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Show HN: A 2-row, 16-key keyboard designed for smartphones

k-keyboard.com

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Re: Show HN: A 2-row, 16-key keyboard designed for smartphones

#21

Smartphone keyboards dynamically adjust the "hitbox" of each key based on what's previously been typed and overall letter frequencies of the language. So when typing "Paris is the capital of Fr..." [*], the A key becomes much easier to hit than its neighbors. Fun fact: back in the day, when this tech was less refined, certain letter contexts made the hitboxes of some keys effectively nonexistent [0]. I wonder if an a…

Omg I thought this was just me. How do I turn this off? On iOS, this has been bugging me for a long time.

There is no builtin setting in iOS to disable it. However most 3rd party keyboards don't have it, as implementing it without OS support is a huge pain.

Re: Show HN: A 2-row, 16-key keyboard designed for smartphones

#23
Looks nice. Reminds me of MessagEase[1] and clones, such as ThumbKey[2]. I use the latter for my mobile text input needs. However, that method is sometimes prone to typos, since one key may have up to 9 different characters assigned to it, and it is easy to swipe slightly wrong way. QWERTYmini could be better in that aspect, since there are only 2 characters per key.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MessagEase

2. https://github.com/dessalines/thumb-key

Re: Show HN: A 2-row, 16-key keyboard designed for smartphones

#24

Smartphone keyboards dynamically adjust the "hitbox" of each key based on what's previously been typed and overall letter frequencies of the language. So when typing "Paris is the capital of Fr..." [*], the A key becomes much easier to hit than its neighbors. Fun fact: back in the day, when this tech was less refined, certain letter contexts made the hitboxes of some keys effectively nonexistent [0]. I wonder if an a…

I always make the same typos in Gboard. I don't know if they adjust the hotboxes based on common letter sequences, but it would be nice if they adjusted it based on people's typing performance.

Re: Show HN: A 2-row, 16-key keyboard designed for smartphones

#25
post #22

I don't really understand how people manage to type with two thumbs while holding their phone securely. I use my left thumb and my right index finger, with my right thumb supporting the base of the phone.

I use my left pinky to hold the base of the phone. Lots of people with bigger phones use one of those stick on things on the back and hold it with their index and middle finger.

Re: Show HN: A 2-row, 16-key keyboard designed for smartphones

#26
I really dislike how iOS handles dictation as a keyboard feature.

I want to try this keyboard, but I also don't want to give up dictation. If I have to switch back to the iOS keyboard to enable dictation, that's just enough friction that I'm not going to move to something else.

Re: Show HN: A 2-row, 16-key keyboard designed for smartphones

#29
post #25
post #22

I don't really understand how people manage to type with two thumbs while holding their phone securely. I use my left thumb and my right index finger, with my right thumb supporting the base of the phone.

I use my left pinky to hold the base of the phone. Lots of people with bigger phones use one of those stick on things on the back and hold it with their index and middle finger.

+1 for the pinky phone shelf. Worked better when phones were smaller and lighter now I have a popsocket on the back and hold it either between the middle and index or middle and ring depending on what I'm doing. Sometimes with middle and index the pinky comes out again to stabilize the phone too.
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