Improving text input: N810 with its hardware keyboard

Continuing on the OS2008 and N810 improvements, we added a hardware keyboard on the device and tweaked our input methods to take advantage of this. Of course we are pleased if the on-screen input methods were already sufficient for some users – hey, they’re not so bad after all 😉 – but there are clear benefits of having tactile hardware keys. The N810 keyboard slideout mechanics are also quite impressive: to achieve an even thinner device with an additional keyboard is a nice feat. All the on-screen input methods are still available for the N800 upgraders. I personally find my N810 much more useful because of the hardware keyboard.

We also believe that the question of text input isn’t about 100% on-screen or hardware key use: that’s why we added the option of utilizing a part of the touch screen whilst using the hardware keyboard at the same time. You don’t have to use these features: feel free to type whole words, but right now you can also select word completions and next word predictions, quite conveniently without moving your hands too much. You can turn these on-screen features also off if you prefer to have all the space for the application.

An issue that has been quite often commented is the changed placement of the rocker key, from the front cover of the N800 to the keyboard part of the N810. It wasn’t an easy decision, but ultimately we feel that it was the right one. With that we could make the overall device width smaller – and that’s a definite advantage – and provide cursor key usage for actually inputting text. Otherwise we would have needed to duplicate this functionality on the keyboard. And it’s a part of the bigger development towards touch screen usability and finger usability. Not having the rocker there doesn’t give us or any developer an excuse to not to focus on improving the touch screen and finger usage.

Hey, we aren’t yet fully there, but the direction is certainly clear. We certainly appreciate all the positive comments as well as the criticisms and suggestions for future improvements. If you have any thoughts about the keyboard or the text input methods, feel free to comment here.

—
roope