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Touch type or hunt and peck
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Hi all,
I have noted that, in almost every review of smaller laptops and handtops, the reviewers slam the units on the keyboards, sighting the inability to touch type as the killer that destroys the usefulness of the reviewed unit.
I must confess, that after almost 30 years working with computers (professionally and not), I still can not touch type in the accepted sense. I learned to type with four fingers and I have never been able to break the habit. I still achieve better than average speeds, and so that brings up a question - Is the preoccupation with touch typing based on the reviewers preferences as writers, or is it a real advantage, and the smaller machines are actually lacking?
I would like to hear some thoughts on the subject, as it seems to be the largest single stumbling block in the way of wider acceptance of tiny machines.
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12/07/06
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JustinNoland
With a keyboard that is at least 80% full-size (which is generally still considered fully touch typable), you greatly sacrifice portability. Unfortunately, you either get pocketability or typability, but you can't have both. Its simply physically impossible. Thus, hopefully, anyone who is entering the handtop market should be aware and accepting of the fact that they will need to tote a larger keyboard to do massive data entry. Some of the portable bluetooth keyboards fold up to OQO size, and are still fully touch-typable. Thus, all you need is one of these in your bag or other pocket, and you are good to to should you need to have that feature.
Of course full keyboards are an advantage in some senses, but then again they have their disadvantages as well. The next time I see someone pull a desktop-sized keyboard out of a jeans pocket will be the first.
Then again, they could always just integrate these into the devices themselves... text.
12/07/06
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GreatDane
I bought one of those virtual keyboards, and have found it all but unusable. It is a great idea, but I have a feeling that even a fabric keyboard that offers almost no tactical feedback is going to be better than bouncing ones fingers of a hard surface.
12/07/06
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GenM
A related question is whether a keyboard is required on a device. Given that to get efficient text entry you need an external keyboard for any handtop, why add the bulk to the device itself? Or is it the case, as Carrypad has suggested, that a keyboard is required to SELL a device, but not to USE it. Onscreen keyboards and/or TIP are adequate for Urls and short emails/messages. Anything longer requires an external keyboard anyway (even if you are the fastest hunt and peck typist in the world  )
12/07/06
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Chekote
Personally, and integrated keyboard is required for me to use the device. Admittedly, I would never use the integrated keyboard on the OQO for any extended period of time, but it is absolutely essential when I am on the move (in a car, on the plane etc).
When you remove the integrated keyboard from a handtop, you essentially add the requirement of a desk, which completely defeats the purpose.
The touch typing is a pretty big deal to me. I type a *LOT* and no way could I ever settle for the built in handtop keyboard alone. But neither do I expect them to make an integrated keyboard that I can touch type on. They are two conflicting goals that will never work together.
12/09/06
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MeanSquare
I'm completely satisfied with one and two-finger (or thumb) typing on a small keyboard and I refuse to go without typing capability entirely by relying on on-screen keyboards. When I really want to spend some quantity time typing, I do want a full-sized keyboard to touch-type on. So, I demand a thumb-board on my handtop as well as Bluetooth capabilities so I can connect to my full-sized keyboard.
12/18/06
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primaz
I hate any type of thumb device with a passion! What most companies do not realize is that the prefered input is still touch type keyboards. There is a huge void for a pocket computer with a touch type keyboard. Past devices proved that a device like the old Psion 5mx can be about 7.5 x 3.5 x .75 inches in size yet can accomodate a keyboard one can type decently. That old Psion had a great keyboard that expanded when opened and IT WAS a device that proved that a pocket size device can have a good touch type keyboard! I typed easily about 80-90% of my desktop speed which is about 55 wpm on the old Psion.
The problem is that most devices that are small have no good input keyboard. When you carry an external keyboard it ends up being much too large to carry both and not ideal for functionality. The old Psion was perfect as I could stow it in my jacket then take it out and immediately type a document etc. and slip it back in my jacket. The issue was it used a proprietary OS which never kept up with MS. What we need is a device that is a modern version of the old Psion with a non proprietary OS. The technology is there but the companies seem to have lost touch with real users desires. There is a huge need for many whom want a pocket size computer with a real keyboard.
12/18/06
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GreatDane
Primaz,
You are correct in stating that there are no really small devices out there with a touch type keyboard. I spent well over two years trying to develop such a keyboard, (you are welcome to the various designs if you would like them) and even built a one of prototype of what I though would be a suitable machine. I soon discovered that although it was great if placed on a flat surface while typing, it was less that useful if one attempted to hold it in both hands and type.
I gave up on the design, primarily for reasons financial, but if I had continued, I would have fitted the next prototype with a thumb keyboard for reasons of practicality.
The Samsung prototype just reveled has an interesting fold out keyboard concept that might work, but in reality, I suspect that any device with a touch type keyboard will be all but useless when held. Consequentially, it is up to the user to decide how they wish to use their device, and select one accordingly.
