This 8pen Keyboard They just released... [eh]

[BlackHawkA4]

I type with swype with one hand... If this keyboard beats a speed record I'll go back to learning it. Graffiti is easier and faster. I like speed though so I will stock to swype.

Still not as fast as I was with my bb keyboard. Deff faster with one hands though.

 

[tll5fan]

I think you have to go into it with the mindset that this is a fun, unique, innovative keyboard as opposed to a fast one. The design of this keyboard prevents it from being as quick as Swype, even if you disregard the learning curve (and yes, it's steep). So if that's the main thing you're looking for, you'll probably want to skip this one.

That being said, it is fun to use, gives your phone a truly unique feel, and with practice it does allow for a decent speed of input. I certainly rank it above the stock leyboard

 

[DisplacedMic]

yeah...even with swiftkey i'm not faster typing on my phone than i can write. at least i dont think so.
experiment time ;p
brb



well what do you know... it's actually pretty close.
god bless swiftkey!

 

[fwdixon]

I've been using it now since release and i'm pretty convinced it was worth buying. It's not as fast as two hand typing on the regular keyboard yet, but it's hard to beat for one-handed typing in portrait mode.

As another poster said, it would be nice to have a keyboard switcher so i can use swype in landscap and 8pen in portrait.

 

[JakeChance]

It's pretty cool but it's true that there is a HUGE learning curve. It has the potential to be faster than Swype after extensive use. The problem is with the learning curve and Swype being out there, it's a very hard sell.

 

[ponderousanomaly]

Not so much about it being faster for me. I think it would just be more comfortable for one handed text input than typing.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I'm really up in the air about this. I was excited to get to try it when it was announced, but when it was released in buy-only, I was rather put-off. Part of me says "It's only $2," but I'm so comfortable with Swype now on my Epic that I really don't use even the physical keyboard all that often. I'd have much more incentive to try it if I knew I could get a refund, or if there was a limited-time functional trial period for it.

 

[lovelyxkill#AC]

I'm really up in the air about this. I was excited to get to try it when it was announced, but when it was released in buy-only, I was rather put-off. Part of me says "It's only $2," but I'm so comfortable with Swype now on my Epic that I really don't use even the physical keyboard all that often. I'd have much more incentive to try it if I knew I could get a refund, or if there was a limited-time functional trial period for it.

Can't you get a refund through the market if you uninstall within 24 hours?

I deffinitly agree that they should have opened with a trial period.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

[greydarrah]

I thought swype was a nightmare the first few times I tried to use it. I'll give this a try.

 

[mickmel]

Definitely. It's a single tap to type a letter on a virtual keyboard, so I don't get where a tap + gesture (gesture + tap?) could possibly be faster.

For a single letter you're correct. The difference is in forming words.

For "example", a regular keyboard takes 7 taps. This takes 1 tap + some gesturing.

I think it's likely that the fastest solution will be something that involves tap + gesture, like this or Swype. If that's correct, then it seems the fastest input would be the one that requires the shortest average gesture per word. I've not done any tests, but I would bet the length of screen travel for a typical word is much shorter with Swype than with 8pen.

That being said, I've loaded it and I'm giving it a good shot. I love Swype, but I'm always willing to try new things.

 

[matthiasj]

I've been rocking 8pen on my Nexus since it came out. I'm starting to get a lot better at it, and the more I use it the more I like it. It's so much easier to type with one hand and it's pretty quick to kick out messages.

 

[Corey]

I've been rocking 8pen on my Nexus since it came out. I'm starting to get a lot better at it, and the more I use it the more I like it. It's so much easier to type with one hand and it's pretty quick to kick out messages.

Same here, on a DX though. The learning curve hasn't been as steep as it seemed it would be in the beginning. I still have moments where I blank on where the letters are, and I have to peak under my finger for some of the lower letters, but I'm getting a lot faster with it. I'm not as fast as I would be with Swype, though Swype just hasn't been agreeing with me lately, so the time it takes to delete, re-swype, and select the right word has negated any speed advantage. I'm sticking with 8pen for now. It's definitely been worth the 1.58 that it cost to buy it, and the more I use it, the more fluid it becomes. Today I got a glimpse of how fast it could potentially be when I began hitting word combos without thinking. It's got some serious potential to be fast and fluid. I think the biggest limitation to the keyboard right now is still me.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Can't you get a refund through the market if you uninstall within 24 hours?

I deffinitly agree that they should have opened with a trial period.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

As has been stated previously, 24 hours isn't really a lot of time for someone like me to get comfortable with it. I don't use my phone nearly enough to beat the crap out of an app in only 24 hours. I do get a lot of use out of my phone, but not to the extent of real "power" users. I could probably get comfortable with 8pen in a week or so, but then I couldn't get a refund if I decided I didn't want it, or wind up switching platforms (again).

