Re: [NTLK] iPhone - Text input methods

On 1/11/07, Michael Blazer <m.blazer@utoronto.ca> wrote:
> One of the many brilliant things about the iPhone is its leap outside
> the keyboard-vs.-stylus dilemma with a new finger-based interface.
> But that's also its biggest weakness when compared to Newton: the
> lack of an easy data input method for stuff like text and drawing.
> The little pop-up on-screen keyboard is OK for small stuff like
> changing contact info or typing a short URL or Google search term, but
> not for jotting down your thoughts or writing a story. (Although I
> guess it would be easy to put voice recorder functionality in there if
> it isn't already.)
>
> So that got me wondering if it would be feasible to actually write on
> the iPhone screen with your fingertip. I just tried a very
> unscientific simulation by writing on an area of my Newton screen that
> approximates the iPhone screen size. It seems like it could work. It
> requires a bit of getting used to, but not much. Obviously the iPhone
> screen would have to be -- and I think it is -- much more sensitive in
> terms of the pressure required; otherwise you'd have to use your
> fingernail which wouldn't be as good. But if you write fairly large
> and if the digitizer responds to very light pressure, you can do it
> fairly easily with your fingertip. So I could see the Newton HWR
> being tweaked to work nicely on the iPhone. (Drawing might be a
> little more difficult without a stylus, though.) Since apparently
> there's already a version of that in OS X, it doesn't seem farfetched
> at all for HWR to show up on the iPhone. (I guess it would then be
> "fingerwriting recognition".)

Well.. if Apple wants to put HWR, they have Ink ready to use and they
could very well have included it on the iPhone, for all we know. The
lack of stylus for those who wants to use Ink ? well, any 3rd party
stylus would work, add a stylus holder on your iPhone case and you'll
be fine. The main problem is not technical -- it's just that I
seriously doubt that the small (physical) surface of the iPhone screen
will be very good for HWR; and imho their virtual keyboard would
probably work better than HWR+stylus for most people.

Now, tell me they'll release a tablet with a reasonable size, using
the "OSX mobile" we saw on the iPhone, and THEN it would make sense to
have HWR + stylus :-)

but for something the size of a phone, I really think the virtual
keyboard will be better.

> Also, it should be possible to connect a keyboard to the docking port,
> just like we can add a keyboard to our MessagePads if we want to do a
> lot of text inputting and need better speed and accuracy than HWR can
> give us.

Indeed, it's very likely that some 3rd party will provide a keyboard
using the iPod docking port. But even simpler would be to use a
bluetooth keyboard, don't you think ? :)

> Once you add an efficient text input method, and assuming the system
> is open so the user can install other apps, the iPhone starts to look
> like something that finally *might* be able to lure me away from my
> Newton. (I can't believe I said that! I hope it's not listening.)

That's the real question. Will it allow 3rd party application ?
Somehow the rumors are that it won't. Yet I can't believe it -- it
would be a really, really stupid error from Apple, and they proved to
be excessively smart business-wise these last few years :D

Beside, who would care about using Core Video and Cocoa if not 3rd
party developers ?
So why mention them during the presentation if the iPhone won't be "open"... :)
Though of course it's possible that the dev kit will only be available
to a select few :-/ or that it won't be available immediately...

-- 
Nicolas Roard
"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly
by." -- Douglas Adams
-- 
This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries
Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/
WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/