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Don't get me wrong, i love my phone and i think that it is a seriously cool piece of technology, but we are just not getting along at the moment when it comes to texting.
I've come from a n95, where i could quite happily bash out text messages all day with very few errors, however, on my HD i can hardly type a word correctly either using the full qwerty or phone keypad. I've tried to persevere with both, but things seem to be getting worse rather than better. I'm fine when using the stylus, but when using fingers I am all over the place.
The thing that annoys me most is when i press a key and the key increases in size (as it should) but then nothing appears in the message. The space bar is the worst culprit for this, i'll be typing away and the space bar will acknowledge the press, but when i check the message something like teoitoerteritktret will be there as the space bar presses haven't been put between the words.
So please help me and my HD to remain friends and if you can suggest alternative keyboards that can be downloaded or any tips that you have I'd be more than grateful to hear about them
Spud
For myself, texting has been great on the HD and I have pretty big fingers (i'm 6"4'...and sorry for the 'standard' units). What might help is using the keyboard in landscape if you're not already doing that, that way the keys are alot bigger, especialy in qwerty mode. Also, T9 might be helpful since it corrects mistakes (like hitting the wrong key for one of the letters). As for hitting the key but not having it input it into the text, that occurs when you touch the screen where the key is (good) but before picking up the finger moving it of that key (bad). This tends to occur when you 'roll' your finger onto/off a key. Another thing which might help is this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=479464&highlight=finger+keyboard (there might be a v2 out already...or still in testing not sure) which is suppose to be a more finger friendly keyboard. A last option which I can give you from the top of my head is Dutty's v1.8 ROM which i believe uses a different keyboard which looks a bit more finger friendly as well.
Hope atleast some of this helps and good luck
I had a bit of difficulty typing at the beginning with the HD, I tried all the keyboards. Even in landscape (full QWERTY) although better than portrayed I found the Compact Keyboard to be the most effective way of typing. I was going to choose the default phone keypad where you have 3 letters but with compact QWERTY you have 2 keys on each key which is even better/faster/accurate (T9-wise). I typed for 2 weeks and now rarely make mistakes, sometimes I even type taking my eyes of the screen because I have memorised the distance between the keys.
I hated the keyboards and nearly wanted to throw the HD in the bin.
This is what I recommend for fast accurate texting.
Use PHONEPAD keyboard. Large keys so you can't accidentally hit the wrong key.
Turn on T9 input (not ABC)
In T9 settings, from Settings, Input, Options menu, uncheck Auto-Substitution and Word Completion in ABC mode. The other two leave checked.
In Word Completion tab, uncheck Suggest words when entering text and check box for Enable auto correct.
I found my frustration came from the words i was typing were automatically changed and substitued when i didn't want them to.
good luck!
Do you know if Cootek TouchPal works on HTC Touch HD ?
I use it on both my HTC Prophet and Diamond and I really like it.
IMHO, it's much better than the provided full and compact qwerty keyboards.
The only drawback is that it's not free software.
Just my two cents.
Cheers.
David
Thanks for the input guys, i've gone for the finger keyboard option to start with and intial impressions are that it is much better, not perfect though, but certainly better
Try getting a smaller keyboard and you will have a great time typing with the stylus.
i can type pretty fast on the phone pad method on my touch HD with t9 activated. the interface is good, much better than the one they included on the universal.
i cant type as fast as i did on my touch dual, but almost as fast now since i've had practise.
i never got the point of full qwerty onscreen, i cant stand them lol, i always use phonepad method. plus with this you can text using one hand
movig from a physical keyboard to a touchscreen is indeed a big change of habits. rather than suggesting a input method I would suggest you some behaviors that helped me a lot in the beginning:
-do not try to type when walking as it makes aiming the keys more difficult
-try to look at the actual keys not at the word written, look at the word every now and then to check for errors
-take your time, it needs concentration on the beginning a.k.a do not try to type too fast just to realize you can do it, speed comes with practice
-try all the input methods with all possible combinations to see what fits you most
-not really the thread to discuss about this, but there are some tweaks and programs available to your device that help a lot, mainly like:
touchresponse by snailslug which provides a small vibration every time you hit the screen, this helps on understanding whether you actually pressed the key
hd tweak and advanced configuration tools can increase the sensitivity of your touchscreen so that less pressure is needed to interact with it
these small tips and a lot of patience helped me a lot in the beginning, now (just after a couple months) I happily type with full qwerty on portrait only both with 2 and 1 hand (and i'm 1m90 tall so don't have exactly small fingers ... and I feel there is a lot more room for improvement
I have just upgraded to the Touch HD. My previous two phones were the TyTn and the TyTn 2 with hardware keyboards, and as you can imagine how well I'd get on with the touch screen for typing was my biggest concern.
