In response to yesterday’s post about the Keiboard, Gen Kanai and Adam Rice write in with somewhat differing answers to whether or not it’s easier to input Japanese text using a cellphone keypad than it is with a PC keyboard:
Gen writes:
The japanese are often faster on their cellphones than they are on keyboards mainly because they have to type in the Japanese in the Roman alphabet first, then convert it to the Japanese alphabet, then convert it to the kanji characters. It’s quite a hassle whereas on cellphones, you start out with the alphabet first, so there are fewer conversions. On the other hand, typing English on cellphones is a LOT slower than on a keyboard, of course.
And Adam writes:
About the keiboard — Japanese text entry is always more of a pain than English, but phonepad input is no better in Japanese than in English — it’s based on the same multiple presses to get to one character in a sequence. And because each key on a Japanese phonepad actually stands in for 5 characters, the average number of repeated presses to get to one character is going to be higher. So the keiboard is a novelty. I suppose it has the advantage of possible one-handed operation. And it has a built-in mouse. The copy on the site says something like this “‘I can type faster on a phonepad than a keyboard’ Well, OK, maybe not, but maybe you could use this to check your e-mail while lying down, or watch [interesting to say “watch”] the web.”
Thanks!
