archie
Well-known member
I think typing may be easier than you believe. Using a Treo, your finger actually slows as it progresses through the pressing of a key. This provides for a tactile feedback but does slow the overall process to some degree. Sure you may get a somewhat satisfying clicking of sorts; but compare that to tapping without any need to fully depress a key.As far as the iPhone is concerned, I can't imaging typing anything on a touch screen. I never type on the Treo's touch screen (onscreen dialing).
I think once the "WOW" factor wears off, the iPhone will be a status symbol for the young people, but I don't think it can be a workhorse unit for people who need to type in a lot of data. I'm not saying Treos are perfect, but I don't think the iPhone is competing for the same customer as the Treo.
So with the iPhone there are no physical keys requiring a mechanical activation by a relatively precise placement of your finger as with the Treo (or BlackBerry or Motorola Q or etc., etc.). Instead, as your finger approaches the screen, you are presented with a visual que consisting of an enlarging of the anticipated key that you are aiming for. And then the process continues and a split second later, your finger actually hits the screen providing for a touch based feedback. The whole process is really more smooth AND in an unforeseen manner, actually gives the user a key to hit that is virtually larger than what is physically present.
Part of what adds to the smoothness of typing on the iPhone is recognized when you realize that you do not actually need to fully depress a key for that clicking sensation/feedback.
Sorry for this rather vague attempt at trying to explain the difference of typing on a Treo as compared to typing on an iPhone. It is the best I can do to try an explain a rather "hard to explain", and perhaps even abstract, concept.