Ideas & Opinions
The science of mobile QWERTY keyboards… discuss
By Mike on 01 July 2009
GLOBAL – At the weekend Steve Litchfield over at All About Symbian posted an interesting piece entitled In search of the QWERTY king, in which he goes about exactly that.
Read on to find out more about how he got on, and voice your opinions on the science of QWERTY keyboards right here.
Steve’s criteria in his search for the finest and noblest of QWERTY keyboards was simply as follows:
“I wanted to get to the bottom of which smartphone keyboard, in the Symbian world, at least, was the best, in terms of size, feel, functionality and efficiency. Oh, and I wasn’t allowed to include any obsolete models”
I agree, a decent set of real-world measuring sticks. And in Steve’s dissection of a number of QWERTY handsets including, among ‘others’, the E90, E75, E61i, E71 and N97, is indeed thorough from a numbers perspective – he highlights some interesting (if rather unusual) figures, such as “Distance from centre of ‘Q’ key to centre of ‘P’ key (mm)” and “Key travel (approx, mm, +/- 0.2mm)”, which then are thrown into a rather strange formula to determine its overall score. Now, hats off to Steve for having a stab at creating a set of rules to determine how good a QWERTY keyboard is, and his findings are again interesting – he highlights six devices (five of which are Nokias) with the E90 coming up top, followed by the E75, then the E61i, and the E71 in 5th, followed by N97. What do you reckon?
But can a great QWERTY keyboard really be assessed and measured as successful (or not) by a formula? For example, how do you measure how tactile a QWERTY keyboard is? Or the curve of each key? What do you think? As always, share your opinions below.
Related posts:
- Poll results: Touchscreen & QWERTY combo voted your perfect set-up
- Video poll – What’s your perfect mobile input interface? QWERTY, touchscreen, voice command…?
- Let’s discuss Nokia’s Ovi Store
Tags | E61i, e71, E75, E90, eseries, N97, nokia n97, nseries
July 1st, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Tactility has always been and will always be a black art. For me the soft feel an slight raising of the keys on the N97 is perfect. Still taking a little getting used to with regards to some symbol locations, but the N97 keyboard is my top choice. Maybe I’m biased of course as I have one. I agree that key spacing is an issue for some and can be measured, but the effect of key spacing is dependent on the user’s finger size ad mobility. You could base calculations no the nth percentiles, but all user interfaces have a degree of personal preference relating to them.
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July 1st, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Just take a few phones and give it to some non-qwerty* phone users and then tell them to type some common predetermined sentences that includes symbols, caps, numbers and time how long it takes them to do it.
*(If the user had experienced with qwerty device then they might have mastered certain layouts)
And then ask the tester how did their thumb or finger feel when they press the keys. Certainly don;t want them to say it hurts.
I don’t understand what’s wrong with Nokia’s R&D. The keyboard on the N97 is only “OK” at best despite the extensive reseach on it.
The direction pad is not raised enough for gaming as well.
You just need to make the button stick out maybe .5 – 1.0 mm more and the keys are perfect but you failed to do so.
Shame shame!
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Mike Reply:
July 2nd, 2009 at 9:43 am
@ming387, Interesting suggestions and observations. I’m speaking for myself, and not the designers, but do you think simple tweaks such as the height of the keys would alter the comfort of the experience on the N97? I use an N97 and admit, as with any new QWERTY that there’s a honeymoon period (that can be a little testing at first), but in less than a day I found it comfortable and very quick to use. My wife doesn’t use a QWERTY or even a Nokia for that matter (despite my insistence), yet she’s messaged on it while we’re in the car to reply to my buddies via SMS while I’ve been driving, and she actually commented on it being dead easy… and now has her eye on my old E71. Granted she wasn’t writing essays, and I had to initially help her with adding special characters and point her in the direction of the shift key. I see what you’re saying, but in my case I’ve found it to be one of the best QWERTYs alongside the E71 and E90.
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ming387 Reply:
July 2nd, 2009 at 7:39 pm
@Mike, I’ve customized my n97’s d-pad and it really makes a huge difference. I’ve shown people my modified n97 d-pad and all of the users agreed that the raised d-pad is much better than the original.
I’ve posted this on howardforums.com as well you can find a picture of the mod in this link:
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1532877&page=98&pp=15&highlight=n97
It’s a simple mod but make a huge difference for people who cares about good gaming control. I would like to apply the same concept with all buttons on the N97 but am unable to find the right material.
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July 2nd, 2009 at 6:06 am
The best keyboard can be found on the Psion Series 5 ! (Symbian)
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July 2nd, 2009 at 5:14 pm
One thumb rule, literally, should be that fat & flat fingers should be considered and be comfy for one-hand usage. According to me if it works on a full QWERTY BAR type phone, it’ll work on any kind. As much as E71 rocks and kills competition in terms of performance and features head on, I simply hate the keyboard, enough to say ’sorry … not w/o a suitable keyboard’. Another complimentary feature should essentially be the thickness of the phone. If the phone is too slim it becomes difficult for users like me to hold and use the keyboard. Plz don’t make slim smartphones … sorry to sound so adamant, but street talk will confirm that E63 being thicker is much better ergonomically than E71. I think the first phone to probably have the ideal QWERTY on a BAR phone is HTC Snap .. I deliberately said ‘probably’ cuz I haven’t played with one but am going by the n no. of reviews that shower praises on HTC Snap’s QWERTY pad. I belong to the conservative group that doesn’t like slider phones, but I think slider phones have many more chances to improve their keyboards than a BAR phone (which I personally prefer anyday). For QWERTY’s sake, flat keys like the ones on 5220 Xpressmusic will be a pleasure to toy with and also look uncluttered. Look at HTC Snap for easier reference. The keyboard looks fab too. C’mon Nokia – this is the one area you need to nail – a fabulous QWERTY on a BAR and you got yourself a winner. Good luck !!
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July 2nd, 2009 at 9:57 pm
When you look at Nokia have 2 phones with slide out keyboards, and each has reported issues.
The E75 i am using is a great phone but the slide out keys are too flat so most of the time i use the normal phone part (defeats the object of a QWERTY?)
The N97 has had comments that first of all the space bar is in the wrong place and also the D-Pad should not be there, its in the way.
Then look over at the other form factor in the E71 and the soon to be released N72 and you have a whole new ball game. Very reliable, easy to use and selling like hot cakes even now. The traditional QWERTY with a normal style phone is attracting BlackBerry users who like the style they have but want more features
So QWERTY is taking off well, but in a non slide form so far.
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July 8th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
I wouldn’t buy a phone without QWERTY anymore. I have a Nokia E71 and I’ve been amazed by the keyboard. It’s so tiny, yet I find no trouble typing my text messages and it, even on my bicycle. My hands are fairly big.
I did buy an iPhone last week and find using the virtual keyboard very slow. So slow that I’m keeping the iPhone in my house as an internet tablet and iTunes remote (of course I’ll bring it on long train journey’s as an iPod and GPS device). Everytime I leave my house I take my Nokia E71 mainly because the QWERTY is so much faster.
I’ve been eyeing the Nokia N86 because of the much better camera, but the lack of QWERTY has decided me against the N86. So, if would like to see the E71/71 QWERTY implemented in a future camera phone. It works for me.
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