[IDEA] D-Pad Keyboard - Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General
As I was driving yesterday, I was frantically (and dangerously) trying to type a text message on my Vogue. As you people with phones that have no hard kb, you know how frustrating it can be to type a message, let alone while one is driving. Now I know that it's not safe to text while driving period, but there are certain times when it is necessary. I came across the idea of a D-pad keyboard. You would use the directional pad on the phone to select letters from a keyboard, and then use the center button to select that letter for input. While this would not be fast or efficient typing, this would help greatly to type messages when only one hand is free for driving, or some other activity, as it would give the user an actual button to press. Sadly, I have no programming experience whatsoever. I also don't have a steady source of income, so I cannot guarantee any donations if someone developed this. But maybe if enough people caught on to the idea and liked it, a bounty could be started for someone who developed something like this. I've uploaded some rough mockups of what it might look like.
drewden123 said:
As I was driving yesterday, I was frantically (and dangerously) trying to type a text message on my Vogue. As you people with phones that have no hard kb, you know how frustrating it can be to type a message, let alone while one is driving. Now I know that it's not safe to text while driving period, but there are certain times when it is necessary. I came across the idea of a D-pad keyboard. You would use the directional pad on the phone to select letters from a keyboard, and then use the center button to select that letter for input. While this would not be fast or efficient typing, this would help greatly to type messages when only one hand is free for driving, or some other activity, as it would give the user an actual button to press. Sadly, I have no programming experience whatsoever. I also don't have a steady source of income, so I cannot guarantee any donations if someone developed this. But maybe if enough people caught on to the idea and liked it, a bounty could be started for someone who developed something like this. I've uploaded some rough mockups of what it might look like.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DONT. TEXT. WHILE. DRIVING. Especially on a touchscreen only phone. Not to mention your mockup would take extremely long to type out one word let alone a message. what you want would be to have multiple slides, first slide you can go either L or R with the full keyboard split in half. pressing L will give you a slide with the letters of q-t, a-g, z-v; R will give you y-p, h-l, b-m. from these slides you can go U, D, and R. U will give you top row of letters, D will give you bottom row of letters, just select will give you middle row and R will give you either number pad or symbol pad. minimum key presses is the key.
You should try the phone keypad, I find it alot easier when driving. Of course I still don't recommend typing while driving . But why I think would be even better is voice feedback. As you press a letter or key on whatever keyboard you're using it would voice the key you pressed then enter the character with a confirmation click sound when you release the keypress.
First off, please stop texting while you're driving. Why can't you just pull over and do it? Why risk your life and other innocent people because you're texting? NOTHING is that important for you that you can't just pull over to the side of the road and do all your texting there. Your idea is unique but pretty useless for your situation as well. It seems it will take a lot longer to move the directional pad and hit enter after the right selection with the middle button on that button decal. At the end, you'll still have to look at your phone while texting. How would you find the defendant if you were one of the juror in a jury, listening to some guy who seriously injured or killed someone because he was texting?
Actually, with an SIP such as TenGO this is an excellent idea.
one day i really needed to text while driving, i started typing.
suddenly i realized that the traffic stopped and i was so close, luckly my breaks could stop me on time.
other wise, i would never be here i guess.
since then, i never touch the phone while driving, the max is picking up the phone using BT Headset.
scary. be carefull, driving is not a game, you cannot load life back if mission failed.
anaadoul said:
one day i really needed to text while driving, i started typing.
suddenly i realized that the traffic stopped and i was so close, luckly my breaks could stop me on time.
other wise, i would never be here i guess.
since then, i never touch the phone while driving, the max is picking up the phone using BT Headset.
scary. be carefull, driving is not a game, you cannot load life back if mission failed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I understand your experience. And thank you all for all your replies. I'm glad a lot of people are concerned about the safety of all the drivers. However, I also stated that this could primarily be used in OTHER activities in which you only have one hand free or cannot/should not be fully focusing on your phone. I realize the risks of texting while driving, which is why I don't when in any type of traffic. I live in rural Indiana, where most of the times it's a wide open road with fields to the left and right and not a car in sight. I just thought this would be a simple solution if the urgency was presented where someone needed to send a quick text. I also think voice feedback would be helpful. Even better would be speech-to-text + BT headset. That would be the ultimate program for this situation, but I have yet to see anything close developed. Once again, thanks for all the input.
flyboy009 said:
You should try the phone keypad, I find it alot easier when driving. Of course I still don't recommend typing while driving . But why I think would be even better is voice feedback. As you press a letter or key on whatever keyboard you're using it would voice the key you pressed then enter the character with a confirmation click sound when you release the keypress.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Phone keypad would be your best bet.
anaadoul said:
one day i really needed to text while driving, i started typing.
suddenly i realized that the traffic stopped and i was so close, luckly my breaks could stop me on time.
other wise, i would never be here i guess.
since then, i never touch the phone while driving, the max is picking up the phone using BT Headset.
scary. be carefull, driving is not a game, you cannot load life back if mission failed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol.
wouldn't be cool if there was a giant reset button.
haha.
