Related
I've been searching but have not yet found anyone working on a custom virtual keyboard. Go ahead and slap me if there is already a thread somewhere where people are already immersed in developing a new one.
I think a lot of people would agree with me when saying the iPhone keyboard is much easier to use (ok go ahead and correct by saying it is because of the capacitive touch screen). I think is has to do with the subtleties such as the slightly larger horizontal spacing and quite a bit larger vertical spacing between the keys. Quite possibly the activation area might be a lot smaller on an iPhone key instead of covering the entire graphical area of the key. I think just reducing the active area of a single key would greatly reduce mis-strokes!
Since I am not a WM developer, but only a dreamer, all I can do is give suggestions.
Maybe it is not worth the effort, but it'd be interesting to see what the minds here at XDA could come up with to replace the default WM6.5 virtual keyboard.
Thanks to all the XDA Developers...keep up the awesome work!!
you mean onscreen keyboards?
there are piles of custom ones for wm6.5 and all other wm's as they work for all of them
some are from htc some are from custom developers some who look just like iphones some got t9 some got swipe instead search away
Ok, could you point me to one like the iPhone? I guess I suck at using Google because I hadn't found them...
As i'm seeing all the love for Windows Phone 7, and honestly, i just don't get it. I've used WP7 display devices, i just really don't like the UI, I fail to see the appeal. I understand how tiles and app hubs and everything work, but, as i said, i just don't see the appeal. And now with Windows 8 coming out, more people love the metro tiles. I just don't get it.
Am i the only one who dislikes the Metro Tiles UI? It often feels like it, especially over on cnet >_>
I actually like the WP7 Metro UI but I'm not sure about win8. Not really liking the metro ui cover over win7.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
mtmerrick said:
As i'm seeing all the love for Windows Phone 7, and honestly, i just don't get it. I've used WP7 display devices, i just really don't like the UI, I fail to see the appeal. I understand how tiles and app hubs and everything work, but, as i said, i just don't see the appeal. And now with Windows 8 coming out, more people love the metro tiles. I just don't get it.
Am i the only one who dislikes the Metro Tiles UI? It often feels like it, especially over on cnet >_>
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Click to collapse
It's more about the elegance and simplicity of operation. WP7 just is the smoothest, leanest, cleanest mobile OS yet. And the style I liked from long before it was released. It's one of those fashion things, I think, that either people will love or hate it. I just happen to be in the camp of those who love it. It's different than all the others and comes from MS.
My opinion is it will become a leading system in a while.
MartyLK said:
It's more about the elegance and simplicity of operation. WP7 just is the smoothest, leanest, cleanest mobile OS yet. And the style I liked from long before it was released. It's one of those fashion things, I think, that either people will love or hate it. I just happen to be in the camp of those who love it. It's different than all the others and comes from MS.
My opinion is it will become a leading system in a while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Couldn't have said it better myself, my friend! It's extremely clean and smooth. Very fast and beautiful UI. It's pretty simple, but still nice looking. I don't think it'll be the leading OS, but that doesn't mean that it isn't good. I am happy because when I do get my next phone, I will have plenty of choices!
ACis0014 said:
Couldn't have said it better myself, my friend! It's extremely clean and smooth. Very fast and beautiful UI. It's pretty simple, but still nice looking. I don't think it'll be the leading OS, but that doesn't mean that it isn't good. I am happy because when I do get my next phone, I will have plenty of choices!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Time will tell. MS even said they will be ruling the mobile OS market by such and such date, which I can't remember. That doesn't mean they are toking a little too heavily on the wacky weed, but you never know.
WP7 actually shows that "different" can be done properly. A lot of people moan and groan that there really isn't any way to make things different. Case in point: Apple sues Samsung over the UI of their phones because they aren't different enough. Then people complain that the icons are icons and you really can't make it different. MS just did. MS made a completely different system and an excellent one that I feel is better than iOS.
