phone. Posted by: Mac on November 25, 2002 10:20 AM
Fortunately, with Nokia introducing more phone models with QWERTY keyboards (the 5520, 6800, N-Gage), this abomination should die a swift, quiet death. Posted by: Martin on November 25, 2002 11:43 AM
Wow, I'd not seen the Nokia 6800 before, very clever design...
With the Nokia you have to type with two thumbs at once and therefore use two hands. With fastap you can use two thumbs as people do at present, or you can type with just one hand. With the fastap it would be possible to type text with one hand while the phone was in your pocket. Really handy when you want to hide your activity. I have seen people (I mean teen txters really) sending text messages with one hand while drinking a coffee with the other whilst having a conversation! (I don't know if this is down to skill or youth, as I used to be able to play marbles and conkers at the same time) Posted by: Mac on November 25, 2002 01:37 PM
This is a great step forward. Simple design built into the current phone footprint. Great idea. Posted by: JB on November 25, 2002 07:00 PM
With current phone keypads, the alphabet is mapped to 10 numeric keys. In the bad old days before predictive text input, two out of three times (or thereabouts) you had to tap a number key more than once to get the correct letter. With predictive text input, you generally only have to tap it once, and the phone will figure out which of the three letters you meant. Result: your brain only has nine hotspots to worry about. If you move away from the standard phone numeric keypad, you lose the mental mapping of letters to keys that you had on your old, familiar number keypad. It's something different you'll have to deal with. Most people are familiar with the QWERTY layout, and so there is hardly any mental effort involved in typing your first message. This ABC-layout keypad thing, though, has a completely new letter/key mapping. If you look closely at the photo, you can see that the letters are grouped around *different* number keys than they are on a standard phone keypad. Yes, it's learnable, but if you take two experienced txters, and give one of them this thing, and the other a QWERTY phone, which one is going to write their first txt faster? Now take two *inexperienced* txters, and do the same thing. I'd guess that the speed difference between QWERTY and ABC would be even greater. How good will that look in a "first glance" review for the glossy magazines? I'll grant that this is a device you can use one-handed, and that may be a selling point. It might also avoid some patent issues to do with keypads (see http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/27205.html). But a step forward? It's a step sideways at best. I'll be surprised if we see even a single production phone model before it gets canned completely. Posted by: Martin on November 25, 2002 09:10 PM
Mertin, do you think that their QWERTY version has got any legs? Posted by: Mac on November 26, 2002 07:16 AM
I meant Martin ! I'm interested to know if people think that the overlapping key idea is a goer? I would say it is definitely better than the 3 tap option, and needs less conscious effort than a predicitve system. Posted by: Mac on November 26, 2002 07:18 AM
Cool--I hadn't seen their QWERTY option. It seems to be stuck at the "artist's impression" stage, though. The overlapping key idea seems to be a genuinely good and innovative way of making usable keypads that would otherwise be too small. It's the alternative keypad layout that looks like a stumbling block to me. The Fastap overlapping key system seems like it would be a great complement to a QWERTY keypad. But if RIM has the patents on mobile QWERTYs all sewn up, then that makes the whole licensing situation more difficult (and expensive, and potentially risky) for everyone involved--especially the phone manufacturers. Patents are a hideous minefield in industries that move as quickly as the mobile phone/PDA arena... Posted by: Martin on November 26, 2002 09:36 AM
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