I feel that MeanSquare and Chekote probably have a point when they suggest that the thumb keyboard is for use on the go, and an external keyboard should be used for large amounts of text input. The ThinkOutside folding bluetooth unit seems ideal in this scenario.
P.S. I do all my heavy lifting on a desktop replacement laptop, with a full sized keyboard, so I have a valid excuse for not needing a touch type keyboard permanently on the OQO or other handtop. I accept that others have different needs, and therefore different preferences.
12/19/06
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GenM
For significant typing on the go, without the requirement of a flat surface, the best I've found are chording keypads - FrogPad link or Twiddler link . Both have users that like them, and both support touch typing.
12/19/06
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GreatDane
GenM,
Wow, those are what I would call a quantum shift in input experience. Thanks for the info.
12/19/06
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primaz
GreatDane,
Have you ever used a Psion 5mx? Take a look at this old review in 1999 link
This keyboard is perfect for most people to type about 75-90% of your desktop speed, I typed about 55-60 wpm on it. If a device had that keyboard with a screen that is mounted like the Toshiba convertable tablet then it would be perfect for on the go and sitting and typing as the touch screen would satisfy quick on the go use and the keyboard would enable good input for document creation etc.
I am a marketing manager if you or someone would fund that type of device I would love to head up marketing as that would be something I could really get passionate about. It seems so crazy that computer companies ask IT Directors and people on the extreme of the Geek personalities about what they would want and not ask normal users? Pen input and voice is nowhere near the level to be easier than touch type keyboards so just make a pocket computer with one.
FYI, I am still using a HP Jornada 728 with a Canon wireless printer and my cell phone for e-mail; and have been dying to upgrade but there is absolutely nothing that excites me nor is as mobile as my obsolete 728 
12/19/06
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GreatDane
Hi primaz,
More power to you in your search for a good replacement for your current e-mail setup, I hope that you are able to come up with a suitable device.
I take your points about touch typing on good faith, as I have never learned to do so in the conventional sense. Even on a full sized keyboard I only use three fingers and one or both thumbs. I started typing on an ancient Underwood manual typewriter, where one had to depress the keys a good inch or so to activate the letter striker, and 30 words a minute was an average speed. Much faster than that would have had the strikers jamming up against each other. Since I taught myself, and since I could achieve 30 words a minute, I never learned to touch type with all fingers and thumbs. By the time it would have made any difference, I was so steeped in the old bad habits that it would have taken more time and effort to unlearn what I had been used to than was worth while. I still get better than 30 words a minute, which for what I do is more than adequate. I do not have to look at the keyboard when I type, and do not obviously search for keys in the accepted "hunt and peck" style, so maybe you could call my typing style modified touch typing.
The reason for that lengthy preamble is that I have it would seem a substantially less difficult time learning to type on smaller keyboards than do most other people by the sounds of it. While I could never for example achieve a sustained rate of 50 wpm or more, I can quickly get up to my "standard" 30 wpm on keyboards the size of the Toshiba U100's or even smaller. In fact, I would estimate that even the thumb keyboard on the OQO permits a speed of better than 20 to 25 wpm. What I find slows me down is not the size or placement of the keys, but the amount of pressure required to depress them, and the odd key stroke combinations.
I would love to fund and produce the "perfect" handtop, but my company produces specialized database software, and my one venture into that realm was hugely expensive in both time and money, and at the end of the day produced a device that would have needed millions more to refine and set up for production. I did not have the capital needed, and I did not have the spare time to continue the project and seek outside funding.
To be honest, I was inspire to produce my own handtop by the failure of the Flipstart to get to market, and what I considered at the time to be the serious flaws in the OQO Model 1 design. The primary flaw in that design as I saw it was the slide open screen, and the thumb keyboard.
We managed to design and produce a workable QWERTY "touch type" keyboard on a clam shell device that measured 168 mm x 106 mm x 32 mm. The key pitch was 12 mm horizontally, and 11 mm vertically. I could type on it with a bit of practice, but others who touch typed in the conventional manner found it way too cramped to achieve real speeds. The problem was that, at 168 mm wide, the device was too wide to permit use as a thumb keyboard device, and too small to permit the average user to touch type. I reached the conclusion, as I am sure do most who have tried to design a handtop, that one either had to go with a thumb keyboard, no keyboard, or a larger device.
My revelation regarding handtop devices came in part from this experiment. If a handtop was going to be small enough to fit into a shirt pocket, then it was not going to have enough real estate to permit a "real" keyboard. It would also be limited as regards the CPU, as heat and battery life are killers. Screen size and resolution were also limiting factors.
My work designing software demands a more powerful, and consequently bigger machine as a primary unit. Such a unit will not fit into a pocket, and therefore it may as well be as large as one can carry in a backpack or shoulder bag.
