On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 04:53:34 -0300 "Gustavo Sverzut Barbieri" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> babbled:
i intend to first give a predictive qwerty keyboard a go - why? well qwerty is familiar and requires only 1 press per letter. it seems the qtopia predictive kbd works pretty well on the gta01 and gta02 - so now it's a cvhance to improve on it wiht configurable layout, keys etc. etc. > On Sat, Feb 23, 2008 at 10:43 PM, "Marco Trevisan (Treviño)" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Gustavo Sverzut Barbieri ha scritto: > > > > > On Sat, Feb 23, 2008 at 6:49 PM, "Marco Trevisan (Treviño)" > > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >> I'm really excited waiting for the Freerunner to be available to the > > >> public, so I'm looking around searching the resources I'll need more. > > >> > > >> I think that one of the most important thing when it comes to the daily > > >> phone use, is the virtual input device that imho it should be > > >> completely usable with *fingers* (the stilus isn't portable!) giving > > >> the users the same confort that the key-based devices give. > > >> > > >> To get the best usability and speed while writing I do think that is > > >> needed a QWERTY style keyboard (If you've ever tried a blackberry you'd > > >> know what I mean). > > >> Actually there are two alternatives: the QTopia predictive keyboard [1] > > >> that works quite well if used with a good dictionary (also if it should > > >> be improved for writing new words), and the iphone-like virtual > > >> keyboard [2] that is already available for N800 and that should be > > >> easily portable to Openmoko too. > > >> > > >> Any other? If there are some others I don't know them, but the > > >> solutions I've tried using the Openmoko GUI with qemu aren't so good > > >> imho. I think that some virtual qwerty keyboards should be developed > > >> also considering that Openmoko supports the landscape view (not using > > >> accelerometers yet, but it does it!) and that mode could/should be used > > >> for writing, so we could use more space to put keys in! > > > > > > Hi Marco, > > > > Hi Gustavo! > > > > > > > I disagree on this, QWERTY keyboard is a no-go for OpenMoko. I'm using > > > iPhone for about 2 months and I wrote the one you cited, so I think I > > > have some knowledge about it :-) > > > > > > Reasons: > > > - iPhone vkbd is not so great, even on iPhone hardware. The > > > landscape version is almost usable, but the vertical is bad - but > > > acceptable, see below. > > > > Well, I've tried the iPhone virtual keybard (not only on the iPhone but > > also in the iPod touch, that it's the same) and it's not so bad imho... > > Of course the vertical view is really better than the landscape one but > > considering how I use the T9 based phones, I'm really a much faster > > I guess you mean the other way around, using keyboard in landscape > mode (like iPhone browser) > > > > writer using this kind of keyboard, also if sometimes I do mistakes. > > That's why I think that the pressure should be compared char-by-char > > with a dictionary! > > > > > - iPhone has no sunken screen, with borders that make you loose many > > > physical space. This happens on Maemo devices as N800 and it's painful > > > in Canola and that vkbd mockup I wrote. I do not have a OpenMoko > > > hardware yet, but I suspect it will be even worse, as the screen is > > > more high dpi and smaller in physical size. > > > > Yes, that's could be true, but in landscape view I think it could be > > usable in Freerunner too... > > I dare to say it's not even without trying. Our experience with Canola > is that you waste more than 30px in each edge due the border, in > OpenMoko it should be even more. Given that each click area must be > around 100x100 to have good hit rate, then you guess you'd not have > much space to fit around 10 keys on 1 row. > > > > > - iPhone has a capacitive (not pressure based), VERY sensitive touch > > > screen. > > > - Running my prototype on N800 was not so bad because the screen is > > > huge and you have plenty of space, but you often miss some clicks due > > > the pressure based touch screen. > > > > I don't know how it is in Freerunner, but there's no software control on > > it? > > it's a physical limitation: the screen need pressure to emit hardware > signals, while the capacitive just needs contact, you barely need to > touch in order to produce hardware signals. > > > > > That's why I think it's not a good option. We better keep with some > > > kind variation of T9. I already talked to rasterman about that and he > > > have a great idea of a key matrix (3x3 or 4x3) that would behave like > > > number keypad, but the labels would weight the key with greatest > > > probability of being used (based on dicts, T9 like). > > > > As I've said, I don't love T9 neither 9x9 keyboards as they're commonly > > meant (the ones used for years by key-based phones) maybe Lars > > Hallberg keyboards [1] are a little more usable... > > I think it's not much diferent from T9, just a implementation that > utilizes software capabilities better. > > > > > The major problem with T9 is it takes time to train and have it behave > > > fine for you. One option would be to provide a service (pc, web or on > > > the device itself) to feed with personal texts (mails, docs, ... text > > > you wrote) so it will optimize for it. Other improvements could be > > > abbreviations and maybe mode selection to use even more optimized > > > dicts (language based and terms based, like "polite", "3733t speech", > > > "development"...). > > > > This is a good idea... > > > > > > > What we need to do is implement something fast, with good feedback and > > > users will get used... people already got used to write "graffiti", > > > T9, ... and even QWERTY... they will learn yet another, just make the > > > behavior predictable and help the user whenever possible. > > > > Of course, but the one I feel better with (and with I'm more productive) > > is the QWERTY way :P, maybe because I'm using it for too many years! :P > > yeah, mee too, but physical space is an important issue we have to deal > with :-/ > > -- > Gustavo Sverzut Barbieri > http://profusion.mobi - Embedded and Mobile Software Development > -------------------------------------- > MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Skype: gsbarbieri > Mobile: +55 (81) 9927 0010 -- Carsten Haitzler (The Rasterman) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _______________________________________________ OpenMoko community mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
