Writing anything on modern touchscreen smartphones is so frustrating. I think the problem is that the touchscreen is always going to be an inferior interface to a physical button.
I remember what it was like using PDAs and smartphones with actual physical keys. After a brief period of adjustment to a new device, I was soon typing without any mistakes. It was such a low-friction transfer of my thoughts to digital form, I took it for granted it would always be that easy.
I look forward to trying one of the new Blackberry phones for my next upgrade.
Yay, QWERTY! QWERTY is being used for legacy reasons ("because we've always had QWERTY"), because its the widely available standard (including on computers not owned by the user meaning users need to ask or configure other computers are swap back and forth between layouts), and because people don't want to relearn a new layout. The original reason why QWERTY was desired is due to typewriters getting stuck less quick because the movement wasn't efficient. That was intentional, a legacy from the 19th century!
Programmer Dvorak or Colemak are alternatives to QWERTY but they suffer from a lack of widespread adoption. Keyboard shortcuts might still be awkward, you're still going to meet a massive learning curve (less with Colemak though since it deviates only 6 key positions from QWERTY). See this post on SO for an in depth, anecdotal comparison between the 3 [2]. A new keyboard layout is going to suffer from these issues as well. Most of these are chicken-egg problems. But that doesn't mean it isn't better in the long run.
Without having used Keybee some things to keep in mind, apart from not being programmer/sysadmin friendly, are that some users use a smartphone with one hand whilst others use two. Another one seems that the screen is being used more than with QWERTY.
I've sticked to SwiftKey because it can support multiple dictionaries, and I like that there's a lot of themes available. However they got bought by Microsoft recently. I also got Hacker Keyboard installed, so if I'm using CLI (local via Termux or SSH) I can easily use common UNIX keybinds. So I'm certainly interested trying something better, even if there's a learning curve attached and even if its only going to be usable during touchscreen usage.
The keyboard you linked seems akin to what I had on a Nokia N900 / Nokia N950 or a Nokia Communicator. Its keys are small, it adds weight/space or takes time to pull in/out. Plus, you're stuck to a Motorola Z (Motorola doesn't give software updates for long). Take for example the iPad Pro case which includes a keyboard. Its not a bad keyboard given its size but even that layout isn't standard given the key spaces are different (small shift for example!). Both very much not ideal IMO. Another thing one can consider is a Bluetooth keyboard for situations where one ends up having to type a lot, or short, quick bursts such as during keynote taking f.e. student during seminar. I'd say that is a very viable use case. Disadvantage is these use batteries which get eventually depleted and cannot be recharged. Plus the insecurities of Bluetooth being wireless & sniffable.
Also important in these comparisons is how people use their keyboards (touchscreen and physical). Which exact layout version do they use? Do they swipe on their touchscreen? How long have they used layout X or Y? For example, I never really got into swiping even though it has been available for a decade. And finally, there's voice dictation which has taken some ground past years.
The original reason why QWERTY was desired is due to typewriters getting stuck less quick because the movement wasn't efficient. That was intentional, a legacy from the 19th century!
That is an urban myth refuted by the author of qwerty, but it just doesn't die.
While I agree with your sentiment, I don't think physical keyboards are a good solution either. Not having the smallest hands, I vividly remember trying to type on those tiny buttons of old and getting pretty frustrated, too.
I was thinking about switching from Android to Sailfish OS for a while now and quickly realized that my personal reason for Android lock-in is a keyboard called SlideType[1]. I really have to figure out how to write keyboards for Sailfish one day.
I still use my Blackberry 9900 as my main phone and for work emails. They keyboard is fantastic and given the comparatively small size of the phone nothing comes close. I'm aware I'm on the losing team though as so many family & friends use WhatsApp now and I can't have that.
They newer Android Blackberries are OK but their keyboard isn't as good as the 9900.
Many of my friends and family agree, but for anything over a sentence or two I just dictate. Voice recognition on my iPhone is fantastic these days and I hear Android is as good if not better, even without internet access. I think the world is moving past typing for shorter, informal input.
Did you try swipe? I can't really use it personally because I switch between different languages too often, but it's practical if you're only writing in one language.
Swipe-based touch keyboards don't work for me. Compared to touch-tapping, I find I have worse accuracy. I also find them much more frustrating, because correcting a swipe mistake is a lot more expensive compared to tap mistake. At least when tapping, I get steady and immediate feedback when spelling out a word, and I can fix a mistake quickly just using backspace and without much thought, and then carry on as usual. But with the swipe keyboards I tried, I find out about mistakes only after I spelled out a whole word, and at that point it's really awkward to fix without breaking my flow. Often what happens in my case is that all the autosuggestions are way off the mark.
Does anyone have any research on the effectiveness of swype-based keyboards? Accuracy and correcting mistakes based on dictionaries? How does age and previous experience affect the use cases?
Keybee has suggestions support based on AOSP dictionaries, by default off.
Text algorithms (swipe, prediction and autocorrection) create issues on performances of the mobile devices (swiftkey for instance is super slow) and often mistakes due to misunderstanding meaning slowing down the typing experience.
Comments
Writing anything on modern touchscreen smartphones is so frustrating. I think the problem is that the touchscreen is always going to be an inferior interface to a physical button.