 

[Saturn2K]

My biggest gripe with this is that it can't handle mid-word capitalization in any easy way in a capacitive screen. There's no pressure sensor, so that option is completely useless for 90+% of Android phones. I know this is a small issue, but it also feels like a pretty big one since this input method focuses around continuous gesturing to form a word. If I were to type McDonald, I would have to hit shift, gesture Mc, stop, hit the backspace key to remove the extra space, hit shift again, and then continue.

I think they should include multitouch stuff in this. I think capitalization would be much easier if it could be done by tapping a second finger on the screen so you didn't need to break your rhythm. Hell, I'd like to see them include support for gestures that include up to five touch points. Most newer phones have hardware that can support it, but they limit it with software to two. On my rooted phone, it can sense up to five points, but that's totally wasted since no one programs for it.

Whoa, I really got off topic. Sorry, it's really late here and I'm tired.

 

[thatguy9684]

Why not try?

I have only had a limited time using this so far but i do like it and can see the potential. I feel like once i get used to where the letters are I will be very fast with it, I guess only time will tell. I hate that there was no free trial but so far it's def worth the 1.58 to at least say you tried it out. EVERYTHING you use in life, for the most part, has a learning curve and takes time to get used to. Don't complain about trying something new, because that is the point in trying something new right? Seeing how you like something and if it works for you. And also this is the first day or 2 of release, I would like to assume after a few weeks this will get multiple updates once the developer sees what people want and need, just like every other app out there.

 

[tll5fan]

My biggest gripe with this is that it can't handle mid-word capitalization in any easy way in a capacitive screen. There's no pressure sensor, so that option is completely useless for 90+% of Android phones. I know this is a small issue, but it also feels like a pretty big one since this input method focuses around continuous gesturing to form a word. If I were to type McDonald, I would have to hit shift, gesture Mc, stop, hit the backspace key to remove the extra space, hit shift again, and then continue.

I think they should include multitouch stuff in this. I think capitalization would be much easier if it could be done by tapping a second finger on the screen so you didn't need to break your rhythm. Hell, I'd like to see them include support for gestures that include up to five touch points. Most newer phones have hardware that can support it, but they limit it with software to two. On my rooted phone, it can sense up to five points, but that's totally wasted since no one programs for it.

Whoa, I really got off topic. Sorry, it's really late here and I'm tired.

For what it's worth, if you drag your finger to one of the quadrants and then release, it won't insert a space.

 

[know1]

I've watched the demo and I can't see how this could even be anywhere close to as fast as swype. I can type with swype using one hand (thumb) pretty darn fast.

 

[AbeFrohman]

My two cents

I'll throw out my review after 48 hours of use.

First - the pros:

- Accuracy. For me (YMMV), swype was fairly fast, but too inaccurate for my taste. I found myself spending more time correcting, bringing my overall start to finish time for a message down. With 8pen, I know what letter I'm getting all the time. As long as you make the correct gesture, you get the right letter. Even without looking, after only 2 days, my accuracy is pretty good. I'm hoping it will evolve to true one-handed typing without looking.

- One handed ease. Yes, there are some that can type or swype one-thumbed with accuracy and ease. I'm not one of them. Although swyping with one thumb was fairly quick, see first point re: accuracy.

- Speed. I know. If you hear "learning curve" one more time in these threads.... but once you practice, it does get quite fast. I'm still having those "where is the k again?" moments, but after writing each letter a dozen times, then the infamous "the quick brown fox" sentence a couple more, it gets pretty darn intuitive. I'm surprised how quickly my speed has gone up over just two days. Combine this with increased accuracy and I'm impressed.

- custom gestures. With just a waggle of my thumb, I insert my name. Different waggle inserts my address. I have a few more custom phrases I find myself using in work emails that can be inserted effortlessly. AWESOME.

Cons:

- punctuation. Seriously? No ampersand (&)? There are copyright symbols, degree signs for temperatures, but no "&"???

- (for now) - no voice key. Yes, it was promised in the initial release, but they opted to get it available for more devices and haven't added the voice key yet.

- the curve. Yes, it does take work.

- along with that, limited trial period. Had I known that the first 24 hours were going to make me look like a buffoon trying to type anything, but it would get better, a 5 day trial may be a good idea for the developer to try. I think they'd sell more if people got a decent chance to play with it for more than 24 hours.


I shelled out the buck and a half. I think it was money well spent for what I need.


Then again, I could have wasted a whole dollar & a half if I decide to jump ship from the X to the Pro in a couple of weeks to get a physical keyboard back...

 

[tll5fan]

Cons:

- punctuation. Seriously? No ampersand (&)? There are copyright symbols, degree signs for temperatures, but no "&"???

The ampersand can be reached by long-pressing the period key (from center, go to the left quadrant then up to the top quadrant, hold there until the special symbols come up).

It's still a con that it's not on the regular symbol map though.

 

[galatians51]

I think I may give this a whirl. But for speed, I have been using MessagEase for years on my Palm devices and am pretty dang fast with it. If you are interested in new ideas, try MessagEase, check out their site for all the scientific data to back up the app...