I've played around a bit and found the transition much easier than expected, I find that using the QWERTY keyboard with the T9 dictionary turned on works best for me.
As someone else has mentioned, don't try and touch type, that will only lead to mistakes, look at the buttons as you press them and then check your text every so often to make sure it's how you think it should be.
Try Cootek's Touchpal keyboard, best I've tried so far for HD.
There are some others that you may get on with, like Resco and CM.
try fingerkeyboard, it works better for me than the stock HTC keyboard
I've always used FSK (FULL SIZE KEYBOARD) by Spb. I've used it back when I was using an Eten and 5 HTC products later, I've got it on my HD.
Because the screen is larger, it has the tiniest amount of distortion on HD but nothing that makes a big difference.
Like someone mentioned, I've gotten use to using a stylus so many times it's just as fast for me to use the little keyboard.
But then again, I've never been one of those 500 texts a minute person anyway.
HTH's,
Mark
jst first day of my HD usage...i used to have a nokia E61i (still got it) and coupled with nimbuzz i was easily using my mobile to chat to friends and family for abt 3 hours non stop easily like np... but...jst 15 mins of typing on HD and like omg i could only see one line of the conversation box ( landscape mode) and den the keyboard was lil small on te potrait mode. btw...used finger keyboard ver 2 to type...n in jst some minutes my wrist was hurting from keeping the mobile up ( e61i waws heavy as well but was no problemo to me :|) so u people got any sugessions i could try ? Else i'll have to switch to Xperia X1 cuz i would have had no choice left ....help me out plz guys...
I was using my nephew's iPod Touch the other day and the keyboard had a feature I quite liked. When you pressed a key it popped up, but above your finger, so you could actually see what key had been pressed. Are there any apps that copy this?
Plonker said:
I was using my nephew's iPod Touch the other day and the keyboard had a feature I quite liked. When you pressed a key it popped up, but above your finger, so you could actually see what key had been pressed. Are there any apps that copy this?
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the new HTC keyboard from the new manilla has this that feature now. I think you can get the new keyboard from the app section or the development part.
I was very used to physical keypad on Nokia phone. When I switched over to D810/Trinity, I was using Phonepad, then when TouchPal was launched, I started using it. Since then, TouchPal has been my keyboard. I am using the compact qwerty instead of Phonepad layout. TouchPal has pretty good predictive engine. If you type mostly English or those language supported by TouchPal, then it will be great. Else predictive engine may not be that helpful.
Anyway, what's helpful about TouchPal is also the swipe feature. e.g. swiping the word backward give you the past tense, upward gives you the plural, forward gives you the continuous tense, downward give you the other choices related to the word.
On the key it self, swiping left or right allow you to select the specific letter in the key : 2 letters per key, plus a number (bottom) and a symbol (top). Swiping upward gives you the capital letter, downward gives you the symbol and up and then downward give you the number. Cool, right?!
It comes with copy and paste as well as other useful symbol, preset words features.
For those who really really hate typing, check out ShapeWriter. You 'glide' from one key to another without lifting your finger. Just that the keyboard layout is not too big. The key is pretty small. I'm waiting for 'Swype' which has the same technology, but with bigger key. Sadly, it's not out yet.
I'm trying to understand why during sms or email typing I do a lot of typing errors. I saw that so many times I touch the keys on the on screen keyboard in the right place but I release it in the wrong one. So I can see there is a little movement of my hand and thinger that causes keyboard misunderstanding.
I tried a lot of tweaks but what I wantto try now is the possibility to configure the oem htc on screen keyboard to accept keys on press and not on release.
Can anyone help me finding registry tweaks about?
thank you!
Bisis said:
I'm trying to understand why during sms or email typing I do a lot of typing errors. I saw that so many times I touch the keys on the on screen keyboard in the right place but I release it in the wrong one. So I can see there is a little movement of my hand and thinger that causes keyboard misunderstanding.
I tried a lot of tweaks but what I wantto try now is the possibility to configure the oem htc on screen keyboard to accept keys on press and not on release.
Can anyone help me finding registry tweaks about?
thank you!
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It needs to accept on release because a long press has a different effect to a short one.