I agree with everyone though, don't text while driving.
In most of the states in the US it is actually illegal to do so,
and has quite the hefty fine associated with it.
There was this girl about 6 months to a year ago that was driving down the US 60 (in arizona) and was in the left lane of the highway, and ended up swerving all the way accross every lane of traffic and tboned a parked van on the side of the road that had overheated.
Inside that van were 2 adults, and their 4 children
(2 young teens and 10 and 5 yr old I believe, something around those ages).
All 6, and the girl texting, were killed upon impact.
They found the girl texting gripping her phone (with keyboard slid out) in her hands.
Moral of story, Population control.
JKJKJKJKJKJKJKJKJKJKJK!! I'm goin to h*ll for that one.
But seriously, I don't recommend texting while driving.
TEXTING WHILE DRIVING is good if you have set your vehicle in AUTO PILOT! XDDD
Ahh well, guess the idea is shot down by the community. I really meant it for more purposes other than driving, just thought driving would be one of them even though it's not recommended. I guess I'm just unsuccessfully trying to find some way for efficient, easier input on a touch screen like the Vogue. I have small fingers myself and I have yet to find a quality keyboard that I can get up to speed on. And yes the phonepad is the next best thing if the need arises. Has anyone seen anything close to being capable of speech-to-text? I'm probably dreaming here but that would be an amazing app that could probably make a lot of money
What could surely be possible would be for the 9 buttons available on the d-pad to correspond to a t9 keypad. Press up for abc, up-right for def and so on.
Definetly would like a d-pad keyboard! The more options the better. Check out a psp for reference.
jez83uk said:
What could surely be possible would be for the 9 buttons available on the d-pad to correspond to a t9 keypad. Press up for abc, up-right for def and so on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that idea sounds pretty good, except I'm pretty sure on the Vogue, or any other d-pad on a phone, there aren't diagonals (up-right, down-left, etc.) are there? Just up,down.left,right.
VLingo
A better solution to your texting while driving would be a speech to text software, have a look here. I have not tested it myself yet but it looks interesting and safer than the alternatives. Please don't risk other peoples lives.
And please vote in my poll.
Thanks for the link! I also voted on your topic.
Related
A BIG button to get Dialer Screen OFF
Hi all What I'm going to tell is funny, after, in a pub with a beer and telling stories but not at all while is happening... Imagine that your are a courier, riding a motorbike. Your XDA II well fitted on the handlebar, connected to a GPS. Your company sends to you an SMS with details for next collection/delivery. You get the postcode and introduce it in UKPostCode program and click show in the map/navigate to. So TomTom is launched and you're too launched to your destination. About 300 yards from a crucial junction telephone rings, you press the big button to get the call or the hard button. Phone screen comes up. It's your controller: "Where are you" (If your are in town in the motorway it sounds like "Whefuuuuuurefuuuuubrrrrruuu"). After one minute speaking with the controller you're not where you were, TomTom spoken instructions come up again "you little fu..er missed the junction, you're a shame for couriers, better you look for a parking and go walking..." All that could be avoided just with that empty box on the phone screen enabled to do the same job as the small and inaccesible damned small "X" on the top right corner, at least in winter time and thick gloves. Is there somebody ready to take this empty box and make it working in that way? Mamaich did a lot with it, I just wish this small tool. Thanks, Nomada (Broken English)
If you install PhonePlus you can use the dialler from that which can be assigned to close down the dialler aswell as hangup when you press the red hardware button.
Advantage Keyboard.. your opinions please.