Wp7 is good imho, but it's insane to waste an eventual 4.3" screen with just very few tiles, it kinda kills the point of having a good screen...at least on android you can fill it with all sort of widgets, icons and crap. "Minimal" style, tho many might like it, is not good for any os that wants to become mainstream (imho), especially because you can't change the appearence in any way...
vnvman said:
Wp7 is good imho, but it's insane to waste an eventual 4.3" screen with just very few tiles, it kinda kills the point of having a good screen...at least on android you can fill it with all sort of widgets, icons and crap. "Minimal" style, tho many might like it, is not good for any os that wants to become mainstream (imho), especially because you can't change the appearence in any way...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The tiles can be live. They are meant to be more than simple icons. They are meant to be able to show up-to-date information and provide immediate visual access to the underlying app.
mtmerrick said:
As i'm seeing all the love for Windows Phone 7, and honestly, i just don't get it. I've used WP7 display devices, i just really don't like the UI, I fail to see the appeal. I understand how tiles and app hubs and everything work, but, as i said, i just don't see the appeal. And now with Windows 8 coming out, more people love the metro tiles. I just don't get it.
Am i the only one who dislikes the Metro Tiles UI? It often feels like it, especially over on cnet >_>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, your not the only one that dislikes it.
I gather from the fact that sales of WP7 are disastrous, and there's hundreds of new WP7 devices at fire sale prices on just about every online auction site, it would be logical to deduce the majority don't like it, as that is the first thing that hits you in the face.
If it IS implemented on W8, it better be able to be disabled, because I'll jam toothpicks in my eyes before using that **** on a desktop, bad enough wasting space with overgrown idiot squares on a handheld without castrating efficient use of a desktop.
Personal choice. Android interface to me is basically SPB mobile shell and iOS is what it is. After many years of using the plain WM interface all of them are an upgrade. I like the way the WP7 interface can be expanded and integrated while maintaining versatility. In fact the whole OS is a best of all worlds of Android, iOS and WM with the Mango update. While not as open as WM or open source at all like Andoid, it is a great mix of the freedoms of those systems and stability of iOS without feeling like you have a "dumb" machine.
I had thought we'd left CGA colours back in the early 80s where they belong, but MS had other ideas.
It's a duplo phone that managed to halve Microsoft's market share.
Yup, twice as many people preferred WM6.5 which tells you how bad WP7 really is.
Sure you'll get die hards trying to convince the world that they haven't made a mistake in choosing a WP7, they'll deny that the transitions are there to just hide the lag and actually make everything long winded, they'll try and claim lists are so much better than nice finger sized icons, or that some basic feature it is missing (that your cheapo phone 10 years ago had as standard) will come in the next update, or the one after that, or the one after that, or somewhen in the possible future.
I agree with you. It's kinda ok how it functions but I don't see the appeal in it or the "fun factor" of like Android.
mtmerrick said:
As i'm seeing all the love for Windows Phone 7, and honestly, i just don't get it. I've used WP7 display devices, i just really don't like the UI, I fail to see the appeal. I understand how tiles and app hubs and everything work, but, as i said, i just don't see the appeal. And now with Windows 8 coming out, more people love the metro tiles. I just don't get it.
Am i the only one who dislikes the Metro Tiles UI? It often feels like it, especially over on cnet >_>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you. It's kinda ok how it functions but I don't see the appeal in it or the "fun factor" of like Android.
I personally like the idea of a smooth and fluent idea, especially because it doesn't try to copy the iPhone. But besides all the smoothness it is very, very limited and too simple for my taste.
maybe they want to look more professional ..... i think....but for me its Simple i like it..
mtmerrick said:
As i'm seeing all the love for Windows Phone 7, and honestly, i just don't get it. I've used WP7 display devices, i just really don't like the UI, I fail to see the appeal. I understand how tiles and app hubs and everything work, but, as i said, i just don't see the appeal. And now with Windows 8 coming out, more people love the metro tiles. I just don't get it.