I know what you're saying, and I sympathize. I had problems at first, but I simply changed my typing style to suit the screen and now I'm very fast, and only make as many mistakes as I would on a real keyboard. Just get used to hitting the keyboard and lifting your finger, without moving it on the screen. It works - you just have to get used to it. It doesn't take long
johncmolyneux said:
It needs to accept on release because a long press has a different effect to a short one.
I know what you're saying, and I sympathize. I had problems at first, but I simply changed my typing style to suit the screen and now I'm very fast, and only make as many mistakes as I would on a real keyboard. Just get used to hitting the keyboard and lifting your finger, without moving it on the screen. It works - you just have to get used to it. It doesn't take long
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Yes I know this. But testing can be a good starting point.
I can also imagine that a "new keyboard" can accept keyboard on press and change pressed keys if I don't move my finger for a long time. If I don't remember bad I already saw a keyboard that works in this way... if I press a key it writes the key, then if I don't remove the finger from that key it changes the pressed key with the additional one.
So, there is not any way to change working way?
I think the thing is that if you can't get used to the HTC keyboard, just use another SIP if a good one is available, or wait until someone makes a new one...
The one in opera mini beta 5 seems good, would be great ig they could make a similar one system-wide...
kilrah said:
I think the thing is that if you can't get used to the HTC keyboard, just use another SIP if a good one is available, or wait until someone makes a new one...
The one in opera mini beta 5 seems good, would be great ig they could make a similar one system-wide...
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Yeah, there's plenty of alternative ones out there. Fingerkeyboard, for example, seems very popular.
johncmolyneux said:
Yeah, there's plenty of alternative ones out there. Fingerkeyboard, for example, seems very popular.
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I used FingerKeyboard a lot with Blackstone but with Leo I don't like it so much... I prefer to have bigger keys and HTC sense integration with the original keyboard.
The problem to change keyboard is also this one.. you can loose some integrations.
So all of you can confirm me that original keyboard is not modificable? So there are not registry configurations?
is there any help for my request?
Hit instead of release !
I do agree with you. I have tried the keyboard on the iPhone a lot, and I don't think anyone would disagree that it is much better. And the only difference is like you say that the iPhone registers where you hit the screen, instead of where you release the screen. Fast typing means you have to move your finger sideways all the time. Can it be so hard to make a keyboard that registers hit instead of release ?
Have tried several keyboards to the LEO, including Fingerkeyoard, but they all seem to have the same problem when used on the LEO.
It's a shame since the rest of the phone is genious. Let us hope someone who is capable of modifying or rewrite a complete keyboard take the challenge.
I'm asking this just from when I was using Blackstone but it seems that developers don't like to make keyboard sensible to press and not release.
Please help us!
This is my first Android phone and I am having a horrible time with the keyboard. I have had the EVO for about a week now and just can't get the hang of the keyboard down. I am always making mistakes, and have to say that I am an above average keyboarder.
Any suggestions? I tried using swype but it slows me down to much lol
You slowly start getting used to it with the autocorrections. I came from a G1 and honestly, I'd love to have a hardware keyboard. If I was given a chance to swap for a Galaxy S Pro, I'd do it just for the keyboard
Anyway, have you try calibrating your keypad?
Give swype a try. Once you use it you'll wonder how you ever got by without it.
Swype takes a week or so to get used to and for it to get used to you. You also have to play with the settings a bit, start out slow and don't try to go quickly when you are first learning.
There are also some swype alternatives in the market you can try.
I think swype is a waste. Just build your android dictionary and you will type fast and efficient. Make sure u use auto correction!
im having lots of trouble wit the keyboard to and im coming from the iphone where i typed really fast n had very very lil mistakes. i keep hitting the damn period button everytime i try to hit the space bar, the button is just too small i guess. hopefully different keyboards come through the market for me to try.
Yeah the auto-correct is a life saver, it usually corrects what I am trying to say lol. Yeah I have done the calibration, and it seems to have helped. Wish there was a little more depth to the calibration though.
The small space bar is for sure annoying, I always hit the period also.
michaelvibe said:
Yeah the auto-correct is a life saver, it usually corrects what I am trying to say lol. Yeah I have done the calibration, and it seems to have helped. Wish there was a little more depth to the calibration though.
The small space bar is for sure annoying, I always hit the period also.
