Windows Phone Keyboard Design is a major Issue

[Major]

From my experience, WP and iOS have equally accurate keyboards, but WP wins because it's also more spacious. I have tried numerous Android keyboards and they generally are less accurate.

 

[aubreyq]

FWIW, I don't have any post-Mango updates on my phone (thanks AT&T, btw). I don't know if any of the post-Mango updates have keyboard accuracy adjustments or not.

Another thing: Like most people in this forum, I don't have a WP8. It's possible that WP8 has improved accuracy, plus the flagships have bigger screens than my Focus so this could become a non-issue or a less aggravating issue when I get my 920.

 

[Squachy]

how the heck could the keyboard be 'bad'?
Its pretty fast and accurate as far as i can tell.....

unless your thumbs are fat.....

 

[Laura Knotek]

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

I have a friend who has an iPhone who sends me completely unintelligible SMS due to Autocorrect.

 

[dylk]

yeah i can honestly not understand this, i find my 1st gen focus great to type on, so does my gf who has an android. I would say simpliest but most effective keyboard in an os

 

[HerronScott]

From my experience, WP and iOS have equally accurate keyboards, but WP wins because it's also more spacious. I have tried numerous Android keyboards and they generally are less accurate.

At least in landscape mode with the same size display (iPhone 4 compared to LG Quantum), the iPhone keyboard is wider as it doesn't have the gutter on the left and right. I found it far easier to type on my brother's old iPhone because the keys are wider. This was one of his complaints when his brother moved his work phone to a Windows phone. I've never noticed since I've got a slider keyboard.

Scott

 

[berty6294]

I might be able to understand portrait being harder on the wp keyboard, but landscape wp has the best keyboard over ever used. If you have autocorrect off, turn it on. I tried for a while without it, but its just an even better experience with it!

 

[TheNerdlyKnight]

I have to say I find the WP KB to be a better typing experience then any stock KB I've ever dealt with, which included an iPhone 3S and the quite a few Androids due to work. That said I would love to see Swift Key for WP as that is probably the only thing I've ever seem rival WP in a KB experience.

Sent from my Lumia 710 using Board Express

 

[MathiasVerden]

I have a 4.7" Windows Phone, so I'm not really sure how hard-core typing is on smaller device, but I think the keyboard is just amazing.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

If any of you have a chance to type on the virtual keyboard in NoDo (instead of Mango or Tango), notice how much more accurate it is. My first device was the HTC Arrive, with a physical keyboard, and the virtual keyboard was so good that I could type without looking at the screen with high accuracy; it actually made me hate the physical keyboard because it was unnecessary dead weight that made the device bulkier and heavier (because I prefer an iPhone 4/4s style in size and weight).

When Mango dropped, one of the first bugs I noticed was the drop in accuracy in the virtual keyboard. Microsoft said they implemented an algorithm for touch point prediction, but it made it worse IMO; I wish they would've never touch the darn thing and left it alone, as it was literally the perfect keyboard IMO. Tango is no better, and I'm hoping they made improvements in Windows Phone 8 (I actually voiced this in the suggestion box to improve the keyboard accuracy back to "NoDo days"), so I have hope that they fixed it/restored it to pre-Mango/Tango.

That said, when I would switch between my old 4s and Galaxy Nexus, I found those keyboards frustrating to use. I use to hold the iPhone as the king of devices with virtual keyboards, but Windows Phone changed that. That said, I still hate the accuracy of Windows Phone keyboards, because at times it makes mistakes that are completely away from my touch point when I type (and the rate of speed I use to type on NoDo has dropped due to having to watch my words and make sure they're accurate).

 

[brmiller1976]

The hits continued this week when Ballmer spewed: "In every category Apple competes, it's the low-volume player, except in tablets. In the PC market, obviously the advantage of diversity has mattered since 90-something percent of PCs that get sold are Windows PCs. We'll see what winds up mattering in tablets". (story via the Wall Street Journal)

Is this really the right mentality for an underdog trying to catch up? MSFT wake up!

True. It's not like Apple or Google ever talked trash about Microsoft when they were the underdogs or anything like that...

I guess Ballmer, in your world, should be saying "our products, especially our WP8 keyboard, SUCK. And we're a tiny insignificant bit player. But we hope to get better. I don't want to talk trash, I am the underdog after all."

 

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

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.

*thud*

Are you actually serious!? How was I not aware of this!?

