"Reaction [beta]"
More on the usability of the iPhone keyboard 15 Nov 2007
Citing the findings of a usability study conducted by User Centric, ComputerWorld reports that users make more than double the amount of typos when using an iPhone compared to when using other types of mobile device:
"The researchers found that while iPhone users entered text as fast as their counterparts, they made significantly more texting errors. iPhone users made 5.6 errors per message, while keyboard users made 2.1 mistakes per message and numeric phone typers made 2.4 mistakes."
Worringly, they also found that performance does not improve after continued use:
"Surprisingly, the study found that iPhone texters don't improve with experience. The researchers also asked users in the other groups to send text messages using the iPhone. These novice iPhone users made mistakes at the same rate as people who have owned iPhones for at least one month, the study found."
Seems like Khoi Vinh's initial assessment of the iPhone keyboard was right.
[via Baekdal]
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5 comments so far
minxlj 15 Nov 2007 12:28 PM
I think the iPhone keyboard would definitely benefit from a software change enabling it to use on the screen horizontally, giving more space to the keyboard. But I'm finding it surprisingly comfortable and intuitive to use, with LESS mistakes for even long emails, even though I've only had the phone for 4 days. And my partner who has pretty big hands even for a guy is finding it just as easy, when admittedly I thought he'd have problems with the size of the keys.
People have become accustomed to the common 'ABC' setup on phones so the QWERTY keyboard is a slight departure for some. But due to spending my work days on a computer, I'm actually finding it an easier transition - after all, the QWERTY layout was designed for speed based on the letters we use most. (But, I haven't used other phones with a QWERTY layout, only ABC.)
We have a similar interface on our car's Honda sat navigation system - touch-screen keyboard entry of addresses etc. There a sometimes minor errors i.e. you press the wrong key because your finger isn't 'exactly' aligned and it thinks you touched the next one, but on the whole it's a brilliant system to use. How it would function if the touch screen element failed remains to be seen! (I had this problem with the LG Chocolate phone and the entire thing was rendered useless)
Maybe people have problems because they're so used to other ways of doing it? Or is the physical connection of a keyboard key a necessary trigger? Is this something that will get easier over time, especially since touch screens are increasingly common in technology these days?
Peter 15 Nov 2007 02:09 PM
I have read that Nokia developed a way of giving tactile feedback to the user when a button is pressed on a touch screen. Perhaps this will increase the usability significantly. At my university we have a few coffee machines without feedback and they just feel a lot slower than those with "real" knobs and buttons.
Ragdoll 15 Nov 2007 11:08 PM
minxlj, I have to correct you; QWERTY was developed for efficiency on the earliest of typewriters, whose hammers would get jammed if you hit the wrong two keys in quick succession. That layout has long become unnecessary (since like the Mark II typewriter or something really early like that). Dvorak layout, on the other hand, takes advantage of the keys you use the most (all the vowels are on home row, for instance), but almost nobody uses it.
Simon 16 Nov 2007 11:45 AM
@minxlj: I've had my iPhone for a few days too and I have to say that my typing is improving. On day one, I was fat-fingering with every keypress, but now I'm selecting the right key most of the time. At this point, it's too soon to tell whether I'll be able to text as quickly as on my old Nokia - however, my gut feeling is that you do need some sort of tactile feedback (keyboard or otherwise)...which leads me to Peter's comment...
@Peter: I think you're probably referring to the Nokia S60.
Paul 16 Nov 2007 01:25 PM
I've been at it about a week and have to say I don't think my typing has improved any - *but*, the instructions in the manual were correct... Trust your iPhone to get it right and you'll be laughing! I'm forever fat-fingering the "O" key (next to the "I" key) when typing things like "I can be there at five" (or whatever). But if you ignore the error and keep typing the "O" transforms into an "I"... Lovely stuff.
The iPhone software is much better at predicting what I meant to type (and sorting it out for me) than the predictive text feature on my previous Nokia ever was. The Nokia software worked more like a Web 2.0 auto-complete feature - you had to have the first part of the word typed correctly for the software to finish the word for you. iPhone typically handles this whether you've spelt the world correctly or not. If you just ignore the errors on your iPhone and instead keep typing, then by the end of the word / your message most of the errors are resolved. I find that the problems tend to come about if you notice a mistake midway through a word or a sentence and then attempt to correct it using the backspace key. Doing so stops iPhone's attempts at autocorrecting the word (and my error rate then goes up - or is at least more visible to me!).
Next tip: Don't bother trying to flip between the punctuation keyboard and the alphabetical keyboard... iPhone apostrophises with the best of them! :)
Oh, and double-tap the space bar to end a sentence with a full-stop.
(Can you tell I'm a fan yet?!)