Windows Phone Keyboard Design is a major Issue

[aubreyq]

For the OP, is the issue in landscape as well?

Excellent question! I'm not the OP, but share his frustration with the keyboard. I will tell you that I type A LOT better on landscape than on portrait mode, most likely because the keys are wider.

 

[BellaRed]

That said, WP8 does allow 3rd party keyboard hooks according to the API, so I assume that means we can finally see 3rd party keyboards. I would LOVE to see SWYPE, as it's the only Android app I miss.

ooohhhh I'd love to have Swifkey 3 on wp8. I can fly on that keyboard.

I haven't ever used the wp8 keyboard and one thing that strikes me as odd is how tall it is because of the menu keys underneath. Maybe if these could be moved it would be better?

 

[aubreyq]

ooohhhh I'd love to have Swifkey 3 on wp8. I can fly on that keyboard.

I haven't ever used the wp8 keyboard and one thing that strikes me as odd is how tall it is because of the menu keys underneath. Maybe if these could be moved it would be better?

Which WP8 do you own? How have you avoided using the keyboard?

 

[BellaRed]

Which WP8 do you own? How have you avoided using the keyboard?

I don't own a wp8 yet. I just said that it looks odd for being too tall but maybe once I try it I may actually like it?

I am used to being able to adjust the keyboard height and that on my android. I always set it so that the Q for example isn't too far away for one handed typing which is how I mainly type on a touchscreen.

 

[jmshub]

I have tried iphones a fair amount and used the keyboard on the Galaxy Nexus a lot. I'll take my Windows Phone any day. I personally find it much better than the competition.

 

[ncxcstud]

Shame on me for not reading all of this thread, but... I completely DESPISE the iPhone keyboard. I can't use it to save my life. I'm quite proficient on Windows Phone, but I do make mistakes.

That said, WP8 does allow 3rd party keyboard hooks according to the API, so I assume that means we can finally see 3rd party keyboards. I would LOVE to see SWYPE, as it's the only Android app I miss.

Also, WP8's auto-suggest learns from your language and suggests words even before you type them. I'm super excited about trying it out, and I saw it in one of Joe Belfiore's demo videos. He typed a whole sentence about being home late and sent it and only typed "I ".

So, from that can we deduce that Joe is an absent father/husband ? J/k. I think Joe Belfiore is a pretty cool guy and love what he's doing for Microsoft with WP.

 

[aubreyq]

So, from that can we deduce that Joe is an absent father/husband ? J/k.

I know you're joking but that actually comes with the job to a large extent.

 

[ncxcstud]

I know you're joking but that actually comes with the job to a large extent.

Oh I know. I'm a pastor and I'm 'on call' 24/7 so I know how it goes. I remember watching that video and just kind of chuckling to myself being that he writes "I'm gonna be late" so much that the phone just wrote it for him...

 

[thongvua]

For the OP, is the issue in landscape as well?

I don't normally use landscape as I often try to use my phone one handed. But it's obvious landscape is better than portrait thanks to the larger keys.

The reason why I say it's a Major issue because I actually only know 2 people who used WP, and they had to put them away because the KB frustrated them, I could live with it because I text less but when I do text often find myself making typo unless I focus my eyes on the kb, while with the G2 and I can just look at my text and fly through it, and I have been using WP since 2010, and just pickup G2 from my friend to compare the 2.
So when I find that the KB design on WP8 is the same as WP7, it really scared me.

There must be something about the design of the KB, whether the color is too dark, there is no shadow that make the keys look bigger, letter is too small, alignment of the row is not logical. When you look at the physical KB on your laptop, the rows of keys do not align in the same vertical row, somehow WP KB designers think they can reinvent the wheel and make them align, this I think is a major bad design of WP kb

 

[aubreyq]

..kind of chuckling to myself being that he writes "I'm gonna be late" so much that the phone just wrote it for him...

It's both funny and sad

 

[Laura Knotek]

Shame on me for not reading all of this thread, but... I completely DESPISE the iPhone keyboard. I can't use it to save my life. I'm quite proficient on Windows Phone, but I do make mistakes.

I hear you. If I had to use an iPhone, I'd be featured on DamnYouAutocorrect.com.

 

[PhilR8]

I have an iPod Touch that I jailbroke to watch blacked-out baseball games. I don't use it for anything else, but occasionally I will search for a game or app or look at a website on it. In my limited experience with it, I typed much more accurately on my iPod touch that on my Lumia 900, which I constantly make errors. One that I just can't solve is hitting A instead of the Shift/Caps Lock up arrow. I also hit Enter instead of the period all the time, and I'm generally not very accurate with certain letters like C.

With the iPod Touch, I don't have these problems.

 

[freestaterocker]

I think the OP and cosigners are high. My own experience and the comments of pretty much every reviewer who has examined a WP device says orherwise. Even the iPress employees at the verge and CNET admit that WP has the best native software keyboard of any smartphone OS currently available.

 

[aubreyq]

I hear you. If I had to use an iPhone, I'd be featured on DamnYouAutocorrect.com.

DYAC is the perfect example as to why auto-correct is not what it's cracked up to be, no matter what OS.

 

[aubreyq]

I think the OP and cosigners are high. My own experience and the comments of pretty much every reviewer who has examined a WP device. Even the iPress employees at the verge and CNET admit that WP has the best native software keyboard of any smartphone OS currently available.

We're high because we're a minority in our view of the WP keyboard? Okay, then. Come on over and have a puff. Lame.

 

[AngryNil]

And wouldn't that mean the keyboard layout should be improved? Like wider keys, for example?

The keyboard stretches from edge to edge in portrait. There is no dead space between the keys just because you see visual separation. Making the keys visually wider changes nothing.

 

[Microsoftjunkie]

I too know that typing on wp7 (samsung focus 3.7" screen) is waaaaayy better than my galaxy s3. Anyone having trouble needs to get there eyes checked

 

[freestaterocker]

We're high because we're a minority in our view of the WP keyboard? Okay, then. Come on over and have a puff. Lame.

Ever think maybe you have more success typing on iOS or Android devices because they've be out longer and you're more used to them? And for the record, WP7/7.5 uses text prediction algorithms to "guess" what key you're going to press and then enlarges the hit zone to increase accuracy, so they in fact HAVE tried to reduce the need for their excellent autocorrect software.

 

[blehblehbleh]

There must be something about the design of the KB, whether the color is too dark, there is no shadow that make the keys look bigger, letter is too small, alignment of the row is not logical. When you look at the physical KB on your laptop, the rows of keys do not align in the same vertical row, somehow WP KB designers think they can reinvent the wheel and make them align, this I think is a major bad design of WP kb

Yeah they definitely could make the on screen keys bigger or make the invisible predictive algorithm keys bigger (if you didn't know the typing algorithm increases the size of the next key it thinks you're going to hit, this is all under the hood though).

As for alignment...well unlike a real physical keyboard, a virtual keyboard is limited to the width of the screen not to mention considerations of what are the other types of virtual keys the user will benefit in having available to them and where you expect their thumbs to travel.

I get the frustration, but I don't know I think for whatever research they did they had fairly good reasons for laying out the keys that the way they did.

 

[aubreyq]

Ever think maybe you have more success typing on iOS or Android devices because they've be out longer and you're more used to them?

That doesn't apply in my case. The only smartphone I've owned (not counting the wannabe smartphone Nokia XpressMusic 5800) is the Samsung Focus. I've had asked friends/family to let me try typing with their iPhones and outright have better results. My daughter has an iPod Touch (got it a year after my Focus) and I also type way better on it. I haven't tried typing on Android phones that much.