 

[aubreyq]

If any of you have a chance to type on the virtual keyboard in NoDo (instead of Mango or Tango), notice how much more accurate it is. My first device was the HTC Arrive, with a physical keyboard, and the virtual keyboard was so good that I could type without looking at the screen with high accuracy...

When Mango dropped, one of the first bugs I noticed was the drop in accuracy in the virtual keyboard. Microsoft said they implemented an algorithm for touch point prediction, but it made it worse IMO; I wish they would've never touch the darn thing and left it alone, as it was literally the perfect keyboard IMO. Tango is no better, and I'm hoping they made improvements in Windows Phone 8 (I actually voiced this in the suggestion box to improve the keyboard accuracy back to "NoDo days"), so I have hope that they fixed it/restored it to pre-Mango/Tango.

... I still hate the accuracy of Windows Phone keyboards, because at times it makes mistakes that are completely away from my touch point when I type (and the rate of speed I use to type on NoDo has dropped due to having to watch my words and make sure they're accurate).

THANK YOU for your comment. I debated bringing this up because when I installed Mango I immediately noticed a decrease in my typing accuracy. So much that I posted about it in the WPCentral forums. I think only one or two forum members agreed with me and another one gave me the benefit of the doubt. It's one of those things that I knew something was off but hardly anyone agreed.

 

[brmiller1976]

I wonder if the Mango switchover had a hardware bug with some handsets...

 

[tissotti]

I notice that MSFT has not improved the keyboard design in WP8, and not likely to allow 3rd party keyboard to be installed.
I have a Lumia 900 with 4.3" and I constantly making typo and the tying experience is a lot worse than my HTC G2 Android with 3.7" screen.
I wonder myself why something like that can happen? It's in the keyboard design, for some reason Keys in WP seem to be narrower, harder to see, and all 3 of the bottom rows somehow were aligned in the same vertical lines, which is not the case with the G2. Keyboards in Iphone 3.5" display was also easy to use.
This is a major input issue consider this is the all touch OS.
Anyone has any idea whether this issue will be addressed?

I do find iPhone and iOS devices in general having TS keyboard i make the least of mistakes. Though i do find my Lumia 800 better than on my old GS. Not a problem really for me, but it is indeed something MSF should improve. Goal after all isn't to be about as good or just as good, but better.

In general i hope we see a much faster phase on improving those little things with this new kernel, we will see.


I should say i never use autocorrect on any of my gadgets. Hate the whole feature.

EDIT:

THANK YOU for your comment. I debated bringing this up because when I installed Mango I immediately noticed a decrease in my typing accuracy. So much that I posted about it in the WPCentral forums. I think only one or two forum members agreed with me and another one gave me the benefit of the doubt. It's one of those things that I knew something was off but hardly anyone agreed.

This is interesting. I did not jump to WP before Lumia 800 and i to this day make mistakes that just make no sense to me and they occur time after time. To me it has always felt like there's too much software interference. I can write on my iPhone slightly faster and make no mistakes, and that's on a smaller screen.

 

[MaulerX]

Coming from having an iPhone for three years before I got a Focus two years ago when WP launched, I will say that I type way better with WP's keyboard. It's not just the auto-correct that's better, but all the different choice of words that pop up above the keyboard as you type. It's rare I've ever had to type a whole word because of the great predictive text.

From Joe's demo videos, WP8 takes it a step further by having not only predictive text, but predictive word flow.

 

[eric12341]

The iOS, Android and even the HTC keyboard (which I used to think was the best.) are absolutely horrible in comparison to the WP keyboard. Always a frustrating experience typing on those devices . I didn't notice any decrease in accuracy since mango however.

 

[freestaterocker]

FWIW, I don't have any post-Mango updates on my phone (thanks AT&T, btw). I don't know if any of the post-Mango updates have keyboard accuracy adjustments or not.

Another thing: Like most people in this forum, I don't have a WP8. It's possible that WP8 has improved accuracy, plus the flagships have bigger screens than my Focus so this could become a non-issue or a less aggravating issue when I get my 920.

The update that fixed the disappearing keyboard bug also fixed the accuracy back to Nodo standards. My heart goes out to ATT users still having to deal with this issue...

 

[freestaterocker]

*thud*



Are you actually serious!? How was I not aware of this!?

I am, in fact serious. I can't remember where I read it, as it was over a year ago... Trying to find the link now, sadly, would be needle in haystack.

Also, the thud made me think sarcasm but I assumed genuine surprise based on the lack of /s or :/.

 

[aceattorneymvp]

I'm one of those that are still not used to using the WP keyboard. Former iPhone user.