Hi all, For some reason the search function is not working for me (xp/firefox 1.5) as it always returns null searches. Anyway, apologies if this has been discussed already in detail... I'm almost ready to go ahead and buy the Advantage having researched numerous reviews online. Everyone is in agreement its a marvellous device, let down by one main aspect... the keyboard. Many report that the keys have very limited tactile feedback and one reviewer commented that the keyboard felt very rubbery like the old spectrum keyboard, making it sluggish for typing on. I would see this as being a pretty major drawback, effectively slowing productively on a regular basis. I currently use a Nokia E61 for work, and, while it has a small thumboard, tactility is excellent and with some practice, its responsive and fast. While the larger keyboard is welcome on the Advantage I would really like to hear users opinions and thoughts, good bad or indifferent, about the keyboard in daily use. Thanks!
i think the keyboard is much better than reviewed all the time. it has no definite pressure point but still you only have to touch it a little bit so you don't really need the pressure point anyway. i haven't typed anything wrong yet. quite impressive. but still i think that the athena itself has a far too deep (and bad) when the keyboard is attached, if you wanna type in bed f.e. it's hard to see the screen right and good. so keyboard is really good, but angle between keyboard and display isn't good for use with both hands, in bed etc. (just on a high table). sry, don't really know how to say it in english.
I'm still prefer the keyboard of Universal's.....and it turns out I carried the U1000 without the Keyboard 90% of time. BR Tommy
I too prefer the Universal keyboard compared to Advantage keyboard. Not only for the typing (little "click" with Universal, nothing with Advantage), but for the number of keys as well. In fact in Universal keyboard the number 1 to 0 are typed directly, instead in Advantage you need the function key before. On Universal there are more symbols that availlable directly from the keyboard (with or without the function key). But, considering all, I can give to my Advantage keyboard a rate of 6.5 (in a range from 1 to 10) and to Universal keyboard a rate of 8.
Can we all look into the possibility of using a bluetooth keyboard..I think it will b a very useful companion with Athena
Cheers guys. I'll probably end up using my Think Outside BT keyboard which has served me well over the past couple of years. It seems a waste to use it though when you have a magnetic keyboard which also doubles as a screen protector.. and its another thing to carry and have spare batteries for.. I hope they introduce a more tactile feedback into future revisions.. I don't think I'd mind the fact that the number keys are not on the top row. Its an inconvenience but means more room for qwerty (and I'm used to it from the E61 layout). Speaking of room.. Advantage looks just a little too cramped for 2 handed typing effectively so are you guys holding it like a thumbboard or huntin'/peckin' with two fingers while it lays flat on a desk..?
it's very, very tough to hold it like thumbboard (as I said before) , so most of the time I use it while it lays flat on a desk (which should be high enough to see the whole screen while typing because of the bad angle).
I really dislike the keyboard, since it has absolutely no tactile feedback. It's very odd to type, and I make many errors. It was even nicer, and faster using the keyboard that came with my Cingular 8525, and I dislike Thumbboards. It does make a good stand when watching media, though!
I don't mind the keyboard for occasional use - you certainly wouldn't want to type an essay on it, but a quick e-mail, txt or even a forum post doesn't stress too much. Its easier than the soft keyboard on the screen anyway. The bits that I don't like, are:- the telephone dial button is in the wrong place (top left) - I'll quite often start dialing someone, just because ive caught the button by accident as I'm holding the device up. And sometimes it can get the caps lock stuck on, and I cant work out a consistent way of turning it off (usually a press of the dot, then the caps key does it, but not always). Other than that, not too bad.
They keyboard sucks. The key spacing is all wrong. I continualy hit the wrong letter. For a good touch typist this is torture. The lack of numbers it pathetic too. The universal fitted a considerably better keyboard into it. The good thing? There is nothing to stop people making replacement keyboards! I want a keyboard that works better as a screen protector, because if I dont use that stupid leather wallet, everytime I put it in my pocket, the keyboard slips off and scratches the screen itself. Now, I look like something out of the 1980's with a huge leather filo-fax thing. A good keyboard would be complete case, with flip up screen protector (or slide up) and a kb that flips around from the back (the contacts are wired such that its always connected when not totally flat on the back) meaning you can have it at any angle. Hinge the KB at the bottom corners and screen protector at the top corner. It could be a complete life saver.
ok the keyboard in Athena is completely useless. Universal one is much better. I made so much typing error because I had to press hard on the keyboard. It is not responsive enough. Whenever I wanted to type fast, I kept on missing a character such as the A character. Even my Fitaly soft keyboard is 3x better. It is annoying having to carry keyboard all the time because you need that to keep U1000 in the leather casing closed nicely together. but that is about it.
I too agree that the keyboard is next to useless. I've been using it purely as a way to hold up the unit at home, so that it looks like a PC instead of the screen lying flat. I still much prefer to use the enlarged on-screen keyboard. For more specialised typing such as word documetn, I have my Full Screen Kyboard activated hardware button that was once used for starting the browser. In that way, I can alway call up the Full Screen Keyboard anytime I need. I don't actually carry my keyboard around. I've designed and made a belt pouch myself (yes, using my old notebook carrying case's materials) which can either take both the unit and keyboard or just the keyboard. In either case, I don't put the leather case into my pouch. It works very well for me. At home, I would like to look for either a BT or USB keyboard.
