AppleInsider › Forums › Mobile › iPad › iPad - Tiny keyboard!
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

iPad - Tiny keyboard!

post #1 of 15
4/2/10 at 8:41pm
Thread Starter 
See here, it's about 1/2 the size of a netbook keyboard.


http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim//20...YC_540x361.JPG


Conclusion? If you got big hands and use more than two fingers to type, the onscreen keyboard is going to suck eggs.

David Pogue said the touch screen keyboard in landscape mode was "barely usable".



Yes there is a optional keyboard stand, but it requires a desk.

Yes likely the optional Bluetooth keyboard will work with the iPad, but now your supporting two devices on your lap or other uneven surface.



Yes there is the plain stand, but one has to set that on a desk or coffee table and then the bluetooth keyboard in their lap.

Guess that could work.


Edit: I noticed later that there are less keys on the iPad keyboard, giving it the appearance it was tiny. The size of the keys appear to be the similar.

Edit: Edited the title from "iPad - keyboard Tiny" to "iPad - keyboard has less keys"

Reason iPad's keyboard is smaller as it has less keys, the key size seems to be about the same as normal.
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 15
4/2/10 at 8:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpotOn View Post

See here, it's about 1/2 the size of a netbook keyboard.


http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim//20...YC_540x361.JPG


Conclusion? If you got big hands and use more than two fingers to type, the onscreen keyboard is going to suck eggs.

Yes there is a optional keyboard stand, but it requires a desk.

Yes likely the optional Bluetooth keyboard will work with the iPad, but now your supporting two devices on your lap or other uneven surface.

David Pogue said the touch screen keyboard in landscape mode was "barely usable".

And the iPhone's keyboard is only a fraction of that, yet it rocks...

I'm ready for my iPad!!!
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 15
4/3/10 at 2:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Postulant View Post

And the iPhone's keyboard is only a fraction of that, yet it rocks...

I'm ready for my iPad!!!

Yeah, I don't find the iPhone keyboard to be an issue at all but it will depend on how you type. I hold the iPhone in one hand and type with the other. The iPad would be different in that you'd try to type on it like a laptop keyboard but then how do you support the display?

It will be harder to do one hand typing while holding it upright due to the larger area to cover. They'll have to get it in people's hands to see what the keyboard will be like and at least it's just software so they can change it.

I was hoping they'd make the landscape keyboard the same size as the portrait one but with a numpad so that you don't have to tap an extra button to get to numbers.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 15
4/3/10 at 3:15am
Q to P on the iPad in landscape mode is about 7 inches. Q to P on a MacBook Pro is 7 1/4 inches. That's not "half the size".
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 15
4/3/10 at 3:30am
I'm not going to type a 10 page paper on the damn thing. It will be more than fine for email, surfing the web, reading books, and watching movies...

Touch screens are the future (anyone seen Star Trek?). Get used to them now...they're here to stay.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 15
4/3/10 at 5:21am
It is better than the iPhone's and I have no problem with the iPhone's.

iPod nano 5th Gen 8GB Orange, iPad 3rd Gen WiFi 32GB White
MacBook Pro 15" Core i7 2.66GHz 8GB RAM 120GB Intel 320M
Mac mini Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz 8GB RAM, iPhone 5 32GB Black

Reply

iPod nano 5th Gen 8GB Orange, iPad 3rd Gen WiFi 32GB White
MacBook Pro 15" Core i7 2.66GHz 8GB RAM 120GB Intel 320M
Mac mini Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz 8GB RAM, iPhone 5 32GB Black

Reply
post #7 of 15
4/3/10 at 7:50am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tonton View Post

Q to P on the iPad in landscape mode is about 7 inches. Q to P on a MacBook Pro is 7 1/4 inches. That's not "half the size".


Ok, after zooming in, the iPad keyboard is about half the size of the black computer because it has about half the keys. The iPad's keys look about the same size, but placed closer together.


Still though, this is only good for two finger typists and it's really detrimental to becoming a good touch typist, which requires a lot of repetition, watching the screen and not hunting and pecking.

It's good Apple included a regular keyboard though.

I wonder if there is a way to turn off the touchscreen keyboard as to sort of force youngsters into the correct touch typing habit?


*places Ireland on ignore list*
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 15
4/3/10 at 9:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ireland View Post

Good.

Lucky.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 15
4/3/10 at 5:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpotOn View Post

Edit: I noticed later that there are less keys on the iPad keyboard, giving it the appearance it was tiny. The size of the keys appear to be the similar.

So why not edit the rest of the crap out of your original post?

It's easy to see in that photo the keys are at least as big as on the netbook's. Other keys would be accessible by tapping for the second keyboard, just like on the iPhone...
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 15
4/3/10 at 5:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by s.metcalf View Post

So why not edit the rest of the crap out of your original post?

It's easy to see in that photo the keys are at least as big as on the netbook's.

Didn't Steve Jobs' say that one major reason that netbooks are rubbish is that they have "tiny keyboards"?

Even if the keys of the iPad keyboard are the same size as a netbook's, that would still fit Steve Jobs' definition of "tiny keyboard".

A lot of people around here support Jobs' notion that netbooks are useless (in part due to keyboard size), and yet are ready to endlessly defend the iPad keyboard?

You can't have it both ways. Either both netbook and iPad keyboards are too small, or they're not.
it's = it is / it has, its = belonging to it.
Reply
it's = it is / it has, its = belonging to it.
Reply
post #11 of 15
4/3/10 at 5:43pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by s.metcalf View Post

So why not edit the rest of the crap out of your original post?


I said what I said and I can't edit the topic headline.


Quote:
It's easy to see in that photo the keys are at least as big as on the netbook's. Other keys would be accessible by tapping for the second keyboard, just like on the iPhone...


Sorry, I didn't have my glasses on when I made the original post.
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 15
4/4/10 at 11:05am
Well I have what many people have said the be bear paws for hands and I have no trouble with the keyboard at all. I think it is just the right size.
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 15
4/4/10 at 11:20am
Thread Starter 
note: got a chance to edit the title headline.

Why sometimes it allows me to do it and then other times it's doesn't is beyond me.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 15
4/4/10 at 11:25am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpotOn View Post

note: got a chance to edit the title headline.

Why sometimes it allows me to do it and then other times it's doesn't is beyond me.



Nope didn't take in the forum column, guess it's stuck on "iPad - Tiny Keyboard"


Sorry folks, you don't need to post any further, let this thread die and disappear down by not responding.

Thanks.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 15
4/4/10 at 1:57pm
Typically Pogue's reviews are laughingly inaccurate. If you want to read a thoughtful in-depth review of the iPad, check out Andy Inhatko's review in the Chicago Sun Times or on Andy's website at www.cwob.com.

I stopped reading Pogue nearly twenty years ago when he was writing "reviews" for MacWorld.

FWIW...

Mark
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: iPad
AppleInsider › Forums › Mobile › iPad › iPad - Tiny keyboard!