First look: iOS 9's new cursor-controlling gesture keyboard on iPad

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  • Reply 21 of 51
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  • Reply 22 of 51
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    dklebedev wrote: »
    Whats any of this has to do with stupid cursor control? On a side note, people want all sorts of useless crap. Of all the feedback I get on my service only like 5% is something to consider. What's the Simpsons episode where Homer designs a car. Nails it.

    Maybe it's useless to you. I didn't find anything that they announced to be useless. In fact I can't wait for PIP and split screen.
  • Reply 23 of 51
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,312member

    It looks like a cool feature to have.  I don't own a Mac but my Brother and Dad both have Macs with Wireless Keyboards and Trackpads.  I have no idea how to use the trackpad.  I've tried, but I just don't know how to use it.  I've used a mouse for so long.  For those that use a Mac with a trackpad all the time, this should be second nature for you.  

     

    So how long to you thing it'll take Samsung add this feature to TouchWiz?  

  • Reply 24 of 51
    michael scripmichael scrip Posts: 1,916member
    It works very well on iPhone, at least on iPhone 6 Plus

    Oh cool! I thought it was iPad-only.
  • Reply 25 of 51
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    jbdragon wrote: »

    So how long to you thing it'll take Samsung add this feature to TouchWiz?  

    Who cares? Samsung had split screen apps and PIP before Apple did.
  • Reply 26 of 51
    rogifan wrote: »
    I will reserve judgment until I'm able to try out. But from the demo Craig did it looked really cool and the audience was excited.

    During the demo it acted unreliably when switching between keyboard and trackpad modes and Craig ended up accidentally inserting an entire word he didn't mean to due to a mix of that and autocorrect.

    he was very slick though and moved on as if nothing had happened.

    watch it again, looks like they need to work on it a bit more yet.

    (I also hate the iOS automatic paragraph selection mentioned by others. it is a bane that needs to be gotten rid of)
  • Reply 27 of 51
    Oh cool! I thought it was iPad-only.

    I just notice that, at least on iPhone, once you started with 2 fingers on the keyboard, you can use the whole screen as a trackpad, not just the keyboard area
  • Reply 28 of 51

    What I've found on iPad Mini is that after your first move the cursor, selection mode is already turned on. Too bad if you didn't get the cursor in the correct place the first time. I would also much prefer a button that turned selection/highlight mode on and off (akin to holding down Shift on a keyboard). I think ability to have multiple attempts to position the cursor before entering selection mode could be particularly important for customers who use accessibility features.

  • Reply 29 of 51
    What I've found on iPad Mini is that after your first move the cursor, selection mode is already turned on. Too bad if you didn't get the cursor in the correct place the first time. I would also much prefer a button that turned selection/highlight mode on and off (akin to holding down Shift on a keyboard). I think ability to have multiple attempts to position the cursor before entering selection mode could be particularly important for customers who use accessibility features.
    On my tests, it only selects if it has something selected before, otherwise it just moves the cursor
  • Reply 30 of 51
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Fred Cintra View Post

     



    It works very well on iPhone, at least on iPhone 6 Plus




    Interesting. I figured your fingers would get in the way of seeing and making selections, but it doesn't sound like that's an issue?

  • Reply 31 of 51
    I think coming up with the two finger temporary trackpad was a stroke of genius. Plain and simple. I hope whoever came up with it got a well deserved bonus and raise.
  • Reply 32 of 51
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    rogifan wrote: »
    iOS and cursor. Wow. Who would have thought just a few years ago. Also the quick type keyboard has a paperclip icon on the toolbar. I wonder if we'll be able to browse for attachments outside of iCloud Drive? Or maybe this is a precursor to some sort of exposed file system in iOS. That would really be a shocker.

    unlikely. just watched some of the WWDC sessions and in one am an iCloud manager said something about iCloud files being different in iOS and OS X because in-app file systems make sense for the iOS platform.
  • Reply 33 of 51
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    Even if it works, it will be slow and unresponsive. iOS is built around multitouch, not around the mouse. Recall that even on the Macbook trackpad, a "tap" is slower than a hardware "click". There are instances where a touch is not sensitive enough to make precise selections, such as selecting cells in a spreadsheet, but a keyboard hiding half of the screen severely reduces this fonctionality. Then there is the problem of controlling the scroll. Those who cannot even control a simple loupe with their real fingers are not expected to be able to control the scroll of the whole screen with a virtual mouse. They will then scream for scroll bars... even for desktop style windows on a touch device...

    Boring...

    so how long have you been using it? oh, not at all. got it.
  • Reply 34 of 51
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    nolamacguy wrote: »
    unlikely. just watched some of the WWDC sessions and in one am an iCloud manager said something about iCloud files being different in iOS and OS X because in-app file systems make sense for the iOS platform.

    Well there is an iCloud Drive app in iOS 9 though it is turned off by default.
  • Reply 35 of 51
    barthrhbarthrh Posts: 141member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by dklebedev View Post





    What any of this have to do with stupid cursor control?



    On a side note, people want all sorts of useless crap. Of all the feedback I get on my service only like 5% is something to consider. Watch the Simpsons episode where Homer designs a car. Nails it.



    He brings it up because some guy earlier on brought up Forstall as "the good 'ol days". You may want to ask him why Forstall has crept into the conversation.

  • Reply 36 of 51
    barthrhbarthrh Posts: 141member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by dklebedev View Post



    I hate this as much as copy-paste buttons, PIP, dual windows, custom keyboads, blur, parallax. Useful for power users? Screw that. What the good in a feature only a fraction of users will use? If my designer started getting ideas like that I would beat him with an iron.

    Loved Forstall cause he was strict man. Non of those spazy-glazy belling whistles.



    I use custom keyboards every day. My typing, especially one-handed or in a bouncing taxi, has never been faster. Just because you have not found a use for a feature does not mean it's useless. This trackpad-on-keyboard feature is very helpful and is in fact more relevant to power users -- not the "I'm Joe Techy and better than you" power users, but the ones who use their iPads for real work, typing real documents of material length. I have little doubt that it will make them - the true power users - more productive. Personally, I was really hoping for gesture-based cursor control (i.e. nudge the cursor one character/one line because again it's hard to do in some situational circumstances) but this may be better yet.

  • Reply 37 of 51
    laytechlaytech Posts: 340member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by dklebedev View Post



    I hate this as much as copy-paste buttons, PIP, dual windows, custom keyboads, blur, parallax. Useful for power users? Screw that. What the good in a feature only a fraction of users will use? If my designer started getting ideas like that I would beat him with an iron.

    Loved Forstall cause he was strict man. Non of those spazy-glazy belling whistles.

     

    Forstall liked childish graphics, remember that awful shredder graphic in Passport, so windows. Let's face it what is offered is functional and works, you can't please everyone but certainly Apple please and satisfy the vast majority. Look after the majority, rather than trying to please the minority would obviously make sense me personally. 

  • Reply 38 of 51
    That's a pretty neat feature. Hopefully there will be other features not mentioned in the article. http://5starblog.com/tag/steve-jobs/
  • Reply 39 of 51
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