That said, I have a couple apps on my touch that utilize those wheels.
These wheels I believe are prebuilt by apple and then utilized in whatever
fashion by the app builder. The ones I have aren't for numbers but for say,
restaurant types or names and so there are many more then just 0-9. Also
they 'click' when they hit center on the choice, you can over spin them, but
it's not difficult to get what you want. The function is similar to the way
almost everything scrolls on the touch/iphone. To be honest, even in the
apps where the wheels are for choosing different numbers, I never thought
boy, I wish there was just a keypad.
I have one app that does resister codes...after choosing your number of
bands across the bottom, you flick the wheels representing 4,5 or 6 bands of
color on a resister. Then the app gives you the output info your choice
requires. Very slick app and I really can't think of a better design
considering the input mechanism.
Any keyboard, real or virtual, is not the best for typing when your
fingers normally cover more than one key, as on PDAs and cell phones.
When you can select a word, number, choice from a list, even a spinning
list, you're more likely to get exactly what you want the first attempts
because your fingers don't cover more than one item.
My login and password have both numbers and letters, forcing me to
switch from the letters keyboard to the numbers keyboard several times
just to view my email online, so I use the Apple Mail app to make it
faster. The Yahoo! email site is the same on the Touch as on my
computer, just much tinier--almost need a magnifying glass to read it.
You can make the text easier to read two ways. You can "stretch" the
page horizontally or vertically by pulling your thumb and index finger
apart on the screen, stretching the page like silly putty, except more
legibly. Where there are several columns on a web page, you can
double-tap in a column to zoom in.
The Touch and iPhone have position sensitivity, sensing how the screen
is held. It's sensitive enough to use as a level [is that a free app?].
It's also sensitive enough to react when shaken, to spin dials and
wheels, for games, or to feed virtual fish.
It might do more, but I'd have to read the manual to find out. Or I'll
look at the apps I can get from the app store.
Betty
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