18 replies to this topic

[Redhood]

Hi,

I've been looking for software to make the onscreen keyboard on the Touch...bigger, so it is easier to type using my finger rather than a stylus. Does anyone know of any software for this? Thanks!

[madds]

[Edit by Paul (MVP): Please note rules on posting copyrighted software]

Edited by Paul (MVP), 26 June 2007 - 09:23 PM.

[madds]

madds, on Jun 26 2007, 18:55, said:

[Edit by Paul (MVP): Please note rules on posting copyrighted software]

Sorry paul...

[TigerNet]

...same question from me...

Cheers
Nick

[rope]

madds, on Jun 26 2007, 19:55, said:

[Edit by Paul (MVP): Please note rules on posting copyrighted software]

ok - but what is the name of the SW?
maybe some people are willing to pay for it  

[PaulOBrien]

Try Tengo Thumb, it works great on the Touch - http://www.Tengo.net - free to Plus members too

P

[psionara]

Redhood, on Jun 27 2007, 02:30, said:

Hi,

I've been looking for software to make the onscreen keyboard on the Touch...bigger, so it is easier to type using my finger rather than a stylus. Does anyone know of any software for this? Thanks!

The options appear to be

TenGo Thumb ( http://www.tengo.net/ ) - or from here "for Plus members"
MessagEase ( http://www.exideas.com )
SPD Full Screen Keyboard ( http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com )

all have free trials

From a very quick play - SPD would be moe to my likeing but the "full screen" does not show any of the actual document so the typing has no "context" problem if you lose trach of where you are or what you have said. TenGo & MessagEase both show some of the document into which you are typing which is good but require you to learn and use a different sytle of keyboard (not too diferent for TenGo). MessageEase, even with the big version still appears to be a more stylus oriented approach. My ideal might be a "less than full screen" version of SPD but you can't please everyone.

Any others?, any "happy user" recommendations ?

Thanks

Edited by psionara, 28 June 2007 - 05:49 AM.

[Confucious]

SPB full screen keyboard is also free to Plus members!

[Confucious]

Just seen http://www.modaco.co...re-t256337.html - not tried it but it's free.

[psionara]

psionara, on Jun 28 2007, 15:14, said:

The options appear to be

TenGo Thumb ( http://www.tengo.net/ ) - or from here "for Plus members"
MessagEase ( http://www.exideas.com )
SPD Full Screen Keyboard ( http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com )

Well for what it's worth I have loaded these and found that the SPD Full Screen KB is the one for me.

MessagEase: IMHO, still requires the stylus to use well even in the large format and while good speed seems possible I am not gong to spend time learning  new keyboard skills at my advanced age.

TenGo Thumb: I must be missing something fundamental as it just did not work well for me, almost all the words it suggested as what I was trying to input were wrong and I had to pick letters one by one from the suggestions, I did not even get thru my test few paragraphs before it was de-installed (another minus is it “requires to be loaded in main memory and not storage card.)

SPD Full Screen Keyboard: I did not think I was going to like this because of the “full screen” bit, ie can’t see the any of the document into which you are typing BUT the ease of use, quality of the word completion and the overall speed I immediately got without having to learn anything new or “practice” made me change my mind. This one is for me

HTC include a free SPD GPRS monitor on the application cd, seems they could have bought 50,000 SPD KB for almost nothing and included these with the Touch and this would have addressed 50% of the negative comments I have read re the Touch, even made a special HTC skin, maybe done a little more re deeper integration (SPD KB integrates pretty well as is).

Anyway I recommend the SPD KB.

Edited by psionara, 30 June 2007 - 12:26 AM.

[yokoyama]

psionara, on Jun 30 2007, 00:25, said:

Well for what it's worth I have loaded these and found that the SPD Full Screen KB is the one for me.

MessagEase: IMHO, still requires the stylus to use well even in the large format and while good speed seems possible I am not gong to spend time learning  new keyboard skills at my advanced age.

TenGo Thumb: I must be missing something fundamental as it just did not work well for me, almost all the words it suggested as what I was trying to input were wrong and I had to pick letters one by one from the suggestions, I did not even get thru my test few paragraphs before it was de-installed (another minus is it “requires to be loaded in main memory and not storage card.)