Hmmm.... But for me athena keyboard still useful even not as good as universal one. But i still can feel it...
Actually I kinda like it. Its better than I expected it to be. Rarely misses a key when I'm typing. I'm coming at this from keyboardless pdas though so can't compare with other smartphones (except Nokia 9300 which was ok but I actually think this is better.) Its certainly handy having it there and it makes the pda sturdy when you want it sat up just to see the screen while playing music, watching movies etc.
I think all the above comments on the keyboard, the some good, and the some bad, are valid. That being said, I do not think it's a deal breaker to not get the Athena. In addition, it can't be a deal breaker, as there are no alternatives. Yes, if all other things were remaining equal, and there was another device identical, except for a better keyboard, I'd obviously opt for it, even at a higher cost. But, I LOVE the Athena. It is the portable computing device (plus GPS) that I've been hoping for. And I use in in CONJUNCTION with another phone (a Blackberry Pearl, for now). Comparing it to TyTN or the like, are too different. It runs faster than handheld pocket PCs, seems more stable, and quite frankly, when you mix too much usage at one time, like a phone, GPS, and PocketPC, is too much for any device. This is a PC with 3g data first, then maybe a GPS, and THEN a phone.
I have no complaints. I use it a good 3-4 hours a day instead of my laptop. It's good for emails and simple word/excel editing. Makes me able to sneak about without anyone noticing. It could have had a little more tactile feedback, but the lack of it makes it dead quiet instead, which in my opinion is a wonderful thing. I'm sure someone will make use of the extra space between keys... ie moving the main keys closer together and adding a numeric keypad somewhere in there. I wouldn't mind. Perhaps make them round, and with a groove in the middle of each key so when the keys are tightly put together you still have high accuracy speed typing.
I'm used to the Wizard and Hermes, and they both have keyboards that give a little more response than Athenas keyboard. However, I see that this also is a good idea if you want to use the keyboard when you are en a meeting or in a lecture, or whereever you are where you have to be quiet.
anyone has tried Thinkoutside bluetooth keyboard with U1000 yet?
No, but I have tried the Freedom Keyboard (www.freedomkeyboard.com), and it works perfectly. It's a little smaller than a normal qwerty-keyboard so it takes a little to get used to it, but I think it is rather good. The Stowaway Travel Mouse also works perfectly.
If we are gonna go for Bluetooth keyboards, try the Apple PRO full qwerty kb. Its nice. I used it on my Nokia770, and my XDAII easily. Not tried on the Athena, but no reason it shouldnt work. Great for using when you are at home/office for typing. Just dont expect to carry it around.
#I can be your Hero...Maybe# T-mob UK G2
Folks.. Not sure if I made a mistake here.. I whinged to T-mobile about how my Vario IV's lack of reception was driving me over the edge and somehow convinced them (mid-contract) that I just HAD to have a G2 or i'd die!! Well not quite but anyway they felt sorry for me and as of yesterday I am in possession of my first android phone. 1) Looks and feels great. matt/rubberized casing a joy to hold and the Bruse Forsyth chin seems to make sense somehow. 2) Display is crisp and clear and touch screen is very responsive although the idea that I can't use a stylus effectively bugs me a little especially when yr fat thumb can't quite place that pin acurately on google maps!! 3) When you get reception and make a call it is pretty clear and loud enough 4) Music playback.. Plays well. Again fairly clear and loud enough to drown out even the loudest tube journey effectively. 5a) Camera stills. Not alot of love here.. Don't get me wrong the pictures look ok but not a vast improvement over the g1 3.2 or any pther mobile phone 3.2 cam. To be honest, being able to take shots exclusively by pressing the thumb wheel was a mistake.. I found myself zooming in or out alot just as I was about to take an exposure.. Frustrating! 5b) Camera/video capture. CRAP!!!! seriously HTC why are we still toying with 352 x 288?? Can someone please tell me??? 6) Keyboard.. One of the better touchscreen keyboards out there and with feedback is always a plus, problem is I am a dedicated/Qwerty/ h/w keyboard fan and this just is not doing it for me at all.. The keys though responsive are not accurate at all and you will find a whole bunch of errors when you look back at your text even after the intuitive suggestive text has it's way. the other thing I found was that I started experiencing cramp in my thumbs even after a very short period of typing on this thing due to the awkward position I had to place my thumb in to effectively hit the "backspace key". 7) Lag..It's there folks and it's real!! It doesn't seem to take much to get it going too.. I only had a google maps sess and the cam running in the background.. Hopefully HTC can sort this in some form of a s/w update.. by the way I can't seem to dial 150 to get to t-mobile services.. just says the number isn't valid.. Anyone else having this prob?? There is more and i'll hit you with it when I remember but that's it for my T-mobile specific rants on the G2.