Am i the only one who dislikes the Metro Tiles UI? It often feels like it, especially over on cnet >_>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am also not impressed by windows metro tiles UI... no comparison with android or iphone
I saw this post from last year and thought it'd be fun to get another consensus on the subject, particularly as there is now way more choice.
Personally I've fallen in love with SwiftKeyX, but I'd be interested to know where people's preferences/frustrations lie. Do you stick with Stock, or love Swype or GO, or any of the other hundreds out there?
SwiftKey X for me too. I've used Swype as well. The typing experience in the two is totally distinct so i guess it boils down to individual preference. But even leaving that aside, SwiftKey X is better, IMHO.
Definitely SwiftKey. One of the best keyboards I have used. Simply brilliant.
I like to use my hardware keyboard connected via bluetooth i'm just faster with a hardware keyboard.
Swype
I have swype themed red, love it.
Stock Gingerbread Keyboard <3
I have to agree with you there! I just flashed my Thunderbolt and Galaxy Tab 7 to GB. However, I w2ill find myself going back to Flex T9 because I dictate a lot and the voice recognition is Godly. You don't have to put punctuation in like you do with Google's voice recognition and unlike Google's I have dictated near paragraphs using Flex T9.
Also, I got Flex T9 off of Amazon's Daily Free. It has to be my most used app.
I prefer the Better Keyboard 8 to anything I've tried.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
I love SlideIT, very fast and easy.
My favorite feature is the shortcuts you can add, just slide the abbreviation you can set yourself and it will type your specified sentence.
E.g. some built in ones, slide BRB = Be right back, very simple, but very handy if there is something you type again and again, the shortcuts can really speed up your typing. Also it's a nice way to type in e-mail addresses in really fast on sites or apps that you need to log in to.
The new default skin on SlideIT looks bad though, but you can switch to the classic skin, looks much better.
SWYPE keyboard.. works really well for me..
Favorite**
And I just got SwiftKey x because of this thread and... I freaking love it
Sent from my ADR6350 using XDA App
swype
I just took a look at the couple preferred by previous posters, but I am so happy with the free Swype, I couldnt see spending for perhaps a slight advantage.
I love the swype technique along with the voice feature (tho that requires data I believe). You basically slide your fingers across the keys without lifting between keys. It works faster than you can slide the finger around. I like that I can swype a paragraph and very quickly edit any wrong words it selected. Its intuitive for making quick corrections.
My wife converted to it after insisting on getting droid with physical keyboard due to a neurological disorder that makes her hands rather jerky and flinchy. She is so taken with it she forgets she has keypad when she does need it...
A close second is also a free app called shapewriter, which is essentially the same app, but doesnt have the microphone button. It isnt a market app so I got it elsewhere (dont remember who provided a link to it). Definitely worth a look if you can find it. I use titanium backup to preserve it on my phone.
I never had an android phone, but i did once got to try swype on my friend's phone. simply love it. its amazing how fast you can type with it. so i'll go with that
Right now I'm using Beta Swype. I think I'm going to try Swiftkey X since I got free from the Amazon market.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
I switch between the Sense 3.0 keyboard and SwiftKey X. Both are pretty good.
Nokia N900... I got used to it. Now my Android Xperia play
smart keyboard pro and swype
Funny, but i love htc ime from the start
Smart keyboard is BEST!! if you prefer T9
Sent from my Galaxy ace using Tapatalk
I really like Swiftkey X, the predictions is scary accurate.
My girlfriend is a blackberry user, as was I from first generation blackberry until last gen, then I made the leap and won't go back. But now she wants a bold 9900 and curious if any phones are specifically more accurate or better for typing. Or even any good androids or maybe windows phones on at&t with keyboards?
Sent from my GSII Skyrocket
Doesn´t she like touch's keyboard like GSII? The accurate and speed is better than a hardware´s keyboard.
I've had iphones, blackeberrys, GSII and now I've got the SG3.
I realised that the most practical and easiest to type with was the iPhone 4.
On androids, what keyboard you use aldo has an impact on your writing speed/ease...
