iPhone keyboard

I'm not sure how Apple has done it, but the touch screen keyboard on the iPhone is outstanding, but only in its ability to detect which key was pressed (or should have been pressed).  I feel like I can "hunt and peck" as fast as my fingers can move and it detects every letter correctly.   For whatever reason, the android keyboard requires just a tiny tiny tiny bit more effort.  This is where ease of use ends on the iPhone keyboard though.

UDPATE:  I just picked up the good ol' Nexus One, and had just as much trouble hunting and pecking as the iphone.  My statement has been retracted.

Because of the screen size, they keyboard layout is often awkward to me.   Why do I have to press the "alt" button to get to a period in the "messaging" keyboard..   Aren't period's commonly used, why are they on a separate tab?

Other awkward items to me.    The letters on the keys look the same no matter what "shift" mode your in.   The "A" letter always has "A" on it whether or not caps lock is on.   Android letters change from "a" to "A".

Android keyboards allow you to long press a letter to key a symbol behind it.   You can long press "R" and it will pop up a "4".

Typical on screen keyboards are the equivalent to hunt and peck while typing.  This goes for Android or iOS.   A software developer for Android has taken it to the next level and created a keyboard that allows you to drag your finger from one letter to the next.

When you use a swipe keyboard, you never take your finger off the keyboard, you drag it from letter to letter, and you really don't even have to be close.    Swipe can be done with your eyes closed as long as you can picture a keyboard in your head (good for txt while driving).

When most people see Swype, without having used it, they say "GASP! that is so difficult I could never use it."  I said that for almost a year before I forced myself to start.   Anybody that has used it will never give it up.  You couldn't pry Swype from my cold dead hands.  It is easy to use and much faster than "hunt and peck"

If traditional keyboards are "hunt and peck" then swipe is equivalent to "two hands no eyes and 60 words per minute"

Since Apple does not allow users to replace system apps with their own, iPhone users dont get the CHOICE.  A quick search revealed that users can download more than 12 different keyboards.  They download and install like any app.

swype demo

swype vs iphone  Note*  Both users in this video apear to be "average"  Neither one is going as fast as possible.

One last thing.   Whey type when you can just talk?   the iPhone lacks IN-APP voice to text transcription.

voice to text  Skip to 2:45 to see it in action.