iPhone’s keyboard: A quick-change artist
You’ve already heard that iPhone’s keyboard is touchscreen-only. No hardware keys. But maybe you haven’t heard that the keyboard changes to match what you’re doing. Normally, the keyboard presents a standard alpha-numeric set of keys:
| Alpha | Numeric |
But while you’re typing an e-mail address into an e-mail, or typing a URL into Safari, that bottom line of keys changes to include keys you’re likely to need.
E-mail addresses don’t include spaces, so the spacebar shrinks to a third of its normal width—it doesn’t disappear altogether because you might be entering multiple e-mail addresses, separated by a space. E-mail addresses include ampersands and dots, so those keys appear.
For URLS, the spacebar disappears altogether. And because URLs include slashes and dots and .com, those keys appear.
Also, notice the bottom-left key: normally it displays .?123 (top picture), but while you’re entering an e-mail address it displays _123, and for URLs it displays @123, a nice reminder that the other key you’re likely to need, _ or @, is over on the numeric side of the keyboard.
| E-mail address | URL |
Another nice touch is the way the bottom-right return key reinforces your action. If you’re searching, it says Search. If you’re searching with Google, it says Google. Otherwise, it says Go. And once you’ve entered text, it changes to blue and lights up.
| Web Search | Other Search |
When you’ve used the keyboard enough for these contextual changes to seep into your muscle memory, small changes like these will add a welcome ease-of-use.
The great thing about a touchscreen keyboard, of course, is that more can be added over time.
Update: Apple has now placed a video about the iPhone keyboard online.
This is so typical of Apple - going beyond the normal to make something that gives the perfect experience. It is no wonder Apple has fanboys!
This keyboard is nice but in my opinion I prefer to use a regular T9 keypad to do my text messaging. I’m a fan of Apple but if they want to get my attention with this device they need to change a few things.
One of these would be to add some sort of option that will enable a virtual keypad with T9 capabilities for texting or typing and maybe switch to the full QWERTY keyboard while in landscape view. If I’m driving and need to send a text with one hand that keyboard will make it extremely difficult.
I currently have “The V” from Verizon (unfortunately) and for the two years I’ve had this phone I’ve had to replace it six times. One time was because my front keypad wasn’t working. It was a huge inconvenience to have to flip it open and send a text message with one hand on the QWERTY keyboard.
I would imagine this being the exact same thing only even MORE difficult because there is no tactile feedback to feel where the keys are. So not only would I have to actually LOOK where the button is but it would be a much smaller button to have to aim for. It would also take me a while to get used to the touch screen keypad (if they made one). I can usually send an entire text message without even looking because I can feel the buttons and memorize which keys to press to spell what I’m typing.
Very clever keyboard. However the option to use a keypad would be very nice. The QWERTY keyboard is much easier to use in landscape.