5 ms·

A lot of people claim that the on-screen "keyboard" is a keyboard, so it's plausible that some people bought into that. Lack of keyboard is a non-starter for m

by blahedo 12y ago

A lot of people claim that the on-screen "keyboard" is a keyboard, so it's plausible that some people bought into that. Lack of keyboard is a non-starter for me for any serious device, but I lost count of the number of people that told me I would be able to touch-type on the iPad's "keyboard". (This should be obviously false, but in case it isn't, I'll point out that the apostrophe---which I've used five times so far in this post---isn't (6!) even on the main keyboard, and if you "touch-type" an apostrophe, you hit the enter key. Emergency backup keyboard maybe, but this is not usable as a touch-typing device.)

manicdee 12y ago
The apostrophe is inserted automatically by most spelling engines (even if they get it wrong some of the time). If not automatically added, you can put the apostrophes in pretty easily when you go back to review what you wrote (because you read what you wrote before you hit post, right?) A keyboard is an obstruction when you just want to read, paint, or do non-text-entry work (and even for some text-entry work like dictation). I found the best of both worlds was a Logitech "Ultrathin Bluetooth Keyboard": it attached to the iPad magnetically like a Smart Cover and provided a keyboard and stand when you needed it. Ultrabooks don't work so well in portrait orientation. It's hard to type on them when they're sideways. On the other hand, my iPad + bluetooth keyboard weighed more (and was thicker than) than my 11" MacBook Air. Ultrabooks are also harder to read on, since vertical space is at a premium. I prefer tall narrow pages, rather than short wide pages. The main orientation on an Ultrabook is "short, narrow" pages (a format that photographers love, but there's no talking sense to photographers and their fascination for "square" pictures).
- trynumber9 12y ago
  There exists 'Yoga' notebooks [0], where you can rotate the screen all the way back. One can use it in portrait-orientation for reading, art, and similar tasks. Or one can use it just like a notebook PC. 0: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8289/life-with-the-lenovo-yoga-2-pro http://www.anandtech.com/show/8289/life-with-the-lenovo-yoga...
- Grue3 12y ago
  >The apostrophe is inserted automatically by most spelling engines This is simply impossible for virtually all usage cases of apostrophe in the English language: it's/its, word's/words/words'.
  - antimagic 12y ago
    Why impossible? The rules for when to use each is well-defined. We know this is true, because *we can recognise when the apostrophe is used incorrectly". Yes, you need to parse the sentence that contains the apostrophe, and yes, in some particularly odd sentences you can trip up a computer's understanding of the sentence's grammar, but current tech is capable of getting this right with very good accuracy.
    - MereInterest 12y ago
      Any time I use the word "ill", I need to explicitly tell the auto-correct not to change it to "I'll", regardless of context. Also, given that "I see the house. I see its eaves." and "I see the house. I see it's tilted." have the same opening, I can't see how a computer could possibly decide correctly between the two.
      - Rapzid 12y ago
        It would be highly unusual to place "it's" before a noun.
        antimagic 12y ago
        Yup, that's what I was getting at. Not that there aren't "difficult" cases to handle, for example: "It's foot then hand, Johnny, you keep moving the hand first" But those are rare, and I would forgive my computer for getting them wrong.
        MereInterest 12y ago
        Highly unusual, yes, but you need to have the full sentence available for parsing before you can make that decision. I would say that having a sentence change itself after having written part would be horrible for the user, and so autocorrect's knowledge is limited to what has been written before the questionable word, with no knowledge of what comes after.
- kalleboo 12y ago
  > even if they get it wrong some of the time We'll that's an understatement!
- blahedo 12y ago
  My best-of-both-worlds has been a Surface Pro 2, although I'm aware that isn't a solution for everyone. As for "The apostrophe is inserted automatically", there are two big problems with that: one, I turn off auto-spelling-correction systems, because I have good spelling and therefore they make incorrections more often than they make corrections; and two, more importantly, if I am touch-typing then I'm not just going to skip the apostrophe so it can be inserted later; I'm going to hit where the apostrophe belongs on the keyboard, and get a newline inserted instead. Which I'm guessing the autocorrect will not correct. I'll pass, thanks.
shard972 12y ago
> but I lost count of the number of people that told me I would be able to touch-type on the iPad's "keyboard". Who is telling you this? I hope not anybody qualified.
baddox 12y ago
I can't type nearly as well on my iPad as on a normal keyboard, but I bet I can type better on my iPad than the average person on a normal keyboard. For most "real life" tasks you just need very basic typing skills. Plenty of people hunt and peck and still perform their requirements competently.

