this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2024
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I don't know, I've used Gboard for so long I don't notice if it's good or bad. I swipe and it almost always works first time, if not it's got the word suggested.
If it gets stuck, I start typing the keys and it usually suggests what I want. Same if I get stuck.
Sometimes I use speech to text, which works about the same and often better. If I could master punctuation with it, I would use it all the time.
When I type on a full size keyboard, it's shit and takes forever. The speed on mobile is one of the main reasons I try not to use anything else. I can type at about the same rate as I can think of what I want to say. Tapping my fingers, I would have forgotten what I wanted to say before I could finish typing it.
I'm really just typing now for fun and to see how many words I can get into a comment before it becomes dull.
But then again, I never was very good at typing. Maybe that's why it's so much faster for me with a virtual keyboard.
I have a major issue with Gboard where it'll have a word suggested, I'll see it, type the next letter in the word, then tap the suggestion. BUT it'll have moved the suggestion from the middle to the side in favor of putting some random word in the middle and I'll tap the wrong word because of that.
It's so frustrating for it to move around like that.
It's because the developers are self absorbed narcissists who think you're staring at the prediction bar while typing and so if you are still typing after it shows you that word, even one character, that must not be the one you're trying to type. What if you're using a keyboard how it's supposed to be used, as a utility to interact with something else rather than treating the keyboard as the center of the universe, and so looking at what you're typing as you're typing it, like a normal person? Guess they didn't think of that.
Retrain your fingers! Seriously though, muscle memory is a big factor. Get out the habit of typing the next letter, if the word is there just use it. Iirc, this is how they beat speed typing records.
I'd never once considered a phone being faster. I always see typing on my phone as a pain, an I'm no great touch typist by an means (around 80wpm).
How fast do you type on a standard keyboard, for comparison? I'm curious if you like the phone better because you're not very fast with a regular keyboard, or if I'm just bad with my phone.
At the time when I was using computers and keyboards at work, and even played Typing of the Dead occasionally, I would probably have struggled to get anywhere near 40wpm.
So not fast at all, but also not slow on mobile. I wonder if there's a test?