My next laptop will probably be the ACER 9815 20.1" monster with Core 2 Duo CPU, as I have no intention of walking around with it, but I still need something that can be moved from time to time. That means that any handtop that I buy as a secondary machine had as its primary requirement small size so that I can carry it with me. In the office, my handtop will be attached to an external monitor, keyboard and mouse, so a device with a thumb keyboard for use on the go is ideal. Based on that, I purchased the OQO Model 1+.
I am aware that every user or potential user of a handtop has a different set of requirements. I am of the opinion that there will never be one single "perfect" handtop that suits everyones requirements. I hear what you say about thumb keyboards, and accept that for you they are not ideal or even acceptable. But then, you wish to touch type on your handtop, a requirement that I quite frankly will never have, regardless of the size of the keyboard. For me, in the roll that the handtop plays in my life, a thumb keyboard permits the device to be small enough to meet my primary requirement, and as such is fine.
Which in a way brings me back to the original question - for what handtops are typically used for, is touch typing a requirement, or will thumb typing or "hunt and peck" typing work better on a device with such a limited amount of space for a keyboard?
It would seem that, as with so many other things related to handtops, that depends on what the user requires from the device.
I hope that in the future, we will see an increasing number of competing designs in the handtop arena, and that eventually there will be a device out there suitable for everyone. I am pretty sure of one thing, however, and that is that it is not going to be a single device that suits all.
05/19/07
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juantoad
Wow! I am one of the people who would have bought that device had you produced it. I still would today. I was sorry to hear you were disappointed with it after it was done and felt " that one either had to go with a thumb keyboard, no keyboard, or a larger device." Your keyboard is exactly what I have been waiting for. I owned a Jornada 720 and typed 50 wpm by hunt and peck. While some people would have found this frustrating (wanting to touch type), these are probably not the UMPC crowd. The UMPC crowd seems very pleased with OQO 02 with which, from everything I read and from my personal experience with OQO 02, people thumb type 30-35wpm max. Your device would have beat the OQO in typing speed even by using index fingers.
05/21/07
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GreatDane
Hi juantoad,
Thanks for the kind words. Should we ever decide to take up the quest again, I will let you know.
05/22/07
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elsewhere
The Jornada 728 and Psion S5 series (for me) straddle the end zone of good, but small keyboards.
I found the Psion more comfortable and more pleasant to type on, and had a slightly higher WPM rate,
but found the Jornada was more accurate (fewer errors) so both had their uses.
Downsizing from there, the Zaurus has a small, but *very* comfy board; can't quite touch-type,
but can type with 4-5 fingers at a time. The whole unit is smaller than an OQO/UX,
but the keyboard's actually larger.
Great Dane: I find usability is proportional to, and continuous with size. A "touch-type" kb is better than one that's not,
but a wider and deeper thumb-board is much better than one slightly narrower and shallower. A"five-finger" kb
is better than one that will only fit four fingers, and a "four-finger" keyboard is more usable than one that can only fit a couple thumbs,
or two fingers.
So, yeh, an intermediate-sized keyboarded device remains interesting to me.
Being able to be stowed in a pants pocket (or not), in contrast, is a make-or-break decision.
01/21/08
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primaz
The reality is that most people use a touch type keyboard to input into a computer so why are companies forgetting the basics? Technology is supposed to make our lives better not try to change our behavior to learn to pen input some un-natural way or thumb input when we do not want to thumb input. Thumb keyboards were band aids to the PDA's which people thought was initially cool but soon found that they still use pen and paper as they could not do much more than view information on them. Pen input and thumb input are not what most people would prefer given a choice.
As others have mentioned, devices like the Psion and HP Jornada have blended small jacket size devices yet provided a good touch tpye keyboard. I think now that computers and the technology now enable them to be both jacket size and run full windows, companies can slowly develop products without MS bias. What I mean is that in the past MS could flex their muscle and change the hardware landscape. The HP Jornada and HPC's like that were great but they relied on MS continuing to support a special OS; they (MS) dropped it and killed some of the best hardware designs. The same went for the first year and a half with the UMPC's; MS pushed everyone to follow their spec but that did not work. Only 350K umpc were sold in 07 and to me mainly to a small niche geek group of techies. The majority of users do not want to buy those devices because they lack a touch type keyboard and are not jacket pocket size.
What I would like to see is a modern Psion or Jornada that runs full windows. I think the market for that type of device is huge. Just think of the hundreds of millions of laptop users and a large percent are sales reps, marketing reps, managers, executives, etc that do not need a super fast computer and for them a jacket size device is more important that a big screen and the fastest cpu.
Greatdane, you maybe ok with a thumb but I believe the majority of users want a touch type keyboard. Your more tech savey than many and love technology but mainstream users and reviewers, etc. just want the same experience they get with a laptop or desktop but in a small jacket size form factor. We do not want to learn to thumb input or try to adopt the computers pen recognition, etc. just give us a simple laptop in your pocket, what is so hard to to realize that would be the natural progression from a laptop?
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