iCan't Type Well With My iPhone

Apple's iPhone is a breakthrough phone, no doubt. But its "soft" keyboard is causing "breaks" all of its own as iPhone users are forced to clean up typos caused by its unconventional keyboard.

That according to a new study from usability consulting firm User Centric. From the study:
The researchers found that although iPhone users entered text as fast as their counterparts, they made significantly more texting errors. IPhone users made 5.6 errors per message, while keyboard users made 2.1 mistakes per message and numeric phone typers made 2.4 mistakes.


That's a lot of typos, especially for a small business person who is trying to deliver a professional text or email message to a colleague or customer, rather than a teenager typing "lol" and "brb" to a friend.

Is it enough to turn users off the iPhone? Probably not, but the lack of a full, hard keypad is definitely one of the iPhone's shortcomings.

Source: SmartBiz.com

Mobile web 2.0 beta now available

First it was cell phones, then it was laptops, now, it's mobile web. Sure, we've had internet on phones and PDA's for a while, but using "mobile web 1.0" is like taking a cross country family trip in a Yugo -- sure you could do it but it's very painful. Apple has developed a usable, and actually enjoyable mobile web experience with the iPhone, and now the wi-fi enabled iPod Touch. If you spend much time in your mobile office and have haven't hopped on the iPhone wagon, there is a very good chance you may climb aboard the iPod Touch. Unlike the iPhone, the iPod Touch requires no contract with a cell phone provider to access the internet. I've had my iPod touch now for about a week and I spend about 25% less down time time on my MacBook Pro because of it. Instead of firing up my laptop to check my favorite blogs or social networks, I can whip out my iPod Touch and go to my favorite websites just as quickly and easily. I even left my laptop at home when I had a half hour to burn at Caribou Coffee -- it was just as easy to check my email and websites on my iPod. Have you heard that the iPod Touch also has a sync-able calendar (iCal) and it can store and play 8-16 gigs worth of videos and MP3s? You heard it hear first -- sooner than later when you walk in to Starbucks you will see a quarter to a half of the laptop users reading and doing work on ultra portable web devices like the iPod touch. There are even rumors that Apple is going to bring back the ahead-of-it's-time Newton -- which I will be first in line to grab if they do...