SPD Full Screen Keyboard: I did not think I was going to like this because of the “full screen” bit, ie can’t see the any of the document into which you are typing BUT the ease of use, quality of the word completion and the overall speed I immediately got without having to learn anything new or “practice” made me change my mind. This one is for me

HTC include a free SPD GPRS monitor on the application cd, seems they could have bought 50,000 SPD KB for almost nothing and included these with the Touch and this would have addressed 50% of the negative comments I have read re the Touch, even made a special HTC skin, maybe done a little more re deeper integration (SPD KB integrates pretty well as is).

Anyway I recommend the SPD KB.

I have been using MessagEase (www.exideas.com) on my pocket pc for a while now. It's finger keyboartd very efficient and you don't need to use a stylus with it.

also see the gadgeteer videoon youtube about this!

In my opinion, iMessagease is the best finger keyboard, and I encourage you to truyit.
YYama

[mikevans75]

Redhood, on Jun 26 2007, 12:30, said:

Hi,

I've been looking for software to make the onscreen keyboard on the Touch...bigger, so it is easier to type using my finger rather than a stylus. Does anyone know of any software for this? Thanks!

I just received my Touch and after reading many nightmarish reviews of text input I was quite pleasantly suprised to find that the default teeny keyboard is far more useable than I expected. I'm plannign on trying these options as well, bu I think the reviews could keep some folks away from the Touch, a shame for such a sweet product.

[Disco Stu]

No 'phone pad' input for messaging, no Pocket PC for me
Tengo is good but it's just not the same.

[ddhytz]

Disco Stu, on Jul 5 2007, 05:37, said:

No 'phone pad' input for messaging, no Pocket PC for me
Tengo is good but it's just not the same.

How about HTC Phonepad?

[psionara]

Paid for and am happy with the SPD Full Screen KB but this one ("KOTETU Happy Tapping Keyboard") looks interesting (I haven't tried it myself yet)

http://forum.xda-dev...ad.php?t=296455

[marisa4755]

psionara, on Jul 18 2007, 00:54, said:

Paid for and am happy with the SPD Full Screen KB but this one ("KOTETU Happy Tapping Keyboard") looks interesting (I haven't tried it myself yet)

http://forum.xda-dev...ad.php?t=296455

Happy tapping is good, but htc phonepad is better in my opinion, both are free, so why not try both?

[yoba]

Am I the only one finding it really irritating to insert symbols? Once a question mark for example is chosen then the keyboard arrow disappears and you need to make 3 more taps to return to the keayboard. Is there a way to make changes in the standard keyboard and switch symbols you never gonna use with frequently used symbols like questions marks and exclamation marks?

Also, why are smilies only visible in MMS and not SMS messages?

[yoba]

Am I the only one finding it really irritating to insert symbols? Once a question mark for example is chosen then the keyboard arrow disappears and you need to make 3 more taps to return to the keayboard. Is there a way to make changes in the standard keyboard and switch symbols you never gonna use with frequently used symbols like questions marks and exclamation marks?

Also, why are smilies only visible in MMS and not SMS messages?

[edhibbert]

hiya,
as a long time lurker I'm loath to break cover but now I'm feeling inspired (and mildly drunk)... The Touch is a beautiful phone (esp when received for free!), well-made & intricate, but the half-hearted implementation of the UI is just ridiculous. Its 99% of the way to being perfect but its like a lack of imagination caused them to stumble at the final hurdle...

I've tried all the aforementioned text input programs and I'm happiest with HTC's own phonepad:
http://forum.xda-dev...ad.php?t=311290 (vanilla version, variants available)

Its free, works like a charm, based on T9 phone pad (i.e. large buttons, no ramming of a Qwerty into tiny screen-space) & integrates perfectly into UI (almost like it was designed to be there from the beginning   )

I'm also playing with SPB Mobile Shell which (tho a bit pricey) does a perfect job of extending the 'fat finger' interface throughout all the operations of the phone, making true one handed use possible.
Finally the little beast is what it supposed to be from the beginning!