I remember what it was like using PDAs and smartphones with actual physical keys. After a brief period of adjustment to a new device, I was soon typing without any mistakes. It was such a low-friction transfer of my thoughts to digital form, I took it for granted it would always be that easy.
I look forward to trying one of the new Blackberry phones for my next upgrade.
You might be interested in the physical keyboard add-on module "Moto Mods" for the Motorola Z series https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/keyboard-mod-a-physical-k...
Yay, QWERTY! QWERTY is being used for legacy reasons ("because we've always had QWERTY"), because its the widely available standard (including on computers not owned by the user meaning users need to ask or configure other computers are swap back and forth between layouts), and because people don't want to relearn a new layout. The original reason why QWERTY was desired is due to typewriters getting stuck less quick because the movement wasn't efficient. That was intentional, a legacy from the 19th century!
Programmer Dvorak or Colemak are alternatives to QWERTY but they suffer from a lack of widespread adoption. Keyboard shortcuts might still be awkward, you're still going to meet a massive learning curve (less with Colemak though since it deviates only 6 key positions from QWERTY). See this post on SO for an in depth, anecdotal comparison between the 3 [2]. A new keyboard layout is going to suffer from these issues as well. Most of these are chicken-egg problems. But that doesn't mean it isn't better in the long run.
Without having used Keybee some things to keep in mind, apart from not being programmer/sysadmin friendly, are that some users use a smartphone with one hand whilst others use two. Another one seems that the screen is being used more than with QWERTY.
I've sticked to SwiftKey because it can support multiple dictionaries, and I like that there's a lot of themes available. However they got bought by Microsoft recently. I also got Hacker Keyboard installed, so if I'm using CLI (local via Termux or SSH) I can easily use common UNIX keybinds. So I'm certainly interested trying something better, even if there's a learning curve attached and even if its only going to be usable during touchscreen usage.
The keyboard you linked seems akin to what I had on a Nokia N900 / Nokia N950 or a Nokia Communicator. Its keys are small, it adds weight/space or takes time to pull in/out. Plus, you're stuck to a Motorola Z (Motorola doesn't give software updates for long). Take for example the iPad Pro case which includes a keyboard. Its not a bad keyboard given its size but even that layout isn't standard given the key spaces are different (small shift for example!). Both very much not ideal IMO. Another thing one can consider is a Bluetooth keyboard for situations where one ends up having to type a lot, or short, quick bursts such as during keynote taking f.e. student during seminar. I'd say that is a very viable use case. Disadvantage is these use batteries which get eventually depleted and cannot be recharged. Plus the insecurities of Bluetooth being wireless & sniffable.
Also important in these comparisons is how people use their keyboards (touchscreen and physical). Which exact layout version do they use? Do they swipe on their touchscreen? How long have they used layout X or Y? For example, I never really got into swiping even though it has been available for a decade. And finally, there's voice dictation which has taken some ground past years.
[1] https://computer.howstuffworks.com/question458.htm
[2] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/23078626/are-alternative...
That is an urban myth refuted by the author of qwerty, but it just doesn't die.
While I agree with your sentiment, I don't think physical keyboards are a good solution either. Not having the smallest hands, I vividly remember trying to type on those tiny buttons of old and getting pretty frustrated, too.
I was thinking about switching from Android to Sailfish OS for a while now and quickly realized that my personal reason for Android lock-in is a keyboard called SlideType[1]. I really have to figure out how to write keyboards for Sailfish one day.
[1]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.latinsud.a...
I still use my Blackberry 9900 as my main phone and for work emails. They keyboard is fantastic and given the comparatively small size of the phone nothing comes close. I'm aware I'm on the losing team though as so many family & friends use WhatsApp now and I can't have that.
They newer Android Blackberries are OK but their keyboard isn't as good as the 9900.
Many of my friends and family agree, but for anything over a sentence or two I just dictate. Voice recognition on my iPhone is fantastic these days and I hear Android is as good if not better, even without internet access. I think the world is moving past typing for shorter, informal input.
Did you try swipe? I can't really use it personally because I switch between different languages too often, but it's practical if you're only writing in one language.
Swipe-based touch keyboards don't work for me. Compared to touch-tapping, I find I have worse accuracy. I also find them much more frustrating, because correcting a swipe mistake is a lot more expensive compared to tap mistake. At least when tapping, I get steady and immediate feedback when spelling out a word, and I can fix a mistake quickly just using backspace and without much thought, and then carry on as usual. But with the swipe keyboards I tried, I find out about mistakes only after I spelled out a whole word, and at that point it's really awkward to fix without breaking my flow. Often what happens in my case is that all the autosuggestions are way off the mark.
Does anyone have any research on the effectiveness of swype-based keyboards? Accuracy and correcting mistakes based on dictionaries? How does age and previous experience affect the use cases?
Keybee has suggestions support based on AOSP dictionaries, by default off.
Text algorithms (swipe, prediction and autocorrection) create issues on performances of the mobile devices (swiftkey for instance is super slow) and often mistakes due to misunderstanding meaning slowing down the typing experience.
google keyboard is unsuable currently on iOS 11 (iPhone 6S), but that might also be because Apple updares are messing up with older phones.
For my experience working on iOS is very complex for third party keyboards. Also Google has problems with it. :-(