[Macworld]

Post your comments for iTypeFastr jailbreak app helps speed iPhone typing here

[6555]

Looks interesting. Still not willing to jailbreak, but I like the idea of this app.

[aksie]

@Dan, thanks for reviewing our app, great to hear you like it!
Although the 'stock' iPhone keyboard does optimize under the hood, it doesn't give you the feeling you can comfortably hit a large area.
As Fitts' law says, the speed of using an interface is a function of the distance of moving to that area and the size of the target. We actually made the target visibly larger, which help to type fast.

[OriginalDigital]

This quote, although provided by the developers, is a tad incorrect:
"After what the developers say is “extensive testing,” they’ve reconfigured and resized the keyboard so that the more frequently used letters—like “e,” “r,” and “t”?are larger than the less frequently used letters, like “q,” “z,” and “x.”"
This is just info that's available to anybody interested in code-breaking or the basics of the English language. Sorry, there was no
"extensive testing" on the part of the devs.

[chase]

You do not know that they did not do extensive testing. They very likely did a lot of testing by typing and observing which keys were likeliest to be missed and which hit by accident. In addition, perhaps they tried deliberately pressing certain keys which are more common and keys which are rarely used to see how big and how small the areas hit were most accurate.
It's amazing how human nature cannot resist any opportunity to criticize, even when there's no provable basis.

This App alone may make jailbreaking my iPhone worth it. I am so tired of typos! This is just the kind of evolution our 136 year old keyboards need not having been updated in layout since 1872!

[chase]

This App alone may make jailbreaking my iPhone worth it. I am so tired of typos! This is just the kind of evolution our 136 year old keyboards need not having been updated in layout since 1872!

[aksie]

@OriginalDigital

Actually, we did do extensive testing.

The sensitive areas are not exactly the same as the images: the B and V end higher than the bottom of the B and V images, so you do not type B instead of 'space'. We adjusted these kinds of things really pixel by pixel, and asking our beta testers on their opinion on what worked better, in addition to our own testing.

We also did a lot of gradual improvement and testing onthe size, placement and contrast of the 'pop-ups': the images you see when clicking a letter. Ours are higher up (less hidden by your finger), bigger (more explicit feedback) than the stock iPhones'.

So, our testing was not on the letter frequencies, you are right, those are one wikipedia search away, it's in the 'sawing, shaving, sanding and polishing' fro mthat starting point.

[aksie]

@chase hey thanks! compliments like this are really motivating!

Can I quote you on our website?