Battle of the Typing: iPhone, Treo, WritingPad, PC

Paramount to any other features of the iPhone, the lack-of-keypad is what distinguished it from the rest of the market. This feature, however, brought much criticism to the iPhone, for many believed it would be far more difficult to type.

They said compared to the Palm Treo and regular computer keyboard, the iPhone's "on-screen" typing method would be a failure.

Furthermore, with the release of "WritingPad", an innovative typing application which allows you to draw lines instead of punch keys, brought an entirely new option to typing on the iPhone (well, atleast as far as notes and email go).

That being said, we did a typing speed and accuracy test among:

• Computer Keyboard
• iPhone
• Palm Treo
• Writing Pad

Check out the results. (note: results are in the same order as above)

In order to ensure the accuracy of the typing test, we used the following standard 46 word typing test paragraph:

Pork ear goes let far she not star bit rat bad men. Low pox lemon rap gob whale pal bee apple vet boy air lot hog? Hum box said nag fish cop laugh dot yet zap hoe bad zoo bug image run fix hit hum cow!

The results:

		Percent Error: 0%
		Percent Error: 4%
		Percent Error: 7%
		Percent Error: 22%

As you can tell, the iPhone is not only more accurate than the Treo, but it's faster too. And although Writing Pad is a brilliant application, they still got a bit more work to do if they want their application to be practical.

And although the computer keyboard still (obviously) takes down first place, it's safe to say that all the iPhone critics were wrong about the keyboard being impractical on the iPhone and iPhone 3G.

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See also:

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• VNC Mocha Lite Allows You To Remotely Connect Your iPhone To Your Desktop Computer


• Beat Maker for iPhone by Intua - Demo and Review


• How to get Playboy and Penthouse Free On Your iPhone


• All The iPhone 3G Cases

Comments

[Dwayne]

It's not that it's impractical, it's that *I just don't like it*. I don't like "typing" without tactile sensation. That's really where it begins and ends. I like *feeling* each key - especially if I don't have to look while I'm doing it. It takes a bit of practice, but after a while with the treo, you don't even need to look at what you're pressing, you can feel your way around. Without that tactile feedback, I'd always have to be paying attention to what my fingers are doing, and while that may be fine for some, that's just flat out the opposite of fine for me.

[Dwayne]

Addendum: I think the iPhone is pretty snazzy in some ways, but for how *I* use my phone (which is to say, pretty much for nothing other than texts and emails and appointments), it's a rather silly option just to try to fit in. I'd like a more polished phone, don't get me wrong, and the iPhone is nothing if not polished, but give me tactile feedback, or give me death.

[Jack]

Did you do each test more than once and then average the scores together? You should do them each at least three times or your scores could simply be statistical outliers and therefore your theory is not proven... Six times if you actually want the data to be scientifically valid.

I am interested in the results. I'm considering purchasing an iPhone, and currently have an HTC touch. I've found that typing on it (with a different soft keyboard than the one it comes with) is actually not that bad, and I'm sure it would be better with an iPHone, but I'm interested in how much better...

Anyway, thanks for this article. Let me know if you do re-do the tests and average the results.

Thanks,
.Jack

[Jason]

the iPhone is "faster" because it guess the word you are trying to spell. So the actual typing isn't faster. If palm came up with predeictive re t software then it would be even faster. I have a treo 755p. It's faster and I can type without looking at the phone. This message however is being typed on my iPod touch...LOL

[phoenix]

How this compare to Black Berry 8800 and Perl?

[Auzy]

Comparing Palms dodgy keyboard with iphones dodgy touch keyboard doesn't help much. Compare a better mobile with a bigger slideout keyboard. Such as HTC's Touch pro. Palm is dying anyway mostly.

http://www.htc.com/www/product.aspx?id=49518

[Sebhelyesfarku]

Wow, so on a dumbass iPhone blog the iPhone is the best? What a surprise.

[Bryan]

@Jack look at what they type you really thing that the iphone software guessed those words? so its all typed out.
But yes I would like to see more stats if each user of the phone was new to the phone or if each owned one or not...personally I enjoy apple's projects from the fit and finish and ease of use but my Q9c is amazing but I do have to say that I am less likely to drive and try using my phone if I would have to look at it :) (thats a good thing! learned from my touch)

[zeke]

I love WritingPad. As a non-touch typist, it allows me to enter text much faster on my iPhone. My only complaints are that it doesn't work system-wide (only notes and email) and it tends to crash with long docs (needs an auto-save function).

[Marcellus King]

I have to admit, I wasn't too enthusiastic about the on screen keyboard that the iphone uses. Coming from a Treo, I was spoiled with tactile feedback. That being said, after using the iphone for about a week, I had found that I was faster on the iphone keyboard than the treo. And it wasn't because of the auto completion either.

The only thing that I don't like is the autocorrect, because it corrects words or slang that I don't want to correct, and since I typically don't look at the screen while I type, I sometimes don't notice until I hit the send button on my sms.

