Help! Newbie to touch screens & MISERABLE

JimMelbFL · Jun 8, 2012

I am new to using a smartphone touch screen and its driving me insane. I am very technologically competent but I just can't keep from hitting the screen with my fingers when viewing content and accidentally clicking on things and changing pages etc. Is there a way to REDUCE sensitivity/pressure to touch??

Also - some apps don't seem to rotate to horizontal/landscape mode and I just can't use that virtual keyboard in portrait mode - keys are too small and I am constantly hitting the enter and backspace keys when I am near the K L and M alpha keys - takes me 5 minutes to enter a simple text. If I can get it to flip to landscape mode then I get much larger keys and its easier.

Someone tell me that I will get better at this soon and I did not make a mistake giving up my slide out keypad model phone....

And when I put it in my pocket my key clicks are constantly going off and hitting active touch targets. MUST I lock the screen every time I put it in my pocket?? This is getting to be a pain to use....

IzzNet01 · Jun 8, 2012

lol, calm down..

You'll definitely get used to it.. you can change the sensitivity in settings.. If using the keyboard isnt working out the way u want it to, switch to swype, maybe itll work better. Thats what I use anyway. I always hit the power button before I put it in my pocket, you shouldve been doing that even before you had a touchscreen phone.

SuperDave70 · Jun 8, 2012

+1 on the swype suggestion. It takes some getting used to, but it is faster and easier than any other method I've tried, including a physical keyboard.

JimMelbFL · Jun 8, 2012

Woohoo. I was sitting at the tiki bar where I have a WIFI network. So I start playing around and getting more familiar with the phone. Then I found a new feature that saved my bacon big time. I found a touch calibration feature buried deep down in the menu 5 levels (!!) that had a dramatic effect. In particular, in the following menu sequence: Settings->Language&Keyboard->HTC Sense Input Settings->Advance Settings->Calibration tool (whew) I was able to calibrate my touch screen with my keyboard and fat-fingered bifocal shifted input! Did the trick. Now I'm throwing text faster than I ever could with a manual keyboard!!

Thanks for the help. Now I guess I should experiment with swipe.

Doomstang · Jun 8, 2012

I've used Swype in the past and found it to be an improvement over the stock keyboard at the time... Then I found SwiftKey. The predictions on this keyboard are amazing and it's always learning how I type to improve them further. Sometimes it's scary when it can predict an entire sentence I want to type after hitting one letter. It is a paid app but they do offer a free trial for one month.
My boss, coworker, girlfriend, mom, dad, and sister have all switched to SwiftKey after I had them use the trial. Needless to say, I highly recommend giving it a try.

PattiCakeUS · Jun 8, 2012

JimMelbFL said:
Woohoo. I was sitting at the tiki bar where I have a WIFI network. So I start playing around and getting more familiar with the phone. Then I found a new feature that saved my bacon big time. I found a touch calibration feature buried deep down in the menu 5 levels (!!) that had a dramatic effect. In particular, in the following menu sequence: Settings->Language&Keyboard->HTC Sense Input Settings->Advance Settings->Calibration tool (whew) I was able to calibrate my touch screen with my keyboard and fat-fingered bifocal shifted input! Did the trick. Now I'm throwing text faster than I ever could with a manual keyboard!!

Thanks for the help. Now I guess I should experiment with swipe.

Definitely give the Swype keyboard a try, it's nice because you can just drag your finger over letters and it doesn't require you to be as precise, it knows what words are generally made of the letters you dragged over. Not perfect but the more you use it, the better you get at using it.

I tried Swiftkey and I liked the word prediction but I really missed the ability to drag over letters to type. I've used the SlideIt keyboard for years and now Swype.... I don't think I can live without my finger-drag typing

couragedragon · Jun 8, 2012

I also endorse Swiftkey. This keyboard is amazing at predicting (make sure to choose whether or not you're a precise typer or a rapid fire typer).

I'm using the beta right now, and it's no joke. I've had it predict entire sentences for me as well.

Verrah nice.

novox77 · Jun 8, 2012

Welcome to the forums!

I swore by swype when i first discovered it and used it for a year before being convinced by others to try swiftkey. Now I'm a swiftkey user. The prediction is indeed awesome, and you can be very sloppy with your typing in portrait mode and it gets your words right!

Still, I have no problem recommending swype. It's a very fun way to type, and it's also designed so you don't have to be so damn precise. Swype comes with the LTEvo. Swiftkey does not.

As for accidentally touching the screen and kicking stuff off that you didn't mean to, yeah I think that happens to everyone when they first move to a pure slab phone. I definitely went through that. I'd say you'll get the hang of it in 2 weeks.

3vodroid · Jun 9, 2012

couragedragon said:
I also endorse Swiftkey. This keyboard is amazing at predicting (make sure to choose whether or not you're a precise typer or a rapid fire typer).

I'm using the beta right now, and it's no joke. I've had it predict entire sentences for me as well.

Verrah nice.

Swiftkey is awesome had it on the 3vo.. Have it now in LTEvo and my thrive

SamuraiBigEd · Jun 9, 2012

I have tried Swype, Swiftkey and Flex T9 and like Flex T9 far and above the other two. Unfortuanately Nuance is not supporting 4.0 yet so no Flex T9 for now I am stuck using Swype.

You will find these types of keyboards are very subjective, what one person loves one will hate and vice-versa. My suggestion is try them and see what fits you best. I will be posting as soon as I see a 4.0 version of T9 coming available.

On Edit: I am going to take one for the team and see if it will work on 4.0, I will post my results after playing with it a day or two.

Help! Newbie to touch screens & MISERABLE

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