8pen - A new way to write on mobile devices

I think this would be like relearning touch typing. I don't think the time investment would be worth it. And, thumbs are not dexterous enough to make large words through this system without it getting annoying very quickly.

Cache, since it's down: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.8p...

This is genius as an idea, but I don't know if it could ever catch any sort of momentum in the market. It seems like it would take a long time to become fast at it.

A comparison to keyboards comes to mind - the keys on a keyboard really seem arbitrarily placed (though I am aware of the historical origin of QWERTY). Many people type slowly on keyboards, and it takes a lot of using one to get good at it. However the keys on a keyboard are labeled, so there is a lower threshold for newbies. Imagine what someone would look like typing on a blank keyboard. Their fingers would seem to be flying around at random.

People would be afraid to try learning it. That's what using 8pen is like.

And the problem is, there's no way to ever label all the loops and have them be visible.

It also seems like it would be easy to miss the center circle sometimes when closing a loop. I wish I could try it but I don't own an Android device.

Also, OP are you Gabe Newell or a different gaben?

Tutorial video and app download at this address:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eightpen.a...

Definitely won't take the place still in my heart for Graffiti ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti_(Palm_OS) ).

I tried this a while ago and could never get used to it. It asks for too much learning to be widely adopted. (Think dvorak)

I actually forced myself to learn to use this. It seemed cool, and potentially very powerful, so I used it exclusively for 6 months on my phone.

I got to the point where it was completely coded into muscle memory, I can still type on it without the letters displayed. While it feels really cool when you are using it, there are some pretty fatal flaws.

First off, even when you are going full tilt, it is slower than using the built in keyboard. Tapping the screen is much faster than making a loop on it.

The bigger problem, which I think would be interesting to see addressed, is that there is no tactile feedback to let you know where your finger is. Sometimes you will accidentally hit the middle partway through a figure, giving the wrong character. Other times you are on the wrong side of the dividing lines when you get to the centre. These things happen often enough that it gets annoying having to go back and delete characters.

A quick fix for the "being in the wrong spot" problems would be to make the centre into a square. A more complicated fix would be to try to look at the patterns that advanced users are making and analyze them to figure out what they are actually typing ( If my finger is moving down, I am probably trying to type the top quadrant ).

When you get going, it is pretty cool, but you are still slower than other keyboards, and when you try to relax a bit you will hit the lines in the wrong places from time to time.

A bit of work on making it smarter, and giving some sort of tactile feedback, and it would be a really great way to touch type on a smartphone, but for now it is not worth it.