Droid Keyboard Multitouch

[JonKyu]

Ugh... that sucks. Hopefully a dev will make one soon. Is 2.1 any better?

I really don't know what is meant by a multi-touch keyboard, as I'm not an ex-iPhoney. In fact, I too am a HUGE Swype lover. But for giggles, I just tested the Android keyboard in 2.1, and here's what I found. (Let me know if you want me to test it any other way.) If I press down on the letter "M" but then drag my finger up to "Q" and let go, it types a "Q". It seems to me whatever letter is the last one to be pressed before letting off the screen, that's the letter that gets typed. Make sense?

I think multi-touch would benefit if one thumb taps first "M" and then the other thumb taps "Q", then release both at the same time. If it registers "MQ" then it's multitouch?

I just had a quick thought though I think the combination of a non-multitouch enabled software (atleast "good" if it does so happens the keyboard has some multi-touch feature) plus touchscreen inaccuraces (I'm referencing a post about how the droid's touchscreen tracking was the worst among a few devices, the iPhone supposedly had the best) is what is attributing to my frustration with using the stock keyboard.

[Valkyrie67]

I think multi-touch would benefit if one thumb taps first "M" and then the other thumb taps "Q", then release both at the same time. If it registers "MQ" then it's multitouch?

I just had a quick thought though I think the combination of a non-multitouch enabled software (atleast "good" if it does so happens the keyboard has some multi-touch feature) plus touchscreen inaccuraces (I'm referencing a post about how the droid's touchscreen tracking was the worst among a few devices, the iPhone supposedly had the best) is what is attributing to my frustration with using the stock keyboard.

That's correct. Example: Press and hold "K" and it registers K. While still holding down "K", press another letter. If the other letter registers correctly, it is multitouch. But the Droid won't do that. You have to release your finger after each letter to have the next one register properly. Example video here.

[SwordOfWar]

The multi-touch they speak of is to allow you to type with two fingers without one finger messing up what the other finger is doing.

For example, on a real keyboard on a computer, you can press the "m" key and using another finger tap the "a" key...but even if you didn't fully release the "m" key, you will still get both keys inputted.

On the droid, if you don't fully release your finger off the first key before moving to the next one, it will not get both keys/letters.

In other words, it only works if one finger touches the screen at any given time. No "slack" for people to let one finger lag behind (slow to release one finger before using your other finger on the next letter)...

It is a very annoying problem for those who type quickly using two fingers/thumbs. This does not affect typing with one finger/hand, obviously.

To be totally honest, I've been training myself to use Swype better the past few days, and I'm loving it. So at this point its not as huge an issue for me.

There is another app on the market that gives the "swype" ability (its another keyboard app) but I forgot what it was called. You can use this if you are scared you don't get future Swype updates. I hear it doesn't correctly detect the words you type as accurately as Swype does.

But to be honest, as long as the phone Swype releases on is hacked, we should be able to get new Swype releases ported to the Droid, just like we got this version. So I don't see a big threat about updates just yet.

To be honest, the current version we have is very usuable anyway.

But as others have stated, I don't think there is a multi-touch keyboard replacement.

I still think Swype is the best thing for one-handed typing. If you do not know how to type quickly with two hands on a normal PC keyboard, it will take longer to learn to use Swype very well. But for those who already use a keyboard quickly with both hands (no one finger pecking stuff) Swype will seem decently natural after a few days of use.

One tip is to swype the "!" and "?" symbol buttons to the spacebar key. This is much faster than holding those buttons and waiting for the "!" or "?" symbol to appear. This was not mentioned in the tutorial mode.

[Valkyrie67]

Alright. But what's all this about the Swype update? There's a possibility you can't get the official Swype if you use the beta?