Typing on the iPad
The issue of how to input text into the iPad has been a heated discussion both before and after the device was announced. Obviously, without having the tablet in hand, no one knows how easy or cumbersome it will be to enter text. I actually believe that typing in landscape mode, using both hands as on a full size keyboard, will be a perfectly adequate way to enter even lengthy messages. The on screen keyboard in portrait orientation, however, seems inelegant.
In this case the iPhone style keyboard doesn’t scale very gracefully. It sits in an unfortunately middle ground: way too cramped to type with both hands, but too large to be able to comfortably “thumb type.” A simple solution to improve this scenario:
Scale the keyboard down so it’s about the size of the iPhone keyboard in landscape mode, and then split it into two halves. I discovered that this method of input is not without precedent; Gizmodo briefly mentioned a variation of this in their write up a couple weeks ago.
The above mockup is crudely rendered and not as visually appealing, but I have to imagine it would provide for a better typing experience for this orientation. What do you think? As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts @RussianPencil.
