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8pen is a painful way to enter text on Android devices
Text entry on a small screen is a formidable problem; as can be expected, there are a ton of competing solutions, with Swype (and Swype-like keyboards, such as SlideIT) getting a lot of attention.8pen takes a completely different tack to the keyboard problem, by eliminating it altogether. To paraphrase Bob Marley, "no keyboard, no cry." According to 8pen, by drawing "natural" gestures on your touchscreen, you'd be able to "write without viewing".
The idea is to give you a central graffiti-like area with a grid of characters. All gestures originate from the central area and terminate there, too. To type the letter "e", for example, you have to start at the center, swipe down, hang a left (crossing the green line) and go back to the center area. To type "l" (a lowercase L), you have to do the same, but continue one quadrant further, returning to the center dot from the top quadrant, having crossed both the green and blue lines.
If this sounds insanely complex, you're right. I'm no stranger to alternative keyboard layouts, and I know full well that switching input methods takes some getting used to. But compared to SlideIT, 8pen is downright painful. And yes, I will review SlideIT soon.
Still, if you're curious and/or masochistic, I've put up a QR code for 8pen after the jump. Enjoy! (I guess...)
Comments
5
Subscribe to commentsRolandDec 14th 2010 12:42PM
8pen is not that bad once you get used to it. Writing is much smoother with it than with other keyboards. But it doesn't beat Swiftkey, which rocks thanks to its creepily accurate predictions.
RishiDec 13th 2010 2:33PM
Realizing that you do know how difficult it is to switch input methods, I still don't know that it's fair to describe it as painful and insanely complex without trying it for a week or two as your only input method. I used it on my G1 because typing in portrait was god awful, and it was hard at first, but after about a week, however, I was "typing" faster than with the slide out. If you give it its fair shot, it's actually a pretty cool idea.
dudeDec 13th 2010 4:03PM
After checking out some 8pen videos from youtube it doesn't look that bad to me. Nevertheless I hate anything with a touchscreen.
bkj216Dec 14th 2010 8:50AM
I was excited when I first heard about 8Pen and I actually bought it (it wasn't free when it first came out). I tried to use it, but it was way too complicated and I saw no advantage of using it over Swype. I got my refund and that was that.
JonDec 14th 2010 2:52PM
I think this review is a bit harsh. Yes, there is a fairly steep learning curve to go from a more traditional text input method to 8pen. But for those who invest the time to get good at it, I believe there could be a payoff in text entry speed. That said, I decided not to continue using 8pen, figuring that the muscle memory that I would have to develop to get good at it wouldn't translate well to other text input methods. That and if I left 8pen as my default text input method I would get way too many "I hate your phone" type comments from my wife when she had to use my phone because she has a Swype on her phone.
Despite my choice not to use 8pen, I think terms like "insanely complex" and "masochistic" are unfair and are either a sign of insignificant investigation or intentional hyperbole in order to generate views.