how will you input data?

[cardfan]

The kb dock? That's limited. Not to mention an accident waiting to happen in my household with the 3yr old running around. Doesn't look that sturdy and you do have to touch that screen.

BT keyboard? Still need a better dock IMO. It's better than the first option though.

The screen itself? I think this will be rough. It's too wide in portait for thumb typing. Landscape requires a lap or playing folding games with the iPad cover. Even then...

I did think of something that could be nice. A way to use the iphone to input data. I won't lug a kb around. But i do lug an iphone. And i can type pretty fast on it.

 

[Rene Ritchie]

That would be a nifty idea. I'm sure we'll see a numeric pad iPhone app for iPad soon enough...

 

[BriDroid]

I've already got the BT keyboard on the way and the Apple case also ordered (as I patiently await my iPad). I figure the case will prop it up nicely while I peck away. I'm interested in seeing how well the on-screen keyboard works. Cardfan, your idea of tethering your iPhone to iPad for keypad support is a good idea.

 

[sting7k]

The kb dock? That's limited. Not to mention an accident waiting to happen in my household with the 3yr old running around. Doesn't look that sturdy and you do have to touch that screen.

BT keyboard? Still need a better dock IMO. It's better than the first option though.

The screen itself? I think this will be rough. It's too wide in portait for thumb typing. Landscape requires a lap or playing folding games with the iPad cover. Even then...

I did think of something that could be nice. A way to use the iphone to input data. I won't lug a kb around. But i do lug an iphone. And i can type pretty fast on it.

Would you not feel the least bit ridiculous sitting there typing an email/note/forum post in Safari/etc. on your iPad with your iPhone as an input device?

 

[msm0511]

I'm using my Air Mouse app to type this from my iPhone to my MacBook. Could they just not do an app for using the iPhone to do the same thing for the iPad?

 

[MikeCase]

I'm using my Air Mouse app to type this from my iPhone to my MacBook. Could they just not do an app for using the iPhone to do the same thing for the iPad?

That would require a receiving app running on the iPad in the background unless it was specifically built into the OS. I doubt there will be anyway of controlling an iPad from an iPhone.

I'll be using they onscreen keyboard since I won't be doing much typing on it. If I do, I can just pair my BT keyboard to it temporarily to get the job done.

 

[Big Dookie]

Yeah, any basic bluetooth keyboard will work with it, so that's likely what I'll be using at home and the office. Out and about, the keyboard looks plenty big enough in landscape mode that I could touch-type with it laying flat on whatever surface I'm using.

Other than the idea of it being a numeric keypad like Rene said, the idea of using an iPhone to input data this way seems kind of silly.

 

[msm0511]

That would require a receiving app running on the iPad in the background unless it was specifically built into the OS.

Doh!!! I'm an idiot. Didn't even think about the multitasking aspect.

 

[MikeCase]

the idea of using an iPhone to input data this way seems kind of silly.

I agree. The iPad is meant to be held in the hand, why use another handheld device to use as input?

Doh!!! I'm an idiot. Didn't even think about the multitasking aspect.

Yeah it's easy to forget that it's running the iPhone OS and can't multitask like a desktop

 

[Lady Kaede]

I'd use the soft KB in landscape (I'm crazy that way). Sure, I'd need a table, but I'd need that for dock/BT keyboard, too. If I can get fast on the iPhone, how much faster could I get on something close to "real" size?

 

[Leanna Lofte]

Most of the time that I'd be using an iPad will be when I'm sitting down relaxing anyway, so I'll probably use landscape mode on my lap like Steve did during the keynote.

 

[GinoDotCom]

I don't know about you guys, but I don't plan on doing much typing at all on the ipad!

Otherwise, the Apple case seems to give the ipad about a 25degree tilt which will work when placing it on a flat table.

 

[Fairoasis2]

I just ordered the wireless keyboard. I had ordered the dock when I placed my pre-order for the 3G thinking that the keyboard/dock combo would be too stationary. At least now, I'll be getting SOMETHING from Apple this weekend.

 

[BriDroid]

I just ordered the wireless keyboard. I had ordered the dock when I placed my pre-order for the 3G thinking that the keyboard/dock combo would be too stationary. At least now, I'll be getting SOMETHING from Apple this weekend.

Yes, something from Apple indeed. I'll get my wireless keyboard tomorrow! Now I only need await my Apple case and iPad itself

 

[buddyclub94]

i have a friend who ordered the wireless keyboard from apple but didn't worked, don't know why, he just returned it for an exchange...
let you guys know,

 

[Readover]

Don't you guys remember? Steve said that it's a dream to type on

i think it might be akward to begin with, but when it's in my lap I think it'll be faster than my iPhone for sure.

 

[whmurray]

The kb dock? That's limited. Not to mention an accident waiting to happen in my household with the 3yr old running around. Doesn't look that sturdy and you do have to touch that screen.

BT keyboard? Still need a better dock IMO. It's better than the first option though.

The screen itself? I think this will be rough. It's too wide in portait for thumb typing. Landscape requires a lap or playing folding games with the iPad cover. Even then...

I did think of something that could be nice. A way to use the iphone to input data. I won't lug a kb around. But i do lug an iphone. And i can type pretty fast on it.

Can you say "Dragon?" The last user of the last iPad will use speech as the primary form of "input," as opposed to "control." Typewriters disappeared in a generation after the introduction of the PC. The countdown has already begun on the keyboard; it started with the first iPhone.

 

[cardfan]

Can you say "Dragon?" The last user of the last iPad will use speech as the primary form of "input," as opposed to "control." Typewriters disappeared in a generation after the introduction of the PC. The countdown has already begun on the keyboard; it started with the first iPhone.

Don't see that happening

 

[BriDroid]

It's likely that most people will always want to have some physical interaction with input... like typing on a keyboard, whether it's a physical keyboard or virtual one... particularly if you are in an environment where speaking isn't practical or appropriate.

 

[whmurray]

Don't see that happening

I am sure that you don't. The young believe that the world has always been as they found it and that it will always be that way. That is why you need the old.

When was the last time you saw anyone use a typewriter? Dictate a letter, except in the movies?

There is a scene in the movie Chariots of Fire, set in 1920, in which one of the athletes apologizes in a letter to his parents that he had neglected his shorthand to pursue his sport. Do you know anyone who can take shorthand, much less any elite college student that studies it?

At the 1964 World's Fair, IBM demonstrated a machine that could recognize numbers, even carefully hand written ones. It was a marvel for demonstrating at a fair. The most imaginative of those in audience could not have foreseen TWAIN, much less $100- scanners.

Think of how much different the current iPhone is from the one introduced just three and a half years ago. Did you imagine Dragon on it? Imagine what the last iPad will look like. Imagine Dragon on that iPad. Dragon is only a decade or so old. Try to imagine what speech to text will be like in a generation. It will wean us away from the keyboard.

The generation before mine dictated; a few composed on yellow pads. I am sure that, while you can read the words, you cannot really appreciate what that means. In part it means that they could not compose at a keyboard as you and I do. Their brains did not work that way.

While I can speak to large audiences in coherent sentences and paragraphs, I cannot dictate. My brain does not work that way.

You can trust me when I tell you (I have no reason to mislead you) that a generation that literally cut its teeth on the iPod Touch and the DSLite, and grew up with Air Books and iPads will be different from you when they grow up. I know that you cannot "see it happening," though it is happening under your nose, any more than you can see grass grow, but it happens nonetheless.