this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2024
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I can type faster on my keyboard free phone then I could with my old phone with a qwertz keyboard.
Plus when I’m not typing I get more screen real estate. It’s a total win win for me. Not bad at all.
But what's the error rate? I could type at 200 words per minute (even on a phone!!) if I didn't care about how many typos I was making. And swiping keyboards get confused incredibly easily. The error rates are especially bad when you're writing words that only use a single row of keys - on QWERTY keyboards for example, try writing something like "type", and you could get that, or you might get something else, like wipe/write/ripe. Other groups could include things like tip/top, pit/pot, wit/wire and the selected word will be wrong almost as frequently as it's right. And autocorrect systems can't really correct for things like when you mean to press enter and hit the backspace key instead. Plus, their suggestions are generally just very stupid. So while buttons take longer to press on physical keyboards, the reduced error rate makes typing speed about the same in my experience.
Plus, with physical buttons, you get tactile feedback, so you can tell when your fingers are slightly off and adjust them, whereas on a flat surface, you have no idea whether you pressed the correct button or not. You have to stare straight at the screen to make sure every press is correct, which is exhausting and bad for your eyesight. I feel a lot more eyestrain from simply typing on phones, whereas with physical buttons, I didn't even have to look at the screen, and I could look at something else around me while typing. And don't get me started on how many calls I've missed because I accidentally hit the hang-up button, or couldn't find the accept call button - not a problem when you have physical buttons!
Regarding screen real estate, all you need is a slide-out keyboard. They work great!
There are a few downsides to physical keyboards, but in my experience, they're far superior to non-keyboard devices. But what can you do - in the 21st century, practicality never matters, it's just all about aesthetics and nothing else....
My “raw” error rate is quite high. My actual output error rate is quite low. I can’t speak for swipe keyboards though. I just use the standard tap keyboard. For me the in context predictive autocorrect works wonders.
With my old keyboard phone things were slower because I had to press down on physical buttons. With a touch keyboard I just lightly touch type without the need for effort or rechecking. It all just works out.
As for me I could never go back to a slide out setup. It was very klutzy and thick. Like 2cm thick. Crazy.
I’m happy with touch keyboards because they are faster for me and enable things like folding phones. But to each their own.
Thanks for showing me how passionate you are here. :)
Edit: the ellipsis leads me to believe that you might have been into tech while the n900 was around. You write with the passion of a n900 user. Did you have one?
Interesting! Sorry, I don't know why I thought you were using swipe keyboards, it must have been stuck in my memory from reading other comments. I definitely agree that pressing the buttons was a little annoying, but manufacturers could probably make softer buttons if they were willing to put the money into developing them.
Anyway, I really miss the phone I had from about 2008-2010. It had two sliders that moved in orthogonal directions. One of the slide directions revealed a standard 12-button phone pad, while the other had a 4-row keyboard. And yet, I'm pretty sure it was under 1.5cm, so not too large. It was definitely easier to keep in my pocket than current phones!
If it weren't for reading Lemmy/RSS feeds and a camera, I'd probably be going back to dumb phones for my next one...
Good for you. My sausage fingers mean I have to use swipe motions more often than not, and often the word will be wrong, then I have to backspace and type it letter by letter, sometimes getting it right, often getting some letters wrong.
Autocorrect means trying anything akin to programming, or typing commands in a terminal emulator is an exercise in patience. "Just turn it off" - see sausage fingers problem
I’m sorry. I can see how someone with very thick fingers might struggle.
My father has a similar issue. I watched him write a message on his phone and I think I found the issue with him. He cared very much about the accuracy of each letter. Doing so made him slow and caused a lot of unhappiness.
My advice to him was to stop caring and just trust autocorrect. It will autocorrect away mistakes and enables people to write quickly. But if you try to get everything letter perfect as you go there is no point to it. It’s a different mindset.
As for programming yah I understand the discomfort here too. I slow down a bit when at the command line on my phone too. Particularly with the flags and such. I recommend the fish shell though. It has an amazing autocomplete set of features above and beyond even zsh. It’s not just looking at histories. It looks at man files and gives autocomplete recommendations. Just Ctrl-F to complete.
As for programming, I have to ask, do you program on your phone? I would use my laptop here.
I've tried a couple of times, but gave up. I have a laptop for all my needs, my plan was to program while on the bus to/from work. At least writing down stuff is still doable.
This