Gizmodo: cut and paste

Thank the Sweet Lord Above: The iPhone Finally Gets Cut and Paste

Adam Frucci — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:04:43 EDT

After about 10,000,000 requests, Apple has finally given in and delivered the super-basic feature that the iPhone has been missing since day 1: cut and paste. Took you jerks long enough.

Here's how it works: you double tap on a word to present a cut, copy, paste popup. Two draggable icons appear for customizing the selection. Double tap in an empty space to bring up the cut, copy and paste bubble and paste it in. Double tap again to select again, select entire block of text and paste again. Easy as pie.

You hold your finger down on an entire paragraph to select it. If it's got rich formatting, such as links or bold text, it'll copy it all for you. You can copy and paste across all apps, including web content. To undo, simply shake the phone.

It looks like they really did it right this time. It took so long, according to Forstall, because "it's tough to navigate security issues and nail a simple UI." Mmkay.

BlackBerry Storm Can Cut and Paste, Multitouchily

John Herrman — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:30:00 EDT

If browsing through the leaked PowerPoint and User Guide showing how to sync your contacts or, you know, send an email didn't get your heart pumping, BGR has found a punchier little feature that might. RIM's documentation indicates that multitouch (!!) cut and paste functionality will be built into the Storm's software, something that Apple has been stubbornly disinterested in. Hopefully BlackBerry is saving more multitouch announcements for later. [BGR]

Pending iPhone App MagicPad Demos Cut and Paste Implementation

John Mahoney — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:23:39 EDT

This video walkthrough of MagicPad, a rich text editor app that is still pending acceptance into the App Store, is notable for showing the first working copy and paste framework on the iPhone (at the 1:00 mark). Of course, SDK limitations keep the functionality quarantined within MagicPad itself, but its developers, Proximi, hope to use it as a case study for pushing forward one of the iPhone software's most wanted features. That is, if Apple says it's OK.

By the looks of it, it works fairly well, using the magnifying glass tool to drag out a selection, although it looks like it's difficult to place the cursor correctly since you're unable to drag through a line of text without making a selection.

Proximi is planning on releasing its own proof-of-concept videos which further illustrate how their method could be used system-wide (how they will do that under the developer NDA is unkown). But first, the truly interesting question is whether MagicPad will get the stamp of approval from Apple and make it out to the App Store. They've said they don't care, but whether they let a 3rd party app tease what's in such high demand will be the true test. It looks like it's using an unorthodox email system (CAPTCHA??) to email notes as well, which probably lessens its chances. [Apple iPhone Apps]

Apple Doesn't Have a Problem With iPhone Cut and Paste, They Just Don't Care

John Herrman — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:25:22 EDT

In an interview with Extreme Tech, Apple product head Greg Joswiak explained the lack of cut and paste in the iPhone: it's just not a priority right now. He says Apple worked its way as far down its "priority list" of features for firmware 2.0, but just not far enough to reach cut and paste. He then went on the explain why there wasn't a full native office suite ready for App Store launch, and that turn-by-turn navigation is allowed and likely to be released soon, though by a third party.

According to Joswiak, David Pogue's report that the iPhone's GPS antenna is too weak for real-time navigation is false. He cites "complicated issues" as holding up development, but expects to be "dazzled" by software makers in the near future. When pressed about the availability of an office suite, he says that the lack of a cross-application file structure would make such programs difficult to design. Though honestly, I'm not even sure I'd want a text editor if I couldn't select or copy text. [ExtremeTech via Crunchgear]