Video: Pre virtual keyboard developing rapidly, gets easy install method
By Vladislav Savov 
posted Aug 31st 2009 8:17AM
posted Aug 31st 2009 8:17AM
posted Aug 31st 2009 8:17AM
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Can't wait for Apple's lawyers to catch wind of this. They are so copying the iPhone now.
I didn't see /sarcasm at the end so... please tell me... you aren't........... SERIOUS?!?!?
Sorry, should have ended like this....
/trollbait
Since when did Apple patent the virtual keyboard? The Palm Pilot & Windows mobile had this WAY before Apple even thought about getting into the phone market.
You can never tell with Apple fanatics.
And yeah, on-screen keyboards were not invented by Apple.
TROLLBAIT?
If you ask me, you're the troll here.
Because no devices had an on screen keyboard before the iPhone??
this is worst than a FIRST post.
why would anyone ruin a hardware keyboard with a soft one is beyond me
I follow the webOS internals team.. along with egaudet, the maker of the keyboard.
I like it, and he's doing a great job, but the only REAL purpose I see is for landscape applications like the web so you don't have to flip your phone to type.
I do not think it will ruin the Pre, if anything it will make the pre more marketable. Besides... you ever tried writing on the pre in landscape mode... its not very comfortable!
I agree with Mitchell. Having a keyboard thats usable in landscape mode is one of my more watned features... along with making that center button light up when I've got an email or txt message waiting for me
@J D - the center button light up was made, but it was super buggy so I just didn't use it.
I wish someone would work on that again.
For the new, slim Pre without physical keyboard with microSD slot?
Yeah, future is beyond you.
Some people prefer T9 style keyboards, that, combined with landscape support, is why this app will be important in the future, at least some time in the next few weeks when it matures a bit.
"why would anyone ruin a hardware keyboard with a soft one is beyond me"
Yes, it certainly is. Choices, guy - that's why. You may not want it, but many want the option. If you ask me, why any company would ruin the Palm Pre with that shitty slider keyboard is beyond me.
Tried out the Pre's keyboard a few days ago, and I really didn't like it. I prefer portrait-QWERTYs to landscape, but I guess I'm just spoiled by the Blackberrys I've used. I can't imagine a virtual keyboard being any better, but some might prefer it if only for the landscape feature.
Wha-Hey!
@Mitchell
I meant that as troll bait for the likes of Paul Chapel and his cronies. I wasn't calling you a troll. Now let's stop the name calling and have a virtual Kumbaya. Wait...is there an app for that?
So which is it? Virtual or physical keyboard?
Which one do we want?
It seem like iPhone users want physical, and pre users want virtual.
It almost seems like having both would be the ideal, then...
And it's easier to add a software keyboard to a device that already has a hardware one than the other way around... :)
Both...physical is easy for me to type on but virtual is nice for quick entry’s. You can also support multiple languages on a virtual kb. I think most people just want options more than anything.
I installed it and tried it just to see what it was like; I can't say I have much use for it. However, I don't typically use landscape mode for webpages.
When Apple "promoted" the virtual keyboard, most people laughed at the iPhone. I'm not saying that Apple invented it but there sure are a lot of phones adopting the technology. So who's laughing now? My guess.... Steve Jobs
We laughed at Apple for not having a physical keyboard, not for having a soft keyboard. I would not trade my Pre for an iPhone, and the physical keyboard is one of the main reasons. A soft keyboard for when I'm in landscape or have the phone closed would be a fantastic addition to the phone, but they are just supplements to tap out a word or password, while the keyboard is waiting for when I need to write a message.
What about HTC,WinMob,Palm & Samsung all of these companies had virtual keyboards well well well before Apple. Is Steve Jobs laughing at himself for ripping off other peoples idea's?
sorry but no, touchscreen keyboards is old and have been in use long before iphone, jobs did not make it "fresh" again.
Wasn't the Apple Newton the fist PDA which used a virtual keyboard on a touch-screen for data entry? Pre-dating the original Palm Pilot (also with a touch screen keyboard) by about 6-7 years?
As much as I hate to give them credit, Apple might actually have been the industry leader, although some other schmuck might have patented the concept years before.
Yes they did. Just because Windows Mobile phones had super smaller for stylus keyboards it doesn't mean all the mad haters here can't admit that Apple freshened it up with the size, the way the keys flash when you hit them that Android attempted to avoid copying but then gave in to, can people here be real.
