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SoftKeyboard posts

iPhone vs DROID multitouch keyboard showdown (video)

by Nilay Patel posted Nov 5th 2009 @ 6:31PM

I just dashed off this quick video for my Twitter followers to demonstrate that the DROID doesn't have a multitouch soft keyboard, and pretty much instantly realized that I should probably share it with everyone else, since we've been getting a lot of questions about it. Long story short, while Android 2.0 and the DROID's hardware support multitouch, the device itself doesn't do multitouch out-of-the-box, and the soft keyboard suffers mightily for it. Why it's missing is certainly open for debate, but for now just know that no amount of hoping, wishing, or booze is going to make the stock keyboard register more than one press at a time. Don't despair, though -- while I'm not a fan, Chris Ziegler absolutely flies on this same keyboard on his DROID. Videos after the break.

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Android to get touchscreen keyboard soon-ish

by Nilay Patel posted Oct 23rd 2008 @ 3:19PM

The G1 certainly has a lot going for it, but we were a bit taken aback by its lack of an on-screen keyboard -- even a short text requires you to flip the screen out and hit the physical keys. That looks like it might change soon, though -- a rough roadmap posted on the new Android source repository has soft keyboard support penciled in for the the first three months of next year. It's not a lot to go on -- the timeline is described as "initial thoughts" and subject to change as the community gets involved -- but it's good to see that El Goog is already thinking about improving the Android user experience. Now, any coders out there want to pitch in and make this happen even sooner?

[Via HTC Source]

HTC Touch Diamond soft keyboard comes to other WinMo phones

by Nilay Patel posted May 13th 2008 @ 10:44PM

We weren't too thrilled with the Touch Diamond's resistive touchscreen when we got a chance to play with HTC's new hotness, but if you're envious of that updated soft keyboard, you're in luck: the Diamond's ROMs have already been pulled apart and the .cab files are just a click away. Installation is said to be slow and you'll have to jump through some hoops to switch the default language from Italian, but things will eventually work out for you -- although we doubt anyone's going to be nearly as impressed as if you had a real Touch Diamond.

[Via MobilitySite]