by Here’s some more exciting news for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) fans — and those who frequently find themselves frustrated by over-sized fingers and tiny touchscreens. A recent patent application reveals that the Cupertino-based tech company may be exploring options for a touch correcting keypad, to further improve typing accuracy on mobile devices.
U.S. Patent Application No. 13/213,173 would allow an iOS keyboard to modify the size of the shapes and space between keys according to the user’s typing patterns. “The application notes that the software keyboard could alter either the visual representation of the keys or the input regions the device recognizes,” says Kevin Bostic for AppleInsider. For example, the “Shift” key might increase in size, while the “Q” key gets smaller.
Also working to improve users’ touchscreen typing experience is BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY), which just announced the BlackBerry Z10 at the end of January, the company’s most direct competitor to the iPhone 5
“Master BlackBerry thumb typists might not find it as fast as the traditional physical keyboard,” says Wall Street Journal critic Walt Mossberg, “but for a one-finger typist like me, it was faster and more accurate than either the native keyboards on the iPhone or Android. This is partly because it features predictive typing.”
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) too is experimenting with more effective virtual keyboards. It filed a patent at the end of January for a touch-based, full-finger keyboard, and there are also rumors of laser-projected keyboards to accompany the much-buzzed-about Google Glass.
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