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8pen

I hope they put out a trial version. Like others said, I don't think it's something you can decide on within a day. I'd need 2 weeks to a month to see if it gets any easier.
 
It's pretty weird to type with. I get the feeling it could be resonably quick to type with, so long as you have the layout memorised. At the moment I spend the whole time trying to find letters and it takes forever to send a text.

It's certainly not going to replace Swype for me any time soon.
 
The big advantage here is that this keyboard would be much more usable without even looking at the screen. Due to how it's put together, if you can memorize the layout then all you need to be able to do is find the center of the area and hit North/South/East/West.
 
Downloaded this morning and have been playing with it as I get the chance throughout the day. Still only up to about 5wpm according to ExtremeTypist so I've got a long way to go as I was sitting around 20-25wpm with Ultra Keyboard Pro using swiping (about the same with Shapewriter or Swype). By the way for reference, on a full size keyboard on my workstation I tend to type around 60wpm, so I'm well familiar with where all the letters should be. I hope eventually they offer an alternate numeric layout that's based on the standard 10-key, I don't see much benefit to the 8pen style for numbers yet. But for normal typing, I think this is phenomenal.

I agree that they should offer a trial version, but at the same time I don't mind paying $1.50 to try out something this innovative. This is really the first time that I've seen something that truly represents a shift in thinking about how to enter text on a small screen. For years we've been trying to cram a QWERTY keyboard onto a tiny form factor, and while there have been technological advances such as input prediction and swiping, we're still trying to make a 130+ year old design work on a modern device that has completely different requirements. I personally don't know if the 8pen design will become the new standard (although I think it's pretty f'ing brilliant), but I think it shows at least as much promise as T9 did ten years ago.

Is there a learning curve? Absolutely, but like others have mentioned, once you memorize the layout you will forget about the problem of letters getting hidden by your finger. You actually have that problem today, but you're so familiar with the QWERTY layout that you can find the letters quickly enough. I mentioned above that I am currently at about 5wpm with 8pen, and I can tell you that easily 90% of that time is spent looking for the next letter. I have stumbled across a few words that for whatever reason I could find the letters right away, and the speed and simplicity of typing them out using the circular gestures just completely blew me away. And one thing that's even more important: my error rate is basically zero. The size of area that you have to touch to type the letter you want is so much bigger than trying to hit a key on a QWERTY layout, that you basically have to miss on purpose.

Enjoy!
 
When I first tried 8pen I thought the person who came up with the idea was on crack...it took me a minute to type a three word sentence at my first go! Basically you have to re-learn how to type (or slide I should say). The layout is a bit confusing in terms of letter placement but I think after some time you can become decently efficient with it although I don't think it will replace the standard QWERTY. I'll give it some more time to learn the ropes.
 
jcmtyler said:
Downloaded this morning and have been playing with it as I get the chance throughout the day. Still only up to about 5wpm according to ExtremeTypist so I've got a long way to go as I was sitting around 20-25wpm with Ultra Keyboard Pro using swiping (about the same with Shapewriter or Swype). By the way for reference, on a full size keyboard on my workstation I tend to type around 60wpm, so I'm well familiar with where all the letters should be. I hope eventually they offer an alternate numeric layout that's based on the standard 10-key, I don't see much benefit to the 8pen style for numbers yet. But for normal typing, I think this is phenomenal.

I agree that they should offer a trial version, but at the same time I don't mind paying $1.50 to try out something this innovative. This is really the first time that I've seen something that truly represents a shift in thinking about how to enter text on a small screen. For years we've been trying to cram a QWERTY keyboard onto a tiny form factor, and while there have been technological advances such as input prediction and swiping, we're still trying to make a 130+ year old design work on a modern device that has completely different requirements. I personally don't know if the 8pen design will become the new standard (although I think it's pretty f'ing brilliant), but I think it shows at least as much promise as T9 did ten years ago.

Is there a learning curve? Absolutely, but like others have mentioned, once you memorize the layout you will forget about the problem of letters getting hidden by your finger. You actually have that problem today, but you're so familiar with the QWERTY layout that you can find the letters quickly enough. I mentioned above that I am currently at about 5wpm with 8pen, and I can tell you that easily 90% of that time is spent looking for the next letter. I have stumbled across a few words that for whatever reason I could find the letters right away, and the speed and simplicity of typing them out using the circular gestures just completely blew me away. And one thing that's even more important: my error rate is basically zero. The size of area that you have to touch to type the letter you want is so much bigger than trying to hit a key on a QWERTY layout, that you basically have to miss on purpose.

Enjoy!
Click to expand...

This basically sums up my thoughts. I was initially very impressed by the video, impressed by the fact that it was such a revolutionary idea, and could have a revolutionary impact if it works well. It won't, because too many people will want to stay stuck to QWERTY, but for me standard QWERTY is dead on touchscreen mobile devices.

Swype is very good, but I wish they'd hurry up and release a proper version on the Market for people to buy; at 99p, I was happy to buy this, and even if I don't use it in the long-term, at least reward the developer for putting the time and effort into something so innovative. I do genuinely hope I get used to it though, it's a great way of typing.

The only stumbling block is the initial learning curve of actually figuring out where the letters are on the screen! I thought that the actual method of typing would prove to be the biggest hindrance, but actually, I got used to that in about a minute. No, the biggest problem is knowing where to initially move your finger. I think it might be useful to have an option to have an alphabetical layout, something that all users will relate to. I think it would be useful to have that just so that initial learning curve is that much easier, and then either stick with it, or switch to the original 8pen layout if you think it would be better. I don't know if they plan to release updates etc, but I hope they do because people have paid for this and they should take on feedback and work on the app.
 
I do wish the delete button was on the right side. Also some useful gestures like swiping across from right to left to completely erase a word would be awesome.

It's tough to do it with my thumb though. I get my best speed with my phone on a table, using my index finger.
 
I splurged $1.60cdn on this new typing configuration, and agree it's quite a learning curve, but I'll stick with it b/c I'm not so great with either a BB keyboard or my Desire touch board - I've always found it to be an awkward transition from a full-sized keyboard (and I learned on an old-fashioned typewriter!) to QWERTY squished onto a mobile device. I'd like to think in time I'll become quite proficient with 8pen. I'm impressed with it's innovation and it's kinda fun to play around with.
I've tried SlideIt for a while, and it's not bad, but I'm thinking 8pen will be the one for me. Practice will tell.
 
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