[Virgil]

So many things wrong about this....

For starters, N=1, i.e. this is not a statistically relevant test with multiple different people (with different levels of manual dexterity) trying it out. The previous exposure of the testers to the various platforms was also not revealed (HINT - betcha the iPhone user had used one before!)

Second, writing pad is no big deal. ALL Treos have been able to do this for years. And contrary to popular belief, the iPhone was not the first phone with a touch-screen. Again, Treo got there 4 years ago.

Third, "virtual" keyboards are a joke, since they take up valuable screen real estate. Better to keep the keys and have the whole screen for the content you're viewing.

Anyway, keep trying apple fanboi.

[Dan Needle]

Your final comment really sums up this article.
"And although the computer keyboard still (obviously) takes down first place, it's safe to say that all the iPhone critics were wrong about the keyboard being impractical on the iPhone and iPhone 3G."

No, your test shows nothing of the kind. Learn how to conduct tests properly, with objectivity and true comparisons and maybe I'll take you seriously.

[Davejay]

There's only one reason why people "need" tactile feedback while typing on a phone: you can't look at your phone while driving. You have to be able to "feel" the keys in order to keep your eyes on the road while getting a headstart on email during your commute. This is unbelievably dangerous. Thus I think iPhone is doing the world a service by making it impossible to text and drive.

Pull over and look at your damn phone to type.

[Ken]

"Wow, so on a dumbass iPhone blog the iPhone is the best? What a surprise."

Wow, so someone that apparently doesn't like the iPhone also doesn't like these results? What a surprise.

[Jeremy]

This is just idiotic. As someone who used Treos extensively (as my primary phone) for several years, and who has also used an iPhone for the past year or so (however long it's been out; again, as my primary phone), I can absolutely say that the Treo's keyboard is faster. The lack of tactile feedback on the iPhone is a HUGE detriment, and I type MUCH MUCH slower on my iPhone, even after a year of use, than I ever did on my Treo. I'm not saying I don't like my iPhone (pretty much everything except typing and playing emulated NES games is better on the iPhone than on the Treo), but the fact is you're (intentionally or not) lying and slandering the Treo's typing speed.

[blake]

Your test is a sham. You used a paragraph that makes no sense. We are faster at typing logical sentences that make sense than just random words. If you redid that test, I bet the Palm would be much much faster.

And BTW, the Palm?? Come on, Blackberry owns the smart phone market. It was all the corporate folks with Blackberry's that made all the noise about the iPhone's keyboard.

You really should have tested the Blackberry. I can type nearly as fast as on a keyboard. I am about 50% as fast on the iPhone as I am on a Blackberry.

Do your test again and I bet your results are different. Of course if you did the test right, you wouldn't have an article to write as your results would be uninteresting.

[feroz]

This test has absolutely no valid statistical basis.
To accurately test it out you need to take a group of people, sufficiently large who have NO previous experience on any of the models or equal experience on ALL of them, and then try it out multiple times, etc. etc. etc.

[What!?]

How can you come to such a conclusion with such sketchy results? I just ran the Treo test and I got 1 minute flat. Does that mean the Treo's typing is better than the iPhone? Not necessarily, but it just negates whatever you said.

[eddie]

Well, why not add some more symbols and numbers in that test phrase... or even

Treo, Blackberry and HTC users (with full qwerty keyboards) should have an easier time typing day-to-day messages and short emails in.

[James]

"Third, "virtual" keyboards are a joke, since they take up valuable screen real estate. Better to keep the keys and have the whole screen for the content you're viewing.

Anyway, keep trying apple fanboi."

Keyboards take up valuable screen real estate. I know, let's opt for a physical keyboard with a screen that's half the size!

The entire reason for having a virtual keyboard is that it is only on screen when it needs to be.

Keep trying.

[Mark]

Couldn't Apple just put this argument to rest by supporting the horizontal keyboard in email???

[Brad]

terrible test.

Just typed that in 18 seconds on my Treo WM6.0. Maybe you just suck at typing, not my fault

[Ted Mueller]

You should use proper english text for the test. iPhone corrects words/spelling based on full sentence grammar. The gibberish you're using subverts this and reduces iPhone's ability to correct.

[AC]

So I just performed this three times in a row on my Pal Treo 755p.

Time 1: 1:13
Accuracy 1: 98% (3 characters missed out of 201)

Time 2: 0:56
Accuracy 2: 99% (1 character missed)

Time 3: 0:55
Accuracy 3: 100% (0 missed)

Way to go Fanboy, it's amazing what familiarity with your device can do.

[JB]

I used the treo for years and loved it. I typed pretty fast too. I've had the iphone for a few months and I was definitely skeptical about the keyboard when I bought it, because I liked tactical feedback. It took me about a week to get used to the virtual keyboard, but I definitely type faster with it now. There is no debate about what's better and what's faster. It's all personal preference. I'd rather have the larger screen than a tactile keyboard so it's works absolutely great for me.