Anyone have trouble with Tapping on the Textbox to bring up the Keyboard?
Whenever I try to start/respond to a sms, it takes about 10 tries of me tapping on the textbox at the bottom of the screen for it to recognize I'm tapping it and to make the keyboard come up. My buddy, who will use my phone, can do it almost every time though... I'm coming from an iPhone so I'm used to touchscreens. I've tried with/without my nail, using my entire THUMB, using just the tip of my thumb. I dunno what to do... Any ideas? Thanks
I noticed that this will happen to me on occasion. In my experience with it, if I tap towards the top of the box it will work the first time, but if I tap towards the lower bottom then it doesn't work so often.
actually, this used to happen to me alot. then I noticed that every time i was trying to touch the text box, my thumb, or another finger from my other hand, was also touching the screen. And since the stock keyboard doesn't have a detected multi-touch input, when there are two touched, the input value is returned as null. So, once i figured that out, i never had a problem. But, there has also been complaints about the touch screen calibration being off, so...you can never know unless you mess around
Ill give those tips a shot! Maybe adding the multi touch hack will help too...
It also helps if you don't just tap really quick, but press it instead(well not really press, but leave your thumb or finger on it for a second).
I'm sure there are weird calibration issues near the bottoms of our screens. When I first got the phone, I really thought it was broken or there was a huge bug trying to get the virtual keyboard to come up while writing SMSes. Like david said, try touching a little higher than where the text box is to bring up the VK. Usually, I aim at the top border of the box. Now I rarely have to touch more than once to bring it up, but it's still an issue that should be addressed by HTC (or maybe Google).
heroskyy said: actually, this used to happen to me alot. then I noticed that every time i was trying to touch the text box, my thumb, or another finger from my other hand, was also touching the screen. And since the stock keyboard doesn't have a detected multi-touch input, when there are two touched, the input value is returned as null. Click to expand... Click to collapse This is exactly what I determined. My keyboard pops up every time when press near the top of the input box.
Is this a hardware issue - or something a future update is able to correct?
You can long-press the "Menu" softkey to open the keyboard at (almost) any time.
When this happens to me i just push in the trackball and the keyboard pops up.
tiltman71 said: When this happens to me i just push in the trackball and the keyboard pops up. Click to expand... Click to collapse x2 I also noticed if you get a lot of texts or have a lot of texts the problem gets worse.
Have to slow down when texting, what to do?
Hi there Sorry if this is already debated. I searched but couldn't find an answer.. When I'm writing a text message using "phone keypad" and XT9 my HD2 can't really keep up with my writing-speed. It's not that I type VERY fast -but for example if I write two of the same letters in a row, the phone can't keep up and I have to slow my writing down. It's doing it in other cases also if I write pretty quick. Is there a reg fix for this or is this a part of the sms-hotfixes that haven't been corrected yet?
did you give Swype a try?
I like to think that after using the Diamond for 18 months, because of it's small 'candy bar' shape I could touch-text fast using the keypad. However I don't use the keypad on the HD2, I tend to use the keyboard, but with that said I haven't noticed any slowdown at all on the device I am only hindered by my clumsy finger placement.
Kalavere said: I like to think that after using the Diamond for 18 months, because of it's small 'candy bar' shape I could touch-text fast using the keypad. However I don't use the keypad on the HD2, I tend to use the keyboard, but with that said I haven't noticed any slowdown at all on the device I am only hindered by my clumsy finger placement. Click to expand... Click to collapse Ok, thanks Can you even type double letters quick without it stuttering?
Ok, I found out that the slow response is only present when vibration feedback is on. So I turned it off. Maybe I'm a rare breed that likes to type with Keypad/XT9/Vibration - as I don't see people complain about this
you're not alone.. I have the same problem (vibration is already off) and it's very annoying
For me there is a clear difference when I turn vibration off, hmmm Anyways I would like to have vibration ON, but is's unbareable to write on then..
@ OP. Not only is the delay in typing no the keypad, it also delays if you try to set a PIN code on the lock screen. There is a HUGE lag as well. You should see for yourself.