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"Our brains were structured for 5 digits." I would think, if that was the case, we would first optimize our alphabet for 25/20/15/10/5 characters. Then this w

"Our brains were structured for 5 digits." I would think, if that was the case, we would first optimize our alphabet for 25/20/15/10/5 characters. Then this would be ideal.

p4bl0 12y ago
Yea, actually I believe this is not true at all. I learned in an intro to cognitive psychology class that it seems that our brain is wired to recognize sets of 1, 2, and 3 things directly, but that after that we construct the numbers. For instance when we see 5 things it is actually 3+2 that we see. The experiment was based on response time + accurateness when showing people sets of geometrical shapes for very short periods of time, sometimes using the same shape for all elements, sometimes random shapes, and sometimes groups of similar shapes. I don't recall the precise reference though, maybe someone else knows it? To get back to the keyboard, I would like to see a demo video of someone actually typing something with it. The current video doesn't give any sense of what it is like to use this keyboard, and doesn't make me want to try it at all.
- wingerlang 12y ago
  There really is a lack of actual usage-videos which is kind of off putting. The posted "trailer" video didn't make me want to use it either, although this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOPalCIbGA8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOPalCIbGA8 made me a little bit more curious. And regarding the 3+2 thing that seems true, I always count to 5 in couples of 3s and 2s.
  - Timsalabim 12y ago
    He's really slow in the video. I use Swift key (not swiping, just typing) and I'm many times faster than that. Can't see how an expert would be faster either, the gestures simply take longer than simply hitting the right spot. Also Swiftkey is pretty forgiving once you use it more and the predictions become a real time saver.
  - p4bl0 12y ago
    I'm sorry I may be stupid but I still don't understand how the keyboard works after having seen that second video. Seriously they should make a video where we can see what happens on the keyboard and on the screen at the same time. Why every time the finger starts to slides the only letters left on the keyboard are "EABCD"? How do I type an 'n' for instance? I see that they do a round-trip to enter numbers, but how am I supposed to enter '6'? These may be the worst demo videos I've ever seen. I remember another alternative-paradigm keyboard, 8pen, which had pretty good and instructive videos. They should learn from that.
    - adyda 12y ago
      Each of the 5 tiles represent a group of letters/numbers. The reason you see 'EABCD' is because he is only using the first (blue) tile. If you wanted to type 'n' you would put your finger on the yellow, which contains 'KLONM', and slide it to the fourth tile. The numbers I'm not sure. I think it is the same concept with 1-4 on the first tile (blue) and other numbers on other tiles. Still doesn't seem like it would be faster for typing. Blue (1st) tile is EABCD, Green (2nd) is FIGHJ, Yellow (3rd) is KLONM, Orange (4th) is PQRTS, and Red (5th) is VWXY.
      - p4bl0 12y ago
        > he is only using the first (blue) tile That's what I assumed too, but I didn't want to be sure of it because one have to be too stupid to do a demo of a product using always the same part. "Look I designed a keyboard and I can type with it: 'aaaaaaaaaaa'". Okay, so it means that if I want to type 'n' I hit the 3rd tile and then I have to move four tiles away. Except I can't. So I guess I'll have to go backward when I reach the last tile in the direction I chose. But that seem to conflict with what I inferred for numbers…
    - mobilemaggie 12y ago
      we didn't make it clear enough in that video that it's of the keyboard in "Learning Mode", which shows you which letters you can swipe to when you've got your finger on one of the keys. We'll make a new with the Learning Mode turned off....
  - mobilemaggie 12y ago
    thank you to everyone with feedback on the videos - we clearly can put more useful ones together for you.... on the case!

"Our brains were structured for 5 digits." I would think, if that was the case, we would first optimize our alphabet for 25/20/15/10/5 characters. Then this would be ideal.

p4bl0 12y ago

Yea, actually I believe this is not true at all. I learned in an intro to cognitive psychology class that it seems that our brain is wired to recognize sets of 1, 2, and 3 things directly, but that after that we construct the numbers. For instance when we see 5 things it is actually 3+2 that we see. The experiment was based on response time + accurateness when showing people sets of geometrical shapes for very short periods of time, sometimes using the same shape for all elements, sometimes random shapes, and sometimes groups of similar shapes. I don't recall the precise reference though, maybe someone else knows it? To get back to the keyboard, I would like to see a demo video of someone actually typing something with it. The current video doesn't give any sense of what it is like to use this keyboard, and doesn't make me want to try it at all.

wingerlang 12y ago
There really is a lack of actual usage-videos which is kind of off putting. The posted "trailer" video didn't make me want to use it either, although this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOPalCIbGA8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOPalCIbGA8 made me a little bit more curious. And regarding the 3+2 thing that seems true, I always count to 5 in couples of 3s and 2s.
- Timsalabim 12y ago
  He's really slow in the video. I use Swift key (not swiping, just typing) and I'm many times faster than that. Can't see how an expert would be faster either, the gestures simply take longer than simply hitting the right spot. Also Swiftkey is pretty forgiving once you use it more and the predictions become a real time saver.
- p4bl0 12y ago
  I'm sorry I may be stupid but I still don't understand how the keyboard works after having seen that second video. Seriously they should make a video where we can see what happens on the keyboard and on the screen at the same time. Why every time the finger starts to slides the only letters left on the keyboard are "EABCD"? How do I type an 'n' for instance? I see that they do a round-trip to enter numbers, but how am I supposed to enter '6'? These may be the worst demo videos I've ever seen. I remember another alternative-paradigm keyboard, 8pen, which had pretty good and instructive videos. They should learn from that.
  - adyda 12y ago
    Each of the 5 tiles represent a group of letters/numbers. The reason you see 'EABCD' is because he is only using the first (blue) tile. If you wanted to type 'n' you would put your finger on the yellow, which contains 'KLONM', and slide it to the fourth tile. The numbers I'm not sure. I think it is the same concept with 1-4 on the first tile (blue) and other numbers on other tiles. Still doesn't seem like it would be faster for typing. Blue (1st) tile is EABCD, Green (2nd) is FIGHJ, Yellow (3rd) is KLONM, Orange (4th) is PQRTS, and Red (5th) is VWXY.
    - p4bl0 12y ago
      > he is only using the first (blue) tile That's what I assumed too, but I didn't want to be sure of it because one have to be too stupid to do a demo of a product using always the same part. "Look I designed a keyboard and I can type with it: 'aaaaaaaaaaa'". Okay, so it means that if I want to type 'n' I hit the 3rd tile and then I have to move four tiles away. Except I can't. So I guess I'll have to go backward when I reach the last tile in the direction I chose. But that seem to conflict with what I inferred for numbers…
  - mobilemaggie 12y ago
    we didn't make it clear enough in that video that it's of the keyboard in "Learning Mode", which shows you which letters you can swipe to when you've got your finger on one of the keys. We'll make a new with the Learning Mode turned off....
- mobilemaggie 12y ago
  thank you to everyone with feedback on the videos - we clearly can put more useful ones together for you.... on the case!