CrossTap kickstarter project: typing with 2 fingers on touchscreens/controllers

[jacobolus]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/forrestmaready/crosstap-universal-typing-software-from-the-future

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXPyD5niCqE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrAb_2CA_5o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHnRxXCiIAM

About video #2:

A very theoretical demonstration of the speed of CrossTap. You might think, well I just practiced this phrase over and over until I got fast at it... That's right- I did. But I've been typing for my entire life and can't get any faster than what I showed in the video on the QWERTY keyboard. CrossTap users, with thousands of words available, should have no problem typing this quickly with everyday use cases.

I’m not sure whether this topic belongs here or in the keyboards subforum.

[Novus]

o_0 how does this even work?

[Coreda]

Someone could make a round-up topic on these. I think I've seen about 4-5 alternative key entry apps, varying in learning curve but promising faster input.

My favorite was one that learned and corrected where you placed your fingers around the screen, so you could essentially fumble around and still get correct results (at least that was what it showed, haven't checked up on it since).

[tp4tissue]

I'm not sure we NEED a faster input system..

i suppose we could do it, but the majority of the time in front of the computer is done in mind rather than on hand.

[jacobolus]

i suppose we could do it, but the majority of the time in front of the computer is done in mind rather than on hand.

Note, this is an input method for smartphones and game console controllers, not PCs.

[n0rvig]

I like the idea. I wish their video got deeper into how it works.

[Oobly]

"We don't type with 10 fingers anymore."

Oh, really? A proper keyboard still represents the best and most efficient method of general character generation.

Most "shortcut" methods like this fall down when you have to write code, something scientific or mathematical or anything where you use uncommon words or characters. They can work for specific situations such as sending a quick text message. More power to those who can be bothered to learn them for such cases, but I couldn't be bothered since it's such a small part of my "typing" life as to be almost insignificant. I use a portable keyboard if I want to type more than a few words. The stylus on my Note 2 also works well enough at a pinch.

TL;DR: Interesting, but not my kind of thing.

[Findecanor]

Yet another multi-tiered eight-way pie menu-based input system. The most notable before this there was the Orbitouch where two eight-way pads were used together to get 8×8 choices, and Ken Perlin's Quikwriting for the PalmPilot which used one menu (at a time) with a stylus that touched the screen during each whole word.

What is special about this one seems to be that there are two independent menus with quite simple gestures in each and that the centre is used (which will not work on all game controllers, btw).
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that there are also gestures for various words, such as "elephant" which is supposed to be typed with two gestures that are not derived from the letters that make up the word.

And why have this on Kickstarter? Release the friggin keyboard app on the App Store already!

[berserkfan]

And why have this on Kickstarter? Release the friggin keyboard app on the App Store already!

Agree with you here; I don't see why they need funding when an app is enough.

[AlexOctodon]

"We don't type with 10 fingers anymore."

Oh, really? A proper keyboard still represents the best and most efficient method of general character generation.

Most "shortcut" methods like this fall down when you have to write code, something scientific or mathematical or anything where you use uncommon words or characters. They can work for specific situations such as sending a quick text message. More power to those who can be bothered to learn them for such cases, but I couldn't be bothered since it's such a small part of my "typing" life as to be almost insignificant. I use a portable keyboard if I want to type more than a few words. The stylus on my Note 2 also works well enough at a pinch.

TL;DR: Interesting, but not my kind of thing.

Octodon Keyboard project, which is also being funded on Kickstarter, addresses the problem you denoted. It's an attempt to create a handheld device suitable for fast and precise character generation without relying on autocorrect. The thread about is here https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=70550.0