The old Windows CE Handheld PCs had large (by today’s thumb keyboard standards) physical keyboards and a touch screen. They never caught on (even though I really enjoyed using them :-). The problem was that the touch screen were really just a substitute for a mouse and the need to pick up a stylus in between typing was annoying.
Following the lead of the Palm Pilot, Microsoft moved on to the Palm-size/Pocket PC and dropped the physical keyboard completely. Then RIMM’s Blackberry and Palm’s Treo showed that a physical keyboard was indeed a good thing but needed to be sized and designed correctly. Many current generation Windows Mobile Pocket PCs (Professional Edition) and Smartphones (Standard Edition) have physical thumb keyboards too. And, many of them are well designed (I particularly like the Dash’s and TyTyn’s).
Recently, Apple went retro and introduced the iPhone and iPod touch with touch screens that don’t need (or work) with a stylus and dropped the physical keyboard in favor of a graphical tactile-less one. On one hand, the finger gestures for viewing photos and navigating web pages works much better than stylus based Pocket PCs or keyboard based Smartphones. On the other hand, I guess I’m just one of those fumble-fingered people who prefers tactile feedback when typing (even thumb typing). I do think it is great that I don’t have to reach for a stylus to use the iPod touch. But, I really wish I had some kind of option (Bluetooth keyboard for example) for the iPod touch.
I was originally going to comment on the relative granularity differences between finger touch screens and stylus touch screens. But, I need to think that through a bit more. It just occurred to me that one of the original applications categories for the Pocket PC were little mini-PhotoShop type drawing apps. Yet, those never did become very popular. And, we don’t see that category heavily pushed or sold these days. Part of the issue may be the relatively small processing power on mobile devices (compared to desktops). But, I wonder if the digitization errors inherent in any touch screen might have something to do with this too. More later…
Did you ever follow up on your comments on granularity? Two years on and with the continued march of touch interfaces and the possibly imminent arrival of an “iPad”, it would be interesting to think through the pros/cons of the finger (always “handy” ;-), not very accurate) and the stylus (familiar for writing, never where you left it, etc…). I’d be interested in others thoughts…
Patrick: As far as I am aware the human finger is the only, um, “substance” the iPhone/iPod touch screen is designed to work with. It does not work with a stylus.
So what substance can be substitued for a finger on the apple Touch screen?
I have a Ipod tough and very large fingers. I also wear gloves in the winter.
I find it extremely difficult to use the touch pad, particularly along the edges when the ipod is in a case. with gloves on, it doesn’t work at all.
Any pencil shaped aluminum or steel object will work as a stylus as long as it has a flat end, and is the size of a pencil or larger. You can even use the flat end of a AAA battery. Its a good idea to put a piece of tape over the end to avoid scratching the glass. This keeps oily smudges off the screen as well.
I can write a e-mail much more quickly using the stylus. IMO, the built-in text completer is useless to me, it guesses the wrong word 90% of the time.
You know, you can have on your Pocet PC the same contact management experience as on iPhone with FunContact VITO Technology has recently released. You can find it here: http://iWindowsMobile.com/contact-manager.html
With FunContact you can throw away the stylus altogether. Contact list is scrolled easily with fingers, you can do everything with fingers actually.
Look out for more software with iPhone like interface at http://iWindowsMobile.com
I have to say that I can enter text far more quicky on my iPod touch than with a stylus on a PDA..either in keyboard or Handwriting recognition mode. Using my cellphone to write is so much of a pain I don’t do it unless I really need to. It also makes you wonder why a cellphone without a qwerty keyboard should have an IM client on it. The person on the other end would have to watch text appear ONE………….WORD……………AT………..A…………..TIME.
Since I have gotten used to the iPod Touch I really like the way it works for inputing text.