by blahedo 12y ago

manicdee 12y ago

The apostrophe is inserted automatically by most spelling engines (even if they get it wrong some of the time). If not automatically added, you can put the apostrophes in pretty easily when you go back to review what you wrote (because you read what you wrote before you hit post, right?) A keyboard is an obstruction when you just want to read, paint, or do non-text-entry work (and even for some text-entry work like dictation). I found the best of both worlds was a Logitech "Ultrathin Bluetooth Keyboard": it attached to the iPad magnetically like a Smart Cover and provided a keyboard and stand when you needed it. Ultrabooks don't work so well in portrait orientation. It's hard to type on them when they're sideways. On the other hand, my iPad + bluetooth keyboard weighed more (and was thicker than) than my 11" MacBook Air. Ultrabooks are also harder to read on, since vertical space is at a premium. I prefer tall narrow pages, rather than short wide pages. The main orientation on an Ultrabook is "short, narrow" pages (a format that photographers love, but there's no talking sense to photographers and their fascination for "square" pictures).

trynumber9 12y ago
There exists 'Yoga' notebooks [0], where you can rotate the screen all the way back. One can use it in portrait-orientation for reading, art, and similar tasks. Or one can use it just like a notebook PC. 0: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8289/life-with-the-lenovo-yoga-2-pro http://www.anandtech.com/show/8289/life-with-the-lenovo-yoga...
Grue3 12y ago
>The apostrophe is inserted automatically by most spelling engines This is simply impossible for virtually all usage cases of apostrophe in the English language: it's/its, word's/words/words'.
- antimagic 12y ago
  Why impossible? The rules for when to use each is well-defined. We know this is true, because *we can recognise when the apostrophe is used incorrectly". Yes, you need to parse the sentence that contains the apostrophe, and yes, in some particularly odd sentences you can trip up a computer's understanding of the sentence's grammar, but current tech is capable of getting this right with very good accuracy.
  - MereInterest 12y ago
    Any time I use the word "ill", I need to explicitly tell the auto-correct not to change it to "I'll", regardless of context. Also, given that "I see the house. I see its eaves." and "I see the house. I see it's tilted." have the same opening, I can't see how a computer could possibly decide correctly between the two.
    - Rapzid 12y ago
      It would be highly unusual to place "it's" before a noun.
      - antimagic 12y ago
        Yup, that's what I was getting at. Not that there aren't "difficult" cases to handle, for example: "It's foot then hand, Johnny, you keep moving the hand first" But those are rare, and I would forgive my computer for getting them wrong.
      - MereInterest 12y ago
        Highly unusual, yes, but you need to have the full sentence available for parsing before you can make that decision. I would say that having a sentence change itself after having written part would be horrible for the user, and so autocorrect's knowledge is limited to what has been written before the questionable word, with no knowledge of what comes after.
kalleboo 12y ago
> even if they get it wrong some of the time We'll that's an understatement!
blahedo 12y ago
My best-of-both-worlds has been a Surface Pro 2, although I'm aware that isn't a solution for everyone. As for "The apostrophe is inserted automatically", there are two big problems with that: one, I turn off auto-spelling-correction systems, because I have good spelling and therefore they make incorrections more often than they make corrections; and two, more importantly, if I am touch-typing then I'm not just going to skip the apostrophe so it can be inserted later; I'm going to hit where the apostrophe belongs on the keyboard, and get a newline inserted instead. Which I'm guessing the autocorrect will not correct. I'll pass, thanks.

shard972 12y ago

> but I lost count of the number of people that told me I would be able to touch-type on the iPad's "keyboard". Who is telling you this? I hope not anybody qualified.

baddox 12y ago

I can't type nearly as well on my iPad as on a normal keyboard, but I bet I can type better on my iPad than the average person on a normal keyboard. For most "real life" tasks you just need very basic typing skills. Plenty of people hunt and peck and still perform their requirements competently.