I use smart keyboard pro, and I can still type better than my iphone and bb trotting friends...
On touchscreens, practice is required to get used to it...
Typed using a small touchscreen
Stridar said:
I've had iphones, blackeberrys, GSII and now I've got the SG3.
I realised that the most practical and easiest to type with was the iPhone 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, I'm getting 3 free iPhones as soon as the iPhone 5 releases from family who is upgrading, maybe she will like it.
a.cid said:
On androids, what keyboard you use aldo has an impact on your writing speed/ease...
I use smart keyboard pro, and I can still type better than my iphone and bb trotting friends...
On touchscreens, practice is required to get used to it...
Typed using a small touchscreen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried swype and was terribly inaccurate. Have used SwiftKeyX for months and I'm pretty fast but not that fast. On a blackberry I could hold a verbal conversation and be touch texting 100% accurately without looking, which is why she still prefers a physical board.
Sent from my GSII Skyrocket
Been using windows phone for 1.5 years now... and i must say im really used to the UI and i believe using windows 8 would be a breeze for me as well
That being said, mum recently got the new ipad... and ive been trying to teach her how to use it...
AND to my surprise... i am actually feeling pretty good about WP for its convenience, slick UI, humanly made functions compared to apple
There is no way i can really take up an apple product now. It was just pure frustration when using it. Everything on WP was just so much easier faster and more useful!!
What do u think?
toothfish said:
Been using windows phone for 1.5 years now... and i must say im really used to the UI and i believe using windows 8 would be a breeze for me as well
That being said, mum recently got the new ipad... and ive been trying to teach her how to use it...
AND to my surprise... i am actually feeling pretty good about WP for its convenience, slick UI, humanly made functions compared to apple
There is no way i can really take up an apple product now. It was just pure frustration when using it. Everything on WP was just so much easier faster and more useful!!
What do u think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it is easy to use and all the people i know who have used it feel the same, but its important to remember that iOS android and WP all have their own pros and cons
each person to their own hey!
ive always said that out of the box without modification, WP is a much easier and complete package than the others, in my opinion of course!
toothfish said:
Been using windows phone for 1.5 years now... and i must say im really used to the UI and i believe using windows 8 would be a breeze for me as well
That being said, mum recently got the new ipad... and ive been trying to teach her how to use it...
AND to my surprise... i am actually feeling pretty good about WP for its convenience, slick UI, humanly made functions compared to apple
There is no way i can really take up an apple product now. It was just pure frustration when using it. Everything on WP was just so much easier faster and more useful!!
What do u think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. Have a Titan for 9 months now, and no, even my iPod touch has become an alarm clock or simply a device that pulls my other emails inbox and junk. Turns out its not so much of a fun device like they advertised. Although I've been wanting to mod it to make it more "wearable" like putting it in a PipBoy 3000 case, but that would be ridiculous in public.
toothfish said:
Been using windows phone for 1.5 years now... and i must say im really used to the UI and i believe using windows 8 would be a breeze for me as well
That being said, mum recently got the new ipad... and ive been trying to teach her how to use it...
AND to my surprise... i am actually feeling pretty good about WP for its convenience, slick UI, humanly made functions compared to apple
There is no way i can really take up an apple product now. It was just pure frustration when using it. Everything on WP was just so much easier faster and more useful!!
What do u think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I felt the exact opposite when using my samsung focus for a year and a half. Not pure frustration but relief when i picked up an 4s. The app selection and speed of the browser and camera are worth it alone. Screen color reproduction outshines the super amoled as well. I have found that most new smartphone users pick up the UI navigation on an iphone much quicker than wp7. Unfair advantage though since most people have come across iOS at some point and to some degree beforehand. Both better than android though
Im kinda looking forward to the next iphone though I have 2 windows phones (omnia7, surround) an iphone 3gs, 3 ipads (2 ipad 1, 1 new ipad) im up for all tech devices heheh, just cant find an interest in android at the moment though
I quite like iOS as a whole, but the UI really turns me down, especially coming from WP. Android instead is going in the right direction with JB: the UI is now more polished and minimal WP7 style, reaching a good level of consistency. It's still not perfect but it keeps getting better. iOS instead really needs a complete makeover, there's way too much stuff jiggling around and "wannabe cute" thingies. Especially coming from WP7 it all looks like cluttered childish garbage. It gets stuff done nicely but it's far from being appealing to my eye, and that's a shame because the hardware really is top notch. Just my 2 cents.