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I'm assuming by little spacebar you mean when you hit the search button or something of the sort if you hit search button one more time it will bring the big spacebar back
have you tried to xda keyboard? i believe Fresh rom has it. it gets rid of the placement arrows and i believe it makes the keys a little bigger. I've never had any problem typing with the evo's keyboard. Coming from the hero this screen size is sooo much better to type on. Sure i make a few mistakes here and there but auto correction generally fixes them for me. Also, the stock android keyboard is actually pretty decent. I used it for a while on my hero. Maybe install that and give it a try.
I am not a big auto-correction fan, so I disabled mine. That combined with the IME v27 keyboard I got from another thread makes typing so much better for me. IME Link
no when u try to hit the spacebar on the keyboard. its too small n we always hit the period button next to it.
bcnice20 said:
I'm assuming by little spacebar you mean when you hit the search button or something of the sort if you hit search button one more time it will bring the big spacebar back
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Came from the G1 and I do not miss the physical keyboard at all. I thought I would have hard time, but I picked it up after a day. The larger screen definitely helps. I'm also using the mod, which is more responsive than the stock VK.
From the HTC Evo!!
stroths said:
I am not a big auto-correction fan, so I disabled mine. That combined with the IME v27 keyboard I got from another thread makes typing so much better for me. IME Link
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Thanks for this, I always thought those arrow keys were a waste of space. This keyboard seems to be much more responsive to the way that I type. I am much more accurate on it, so it seems anyways lol. Just wish some of the bottom row was removed to make room for a bigger space bar haha.
I use "A better keyboard" and find the button spacing perfect. with that and autocorrection on, I can actually type faster on it than with a physical keyboard.
I admit I didnt read the thread.. here are my two cents:
Swype was ESSENTIAL on my hero but without the trackball or on screen nav button like the EVO kb has Swype is kinda handicapped on the EVO.
Forget about accuracy, just type and learn to let the autocorrect do it's thing
re read what you typed to ensure it's accurate until you get real good at it but again, just type. Most of your typos will be fixed automatically
I'm really impressed with the IME on the EVO, it was a pretty big disappointment for me on the hero...
nebenezer said:
I admit I didnt read the thread.. here are my two cents:
Swype was ESSENTIAL on my hero but without the trackball or on screen nav button like the EVO kb has Swype is kinda handicapped on the EVO.
Forget about accuracy, just type and learn to let the autocorrect do it's thing
re read what you typed to ensure it's accurate until you get real good at it but again, just type. Most of your typos will be fixed automatically
I'm really impressed with the IME on the EVO, it was a pretty big disappointment for me on the hero...
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That is generally what I try to do, but certain text inputs don't take advantage of the auto correct so I have to be more careful on those. Wish they all did lol...
I'm install alternate onscreen keyboard, but can't shut down defautl keyboard. It suppress alternate by priority in input methods list.
Only solution i can think of is to root your phone and get Startup Manager and turn it off in there, I did.
Just press and hold the textbox or writing area, there you change "input method" to swype or samsung keyboard.
If I understand it right, OP wants the chosen input method to stick, so that it do not go back to a different one during soft reset. I'm interested in the solution too. I do not want to remove the default stock keyboard though, as I still want it in some situation.
If I go to Settings, Locale and Text and tick the newly installed keyboard (in my case the Droid X keyboard), then press and hold in an input area and select Input Options and use the new keyboard it stays the default keyboard, even after a soft reset.
If I then change back to the default keyboard by pressing and holding in an input area and selecting the Samsung Keypad, THAT will then stay as the default keypad, even after a soft reset.
The same works for the HTC_IME.
So I fail to see what the problem is.
The main annoyance I have is that neither the Droid X nor HTC_IME have a navigational arrows keyboard like the stock keyboard does. WHY WHY WHY did Samsung not make that menu button an OPTICAL TRACKPAD? They managed it on the Omnia and other smartphones. Without this feature, despite my love of this phone, I am falling out of love with this handset.
leoni1980 said:
If I go to Settings, Locale and Text and tick the newly installed keyboard (in my case the Droid X keyboard), then press and hold in an input area and select Input Options and use the new keyboard it stays the default keyboard, even after a soft reset.
If I then change back to the default keyboard by pressing and holding in an input area and selecting the Samsung Keypad, THAT will then stay as the default keypad, even after a soft reset.
The same works for the HTC_IME.
So I fail to see what the problem is.
