I thus think (= hope) that it’s a mistake to extrapolate from today’s crappy input systems on tablets to a future of tablet-based couch potatoes still watching Hollywood crap. We’re one innovation away from lowering the creativity hurdle on tablets. Maybe it’ll be a truly responsive keyboard. Or something that translates sub-vocalizations into text (because I’m too embarrassed to dictate into my table while in public places). Or, well, something. via Joho the Blog » Will tablets always make us non-social consumers?.I suspect that the idea that input systems on tablets are crappy will rapidly become a tell-tale sign of age. Feature phones have “crappy” input systems and yet with learning, and some rather unfortunate adaptations of language, people quite happily chat away via SMS. The same process will happen with tablets – people will simply learn to type on on-screen keyboards fast enough that they don’t consider them crappy. It’s also important to remember that the vast majority of people can’t type particularly fast on a full size desktop keyboard so the bar for satisfaction is significantly lower than geeks would expect.
Category: Code and Geek Stuff
Mikeyg says:
Which is why I’m buying a new laptop instead of a shiny tablet. I need a real keyboard. Balancing a tablet and a separate keyboard on my knees on the tube just doesn’t work. (unless someone makes a really awesome case for the slate 7.)
Adrian Sutton says:
But that point is that people will learn to type on an on-screen keyboard just as well as they can type on a full desktop keyboard, just like they learnt to type on mobile phone keypads and chat that way just as fast as they do on desktop instant messaging (often faster).
DDevine says:
I’m not an old fart (yet) but I whole-heartedly insist that screen-based input mechanisms are crappy.
However I do not think that the input mechanism is even remotely an influential reason for the growing consumer-only society we live in.
Andrew Herron says:
I can already type very quickly on my iPad, and not far behind on my phone. All it takes is years of practice ;)
I haven’t measured the speed relative to a desktop keyboard but it’s already fast enough that my iPad 1 struggles to keep up at times. My issue with on-screen keyboards is navigation. Navigating inside text (eg to correct typos that slipped past autocorrect) is slow and painful.
I’d also be wary of posture during use in a mobile environment, typing with an iPad on your knees forces you to hunch over far more than a laptop where you at least have the upright screen to look at while typing.