Sent from my Lumia 800 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
I have used old windows mobile, palmOS, iPhone4S and I have an android tablet with ICS. I use the arrive from Sprint, and compared with WM phones, it is superior, but to iPhone4s, which I didn't use too much at all, I don't think WP has too much advantage if there's any. I like the interface, but there are just too many little problems that's never get fixed. First and for most, the iPhone4s can send SMS with unicode without any problem, just like normal, you don't need to do anything, but my WP, others only see some junk boxes. Then, the MMS doesn't work after time, need to reset/power cycle the phone. You can't send video at all, no matter what. I can list these on and on, and after all these time, these little bugs never get fixed. The WP7 is stuck at a trial version forever. Just like the WM Microsoft did, they seems to be too slow, can't catch up with all the requests. That's probably a reason why WP isn't popular. In the whole time, Apple releases three new phones with major OS update, I think, and Google got even more releases, I think. To my understanding, even though WP has some very important bells and whistles, if they can't catch up with the demands from average joes and jeans like us to fix the problems, they will lose the game. I do understand my phone is old and the hardware limits it has, but still, those basic bugs should be fixed before they go on to a whole new OS which will abandon us in whole.
I've had a Dell Venue Pro for about 1.5 years now and my wife finally wanted a smartphone so I got her an iPhone 6 months ago.
I've used iOS maybe once or twice before and not for very long so when I finally got a chance to play with iOS for for a longer period of time, I ended up hating the experience completely! I found myself trying to swipe left and right in apps and thinking "why won't the pages swipe over??" before realizing I wasn't using WP. I got so used to the swiping actions in WP7 that anything else just doesn't feel right. I've just gotten so used to flicking up or down and tapping a live tile or just swiping to the app list and flicking up or down, then tapping on the app I want and then within the app swiping left and right through the different pages and up and down. Everything just feels so smooth and fluid. The letters flowing into the next page inviting me to swipe left or right! WP is a damn sexy OS!
Although I think iPhones are great devices for beginners, I think this is the main reason I could never use iOS now. iOS is all about tapping. Tap an app icon, tap the page you want from the bottom, tap to go back at the top of the app, tap this, tap that... everything is tap, tap, tap, and occasionally scroll on pages that are all static. It's cluttered. There's no fluidity. It doesn't evoke emotion. And I agree with the "jiggling" and the "wannabe cutsie" stuff... what's up with that???
The way I see it, iPhones really are for kids and people that just want an iPhone, Android is for nerds that love to tinker (until they get sick of it and end up buying an iPhone or WP), and WP is for people that want devices that just function properly with a little style and pizazz. WP is the modern OS.
Just my opinion
You just need some time to get use to the iOS, instead of there's anything bad. I have problems with the hard buttons on my WP, the volume buttons, the return/search/home buttons, which I can never get used to, almost always jumped by accidentally touched those buttons.