The main annoyance I have is that neither the Droid X nor HTC_IME have a navigational arrows keyboard like the stock keyboard does. WHY WHY WHY did Samsung not make that menu button an OPTICAL TRACKPAD? They managed it on the Omnia and other smartphones. Without this feature, despite my love of this phone, I am falling out of love with this handset.
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Hey, you're right! It does stick. My bad.
Wow, Droid X and HTC_IME must be so good, that you must find it so difficult to give up. I must try them.
I wouldn't bother with HTC iME if I were you: Droid X keyboard is head and shoulders above anything else out there as it uses multitouch to bolster its already rather solid prediction algorithms. for me it is as good as the iphone keyboard. I have REALLY tried to like Swype but still find it clunky in instances when I need to input numbers and letters or very specific words, and I cant swype a long word as quickly as i can tap out the first few letters of a long word and allow word prediction to finish it for me.
As for the default keyboard....well it has some nice features but I find myself getting terribly irritated by it when I really need it to work.
Hi Eaglesteve by the way. remember our many conversations in the HTC Advantage forums? I hope you've found a better device since then! it's amazing how things have moved on since then.
leoni1980 said:
I wouldn't bother with HTC iME if I were you: Droid X keyboard is head and shoulders above anything else out there as it uses multitouch to bolster its already rather solid prediction algorithms. for me it is as good as the iphone keyboard. I have REALLY tried to like Swype but still find it clunky in instances when I need to input numbers and letters or very specific words, and I cant swype a long word as quickly as i can tap out the first few letters of a long word and allow word prediction to finish it for me.
As for the default keyboard....well it has some nice features but I find myself getting terribly irritated by it when I really need it to work.
Hi Eaglesteve by the way. remember our many conversations in the HTC Advantage forums? I hope you've found a better device since then! it's amazing how things have moved on since then.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts Leoni. Yes, iPhone keyboard is hard to beat. I'll give Droid X keyboard a go then.
Yes, those days on the HTC advantage forum is memorable for me, and I enjoyed the friendship and conversations with folks there. Yes, technology has really changed within a very short time, and I love it. Glad to be living in this generation. You're far more frequent phone changer than I have been, I noticed, almost never missing out on any device. I think as a result you're one of the most open minded and unbiased persons when making comparisons between them, and I enjoy reading your comments all the time.
Hey Leoni, after installing Droid X keyboard, it is not showing up when I go to setting, locale. When I click on the pass-dx2200 icon, I was given the choice of installing PandaHome2, which I did, although I hate the home screen now.
Is there a special procedure to follow before Droid X keyboard would appear on the setting for it to be ticked?
I am new to Android and loving my Aria so far. The only thing that is really bugging me is the text input. I am having a little separation anxiety from my keyboard and it seems like I must be missing something. First I am using the swype keyboard but I don't think that is related to my question.
When you enter text into any input, say the body of an email in the gmail app, is there an easy way to go back and edit that text? I often find myself tapping 5 or 6 times to try to get the cursor back to the exact place that I need to edit and it gets really frustrating? On the iPhone when you want to edit text a search window pops up where your finger is and you can slide it back and forth to find the exact spot that you are looking for. Is there anything like this for Android?
Thanks for any feedback.
cj
Slide your finger over the little track pad between the menu and back button at the bottom of the phone. (Its the small silver circle). I think some people think that is the microphone but its not.
Ki77erB said:
Slide your finger over the little track pad between the menu and back button at the bottom of the phone. (Its the small silver circle). I think some people think that is the microphone but its not.
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Aaah. I did know that was an optical input but I did not even think of it. I rarely use it since scrolling and selecting is so easy.
Thanks,
cj
chrisjaffe said:
I am new to Android and loving my Aria so far. The only thing that is really bugging me is the text input. I am having a little separation anxiety from my keyboard and it seems like I must be missing something. First I am using the swype keyboard but I don't think that is related to my question.
When you enter text into any input, say the body of an email in the gmail app, is there an easy way to go back and edit that text? I often find myself tapping 5 or 6 times to try to get the cursor back to the exact place that I need to edit and it gets really frustrating? On the iPhone when you want to edit text a search window pops up where your finger is and you can slide it back and forth to find the exact spot that you are looking for. Is there anything like this for Android?
Thanks for any feedback.
cj
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Yes i hate trying to get the cursor back to edit a word glad someone asked
never thought about using the trackball sure makes things lot easier
Optical TrackPad FTW!
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App
Even better than the optical trackpad, Smart Keyboard has an arrow layout option that let's you navigate text way faster. The board is real nice too.