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Two reasons why the iPhone is so popular in Japan: 1. It's free on contract (yes, the latest version) 2. You can type Japanese easily with just 3x4 keys (whic

Two reasons why the iPhone is so popular in Japan: 1. It's free on contract (yes, the latest version) 2. You can type Japanese easily with just 3x4 keys (which made it perfectly suited for old flip phones), and so many use this method even on smartphones. Much easier with a small screen than Korean (which typically uses a keyboard the same size as English on smartphones) Edit: my bad, looks like there's a 10 key Hangul input method for iPhone[0]. I haven't seen it used very much though, probably because it looks like a pain in the ass to use (compared to the 3x4 setup for Japanese), sort of like how no one would use T9 to type English on a smartphone, even if the screen were small. 0: http://emscloud.tistory.com/m/post/176/slideshow?order=2 http://emscloud.tistory.com/m/post/176/slideshow?order=2

ekianjo 12y ago
> 2. You can type Japanese easily with just 3x4 keys (which made it perfectly suited for old flip phones), and so many use this method even on smartphones. Much easier with a small screen than Korean (which typically uses a keyboard the same size as English on smartphones) Nope, I saw koreans using a very similar input method for korean with a 3*4 layout and they all seemed to be using that, making it very fast for them. On Android devices. Btw I have an android phone in Japan and you can do the exact same thing on Android for Japanese. No difference with the iPhone, really, at least on that aspect.
- w1ntermute 12y ago
  You're probably talking about something like Moakey[0], but this is nowhere near universal. More importantly, it's not available on iOS[1]. This may be fine for younger people, but it wouldn't be so easy to use for older folks. 0: http://lovingkorean.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/moakey-keyboard.png http://lovingkorean.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/moakey-keybo... 1: http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg168/owbee/Mylinguistics/iPhone6.jpg http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg168/owbee/Mylinguistics...
  - ekianjo 12y ago
    Nope, it was not this one. It was a 3*4 layout and the top row were the "vowels" (I know that's not the right word for it, but well...) you combine with the other letters to make full korean signs. This is apparently standard on Korean phones. At least Samsung ones.
    - w1ntermute 12y ago
      Well, I don't know what you saw, but this is the default Korean keyboard on a Galaxy S4: http://cfile22.uf.tistory.com/image/2469083B51DDE07613BAE1 http://cfile22.uf.tistory.com/image/2469083B51DDE07613BAE1 Maybe there's a toggle option.
      - hocuspocus 12y ago
        Yes there is, and OP is right, an awful lot of people still use the 4*3 keyboard, even on phablets. For instance, last year Pantech was advertising the fact you can use the Vega R3's keyboard with one hand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7ObLdqUOHU#t=30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7ObLdqUOHU#t=30

ekianjo 12y ago

> 2. You can type Japanese easily with just 3x4 keys (which made it perfectly suited for old flip phones), and so many use this method even on smartphones. Much easier with a small screen than Korean (which typically uses a keyboard the same size as English on smartphones) Nope, I saw koreans using a very similar input method for korean with a 3*4 layout and they all seemed to be using that, making it very fast for them. On Android devices. Btw I have an android phone in Japan and you can do the exact same thing on Android for Japanese. No difference with the iPhone, really, at least on that aspect.

w1ntermute 12y ago
You're probably talking about something like Moakey[0], but this is nowhere near universal. More importantly, it's not available on iOS[1]. This may be fine for younger people, but it wouldn't be so easy to use for older folks. 0: http://lovingkorean.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/moakey-keyboard.png http://lovingkorean.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/moakey-keybo... 1: http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg168/owbee/Mylinguistics/iPhone6.jpg http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg168/owbee/Mylinguistics...
- ekianjo 12y ago
  Nope, it was not this one. It was a 3*4 layout and the top row were the "vowels" (I know that's not the right word for it, but well...) you combine with the other letters to make full korean signs. This is apparently standard on Korean phones. At least Samsung ones.
  - w1ntermute 12y ago
    Well, I don't know what you saw, but this is the default Korean keyboard on a Galaxy S4: http://cfile22.uf.tistory.com/image/2469083B51DDE07613BAE1 http://cfile22.uf.tistory.com/image/2469083B51DDE07613BAE1 Maybe there's a toggle option.
    - hocuspocus 12y ago
      Yes there is, and OP is right, an awful lot of people still use the 4*3 keyboard, even on phablets. For instance, last year Pantech was advertising the fact you can use the Vega R3's keyboard with one hand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7ObLdqUOHU#t=30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7ObLdqUOHU#t=30