i could never use ios ever since the ipod touch came out since that its always been the same, but my favorite mobile os's from most favorite to least is windows phone, windows mobile first smartphone i used was a treo 700wx, then webos they were going places with that, ios, bb, and android though i have only used froyo and gingerbread worst experiance ever not even wm 6.1 was that bad
Mr. Raza said:
i could never use ios ever since the ipod touch came out since that its always been the same, but my favorite mobile os's from most favorite to least is windows phone, windows mobile first smartphone i used was a treo 700wx, then webos they were going places with that, ios, bb, and android though i have only used froyo and gingerbread worst experiance ever not even wm 6.1 was that bad
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android has changed a lot lately, it's much more polished, smooth and efficient. I still find it a bit unintuitive and overly complicated as a PHONE OS, but JB made it a very solid platform. I've been using it extensively on my tablet in the latest weeks and I'm pretty satisfied. I still like the simplicity and the fresh design of WP better, but it's a whole different world compared to how it used to be in the past, maybe you should grab a Nexus device or something and give it another chance
Sent from my Lumia 800 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
WP7 was winning the game right up until ms dropped it. I look at the wp metro now and just wish they'd let users skin the thing. They should have introduced a folder system, language support is thin. It's depressing because wp was the best os, now jellybean is out and has ironed out all the niggles with droid. A new ios is only a month away and ms are trying to tout win8, which already looks set to be the biggest failure in the history of Microsoft.
It is nearly game, set and match to apple. What a depressing time for tech
A few things wp7 can boast are, best search (camera, tags, sound and text all in one interface), fastest web browsing of all devices, absolutely AMAZING cloud integration with skydive, easy groupings of friends/contacts.... Actually the list of things wp7 is still better for is huge. Why did ms drop it?
I just hope Nokia can get a droid device out there fast.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
crav4speed said:
iOS is all about tapping. Tap an app icon, tap the page you want from the bottom, tap to go back at the top of the app, tap this, tap that... everything is tap, tap, tap, and occasionally scroll on pages that are all static. It's cluttered. There's no fluidity. It doesn't evoke emotion.
Couldn't agree more. iOS always appear like something i can buy from Toys R Us and made by Fisher Price.
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Click to collapse
I would say Win 7 is much nicer than ios , however , if Microsoft changes up the system every 2 years like they just did with win 8 (basically making our win 7 devices a KIN) , i WONT BE BACK! Those people who bought the 2nd gen wp7 fones are screwed now in there contract , right after pushing the wp7 on them and millions sold , Microsoft annouces win 8 and they are not backwords compatible , so you have to have the newest fones in order to use win8 , yes they give a small gui for nokia with no functionality of 8 , your screwed too!
Nope I was a fan from the beginning ,I have focus 1.3 and have changed out custom roms , its been dev unlocked from the beginning, interop unlocked as well ,but I dont see a future in it , I do like the interface , but I think I will get an Android next , and just get a custom rom that looks like win 8 !! or anything else I want ! My Tablet rocks with Jelly Bean !
I actually use iOS far more then my WP7 device. My 4S however just can accomplish so much more then my Optimus 7. Better everything really. The WP7 OS however is still my favorite. I just hope they create some amazing phones down the line. Really really stunning phones.
After having used a long time my well loved o²xda-htc wallaby(which died in 2010 by batterydead,and the long and very sad search of a well priced htc hd2,where i was victim of the ebay classifieds services i bought ,and yes thats sad in some cases,that i must say ,that i don´t know if it was luck that i spend 200€ for my Omnia7 in a telekomshop,but what i can say defenitely after all: Iphone and every other Apple-Product where never an option for me!!! And this is based on some reasons for me: 1. there is the fact,that the appelproducts and especially the phones are so extremely overpriced in comparision of hardware/price 2. that i hate that everyone who owns an appeldevice is so "proud" on this and that this person act like as it is the biggest show-off,the applehype has disgusted me totaly 3. is that iphones are not very longlife-produced and often their screen brakes by first "touchdown" 4. that i whish that the appleconcern is breaken down in some years 5.that it is my opinion,that when appledevices were good everyone bought windevices,and now that windwos has cought up in (hardware) but mostly software specifications,their reputation has lost the multimediadevices and phonemarket.
What i must say also is,when i´ll buy me a new device i´ll buy me an androiddevice,nothing lesser then one of the topdevices(S3 or something like this). This is based on the fact,that microsoft has disappointed me that much as i could be dissapointed by them ,and also because i think that wp8 will be at the end locked down, as much as wp7 was, something i´ll never have to own again as a smartphoneos