iPhone typing speed testing

So I have an iPhone and I love it! It clearly is the best pocketable mobile Internet device available today - no question about it!

One of the most asked questions about the iPhone is "how's the typing speed with iPhone's keyboard?" - how does it feel and how fast can you type with it.

So I had to do some typing testing. Here is a one test text below that I did using the Note application:

"this is a simple means of testing the typing speed with the apple iPhone. I'm now typing in horizontal position using two fingers. This seeks to work pretty well of you only can trust the way the whole system works. I will go back later to see how many mistrales I'm making while typing this test. Also u have not ore planned this text so it's much like I would be typing a blog or a email. We just have to see how well it's working. I have bow typed for tree minutes straight with two thumbs and I can say this is staring to feel pretty good. Also I would like to see and hear if you have done similar test yourself and what have been your results on re speed. Let Me know what your experiences are and how do you like the soft keyboard. Obcan already say that this dontbseem too bad. Now I have gone for five minutes and ibwill stop Hera. Next time I will use stop watcch for better accuracy."

In this text there is 176 words and it took about 4,5 minutes to write, making the typing speed about 39 WPM (words per minute). There is at least 9 typing errors in this text so the accuracy is about 95% and that's not too bad, since you can always go back and correct those with your computer later if you are writing a longer text (I don't suggest to make correction with your iPhone, unless the application you are using has a spell check build-in)

I also did some testing with this iPhone typing speed test tool online. On average I can get between 35 to 40 WPM with this test. The results are a bit better when the iPhone is in landscape mode.

No if I compare that to my typing speed with full size keyboard (about 53 WPM on average) it's not too bad, it's about 66% and if I compare that to my tests with the 7" eeePC (about 45 on average), it's about 80% of the speed on eeePC.


Naturally these are my test results and yours may vary, but I can imagine that percentages will be close to these results (or not).

When typing with iPhone it's important to learn to trust the system and auto correction feature. If you try to type without errors, you will get slower results.

So are these results good or bad?

I think these are really good. I'm not the fastest typist anyway (I don't touch type), so if this brings me to about 65% of my normal speed while being mobile, to me that really good!

if you consider that when being mobile you actually don't normally type that much, in my usage typing is about or less than 5% of my overall mobile usage, then the slower typing speed really has no effect, considering I can type anywhere.

Also the errors in are not so critical, since I'm not planning to type lots of "highly important text" on the go, at least not long texts. If I'm typing short I can slow down and focus on correct spelling. If I'm typing long text, I will most likely edit it with computer anyway, so that's not a problem either.

If you are looking to read more about typing tests, here's' a google search for you and also check out some iPhone typing test videos from you tube as well.

Here's one of my favorites below.



One thing I have to keep reminding my friends and sometimes myself is that, iPhone is actually also a phone, so it really is with you all the time, for many other things than just talking ;).

Let me know your average speeds on your iPhone or iPod touch.

Do people really need another search tool?

Having been reading about the new search engine Cuil, my only question is "why would we really need a new search tool?" Sure I understand that Google may be coming too dominant and it's good to have choices (when it's not costing us, the user anything). But even so, there are tons of others already for all kinds of purposes.

I think going against Google with a new search engine is just insane, I mean Google has the upper hand in every aspect. "Everyone" is using it and know how to use it, they have resources to develop it, people like them, and quite many depend on their business (bloggers, advertisers, search engine optimizers etc. etc.). Their name is synonymy for Internet search and the list goes on and on.

I think the only kind of search that could make sense would be the Wikia Search that let's users to influence how the search results are rated etc. But still, how many of you actually use other search engines for generic web searching - other than Google?

Also I can imagine that any new innovations that would become popular in some other engine would be eventually incorporated to Google anyway (and other engines too). I understand that wikia type of features are already coming..

Not only does Cuil suck in results but it's also ugly, with that black main color it feels like going to the dark side of the Internet. I also has some serious issues with it's name too - only an engineer or some really hip brand guru would come up with the problem in name - if you need to explain how the name of website or URL is pronounced an then typed differently, how can you expect that to survive? - I bet you will loose about 30% of users that can remember how it's typed.

I tried finding one of my blogs PimpMyUMPC and it did not find anything. Here's the same result with Google. Oh Wikia Search came without results too - enough said, go Google GO!

My thoughts and plans for next 12 months

As I was on vacation, I had a lot of time to think about how I want to develop my "online life". While I was enjoying my vacation with my kids, I wasn't really doing much work at all, but I did read a lot. Mostly my reading was about keeping up with stuff that I like or need to follow up.

I also subscribed to many new blogs in regards of how I would like to develop my own blogging. One thing I have decided, is that I will plan and work harder on establishing my blogging. Until now it's been more or less testing and continuous learning.

Since about year or so ago, I started experimenting with blogging, I have started and ended few blogs already. The reason being, that I was not so sure what I wanted to do with those blogs, and I struggled to maintain my interest.

Ever since I started blogging at www.pimpmyumpc.com I have made the decision to keep going and now on my past vacation my feeling have just got stronger.

One thing I learned when reading about blogging and talking with my friends that have been blogging for a longer while, was that "you just have to stick with it and let it come naturally". I also learned that in early years, it makes sense to have several blogs with different subjects, that you have interests and knowledge to see what will be most appealing. It's also good to find right balance and pace for posting.

So for now, I have divided my overall blogging to:

• For Mobile technology and web I have this blog that is about Mobile devices and Internet in general. Also I still have PimpMyUMPC that is about modifying Mobile devices and things in that regards. But in that site I expect majority of that blogging to move here, because this is much wider and more suitable subject and better covers my overall interest in this areas.
• RateCards.net Blog, is about the RateCards.net developments and related topics, that is connected to one of my latest business ventures connecting Internet and print media (mainly magazines). More about that later in RateCards.net blog.
• Relating to my Business Advisor & Entrepreneur role, I will have the Serial Entrepreneurship Blog, where I can share and unwind my interest and knowledge about that sector and my other ventures.

I have also decided to move/keep my blogs mainly in either blogger or wordpress for now, because that will allow me to focus on more important things than worrying about the actual sites. Also with these systems come natural developments of platforms and effortless compatibility with other popular services now and future. Like the tools for mobile blogging with my iPhone 3G that I have been testing (works good).

So these are my plans for the next year, lets see where I will be 12 months from now with these blogs and my thoughts about the future.

- Wish me luck!

Testing cellspin

Testing cellspin

An iTease: Something Cool and Cheap From Apple - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

Ok. It seems that apple is again doing their thing and doing it well...

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/an-itease-something-cool-and-cheap-from-apple/#comment-266330

Sent from my iPhone

iPhone test part two

Now testing with picture

iPhone test blog

Here is some quick test sent via iPhone using the mail to blog feature.