Engadget commenters want to give the iPhone absolutely no credibility. It's so annoying. Grow up.
I said "promoted" notice the quotation marks. And yes, when I ordered my iPhone people laughed at the fact it didn't have a physical keyboard. My daughter even hated the idea, but ya know what, she adapted and now she blows through texting as if physical keyboards never existed. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see." - - John Lennon
meh, but its nice to have a choice of inputs.
I would like to see the iphone hack up a hardware keyboard /sarcasm
I think someone has done it..
looks super slow, yummy..
It's definitely still in alpha. Shouldn't be too long until it's functioning properly.
If a few guys at WebOS Internals can put together a workable on screen keyboard in a few months whats taking palm so long to do the same?
I like this implementation better than the iPhone. Having a translucent keyboard makes things less cramped--even if you can't access the underlying items. I hope Apple is watching.
Texting on my missus' iPhone in landscape is a pain I can only see like a single line...quite annoying XD
I agree with you, Apple should do this because the translucent on-screen keyboard is much easier on the eyes - obviously - Let's just wait and see..
The Mac Tablet that's definitely coming soon is going to add a lot more multi-touch gestures than what the iPhone already offers.
My only complaints with my 3GS are: Battery Life, Screen Resolution, No Front Facing Camera & No Flash.
Apple must really hate flash, their cameras don't offer flash plus their software doesn't support it to preserve the already abysmal battery life.
So let's see - Palm stresses the hard keyboard over and over again then reality sets in and a virtual keyboard becomes a necessity.
Why have a hard keyboard then?
Do I detect a candybar Pre on the horizon with humongous screen replacing the keyboard?
Well Palm unlike Apple tend to market to more then one demographic so it only makes sense that they release a Vertical,Horizontal slide aswell as standard Treo style and most likely after those a regular candy candy bar for touch screen device.
You understand that this isn't Palm creating a soft keyboard but an actual user right? That's the difference between Apple and Palm. Apple would have shut the whole project down while Palm is letting their users do what they please to their own phone.
> ...Palm is letting users do what they please...
Wait til they get their App Catalog out of Alpha and tighten the screws...
They may "tighten the screws" on the apps store but you will still have the option of using Preware to load apps that have yet to be approved by Palm and apps that Palm may not approve. Palm has already said they will allow non-approved and/or side loading of apps, so what they do with the official app store is not really an issue since the end-user will always have final say so on what apps and patches they have installed. This is that main reason I got rid of my iphone for the Pre. I can add what I want and not void the warranty or have the COE tell me it is illegal to “jailbreak” my phone so that I can add the things I want instead of the things they think I should want.
>>This is that main reason I got rid of my iphone for the Pre. I can add what I want and not void the warranty or have the COE tell me it is illegal to “jailbreak” my phone so that I can add the things I want instead of the things they think I should want.
LOL. Palm may soon follow the same path as Apple and declare Preware as illegal as Apple does Cydia/jailbreaking. Just because they haven't doesn't mean they wont in the future.
Unlike Apple, Palm doesn't have an unquestioning fanatical following. The Palm fans all demand a bit of open source to exist. Apple can pee on your face while you sleep, and Apple fans will still worship them. Palm fans will be turned off immediately by having this taken from them.
> ...Palm has already said they will allow non-approved and/or side loading of apps...
That's the first I've heard of that!
Care to prove it?
[you understand that Palm ORIGNALLY said "Palm-certified apps but available anywhere" then recently switched to "Palm-certified app from App Catalog", right? Otherwise, go ahead and prove that first sentence there...waiting with bated breath!]
"Pre will have an “Application Store” preinstalled, just like iPhone and Android, but they will also allow users to download and install Palm Pre applications from other sources over the air or via USB cable from your home PC."
This is what former CEO of Palm Ed Colligan told investors back in February. If you weren't so freaking stupid, you could have found this all by your little lonesome and saved yourself a world of embarrassment on the internet. Now please shut the fuck up and crawl back into your hole. I'm sure Zak is feeling a little lonely.
I know I've been beaten, but I'll say it anyway. I love how early Pre supporters spoke so highly of the Pre's tactile keyboard and put down the iPhone's virtual keyboard.
I know. I understand if you're in landscape and wanting it, but even day 1 release on the forums a lot of people said they wanted it for when they felt too lazy to slide it up.
I don't get it.
I'd love a full screen treo with a landscape keyboard but the pre is fine the onscreen would help alot though.....best of both worlds.