Two new mobile touchscreen text entry techniques (original) (raw)

Touch Me , Hear Me , Feel Me : Feedback Preferences for Mobile Text Entry

2013

Many mobile devices use touchscreens for text entry. They also provide vibration and audio feedback to simulate interaction with a physical keyboard. To facilitate design decisions of new mobile text entry methods, we conducted a survey and a user study to measure user’s feedback preference and the effect of feedback modes on typing performance. We found that nearly half of respondents prefer no aural or haptic feedback. In our study, feedback mode had no statistically significant effect on entry speed or accuracy. However, comments made by users suggest that feedback preference is due to situational factors, rather than performance considerations.

Eye on the Message: Reducing Attention Demand for Touch-based Text Entry

International Journal of Virtual Worlds and Human Computer Interaction

A touch-based text entry method was developed with the goal of reducing the attention demand on the user. The method, called H4touch, supports the entry of about 75 symbols and commands using only four soft keys. Each key is about 20 larger than the keys on a Qwerty soft keyboard on the same device. Symbols are entered as Huffman codes with most letters requiring just two or three taps. The codes for the letters and common commands are learned after a few hours of practice. At such time, the user can enter text while visually attending to the message, rather than the keyboard. Similar eye-on-the-message interaction is not possible with a Qwerty soft keyboard, since there are many keys and they are small. Entry speeds of 20+ wpm are possible for skilled users.

Distal tactile feedback for text entry on tabletop computers

2009

In this paper we present an initial study into the feasibility of using a mobile phone as a personal tactile display when interacting with a tabletop computer. There has been an increase in recent years in large touchscreen computers that use soft keyboards for text input. Text entry performance on such keyboards can be poor due to the lack of tactile feedback from the keys. Our approach is to use the vibration motor in a user"s mobile phone to provide personal haptic feedback for interactions with the touchscreen computer. We ran an experiment to compare text entry on a touchscreen device with the tactile feedback being presented at different distal locations on the body (locations at which a user might keep a mobile device. The conditions were: no tactile feedback, feedback directly on the device, feedback at the wrist, upper arm, chest, belt and trouser pocket). The results showed that distal tactile feedback significantly increased text entry rates when presented to the wrist and upper arm. This was not at the expense of a reduction in text entry accuracy. This shows that the concept of presenting tactile feedback on a user"s phone is an effective one and can improve interaction and text entry on tabletop computers.

Text Entry Performance Evaluation of Haptic Soft QWERTY Keyboard on a Tablet Device

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2014

Recently touch screens are widely used for mobile devices to provide intuitive and natural interactions with fingertips. However, the lack of tactile feedback makes it difficult for users to receive key-click confirmation during text entry on soft keyboards. This paper examines the effect of tactile feedback on typing performance with the soft QWERTY keyboard: the most commonly used multifinger text entry method on tablet devices. We implemented tactile feedback hardware and software to simulate the key-click effect on a commerciallyavailable mobile tablet (Microsoft Surface Pro). We conducted a typing experiment to measure user performance and preference. The participants transcribed given phrases under three sensory feedback conditions: visual only, visual and audio, and visual and tactile. The results are unexpected; we did not find any significant difference in terms of typing performance, and user preference was as positive as the audio condition though better received than the visual only condition. This study thus reports different findings from previous work studying text entry on handheld devices, encouraging further examinations to fully understand the effect of tactile feedback on text entry in tablet devices.

Feedback Preferences for Mobile Text Entry

2016

Abstract- Many mobile devices use touchscreens for text entry. They also provide vibration and audio feedback to simulate interaction with a physical keyboard. To facilitate design decisions of new mobile text entry methods, we conducted a survey and a user study to measure user’s feedback preference and the effect of feedback modes on typing performance. We found that nearly half of respondents prefer no aural or haptic feedback. In our study, feedback mode had no statistically significant effect on entry speed or accuracy. However, comments made by users suggest that feedback preference is due to situational factors, rather than performance considerations.

Finger Based Techniques for Nonvisual Touchscreen Text Entry

IAENG Transactions on Engineering Sciences, 2015

This research proposes Finger Based Technique (FBT) for non-visual touch screen device interaction designed for blind users. Based on the proposed technique, the blind user can access virtual keys based on finger holding positions. Three different models have been proposed. They are Single Digit Finger-Digit Input (FDI), Double Digit FDI for digital text entry, and Finger-Text Input (FTI) for normal text entry. All the proposed models were implemented with voice feedback while enabling touch as the input gesture. The models were evaluated with 7 blind participants with Samsung Galaxy S2 apparatus. The results show that Single Digit FDI is substantially faster and more accurate than Double Digit FDI and iPhone voice-over. FTI also looks promising for text entry. Our study also reveals 11 accessible regions to place widgets for quick access by blind users in flat touch screen based smartphones. Identification of these accessible regions will promote dynamic interactions for blind users and serve as a usability design framework for touch screen applications.

Investigating text input methods for mobile phones

Telematics and Informatics, 2006

Human Computer Interaction is a primary factor in the success or failure of any device but if an objective view is taken of the current mobile phone market you would be forgiven for thinking usability was secondary to aesthetics. Many phone manufacturers modify the design of phones to be different than the competition and to target fashion trends, usually at the expense of usability and performance. There is a lack of awareness among many buyers of the usability of the device they are purchasing and the disposability of modern technology is an effect rather than a cause of this. Designing new text entry methods for mobile devices can be expensive and labour-intensive. The assessment and comparison of a new text entry method with current methods is a necessary part of the design process. The best way to do this is through an empirical evaluation. The aim of the paper is to establish which mobile phone text input method best suits the requirements of a select group of target users. This study used a diverse range of users to compare devices that are in everyday use by most of the adult population. The proliferation of the devices is as yet unmatched by the study of their application and the consideration of their user friendliness.

Investigation of the text entry speed and accuracy in mobile devices

Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Systems and Technologies and Workshop for PhD Students in Computing - CompSysTech '09, 2009

INTRODUCTION The more rapid development of mobile technologies and the decreasing price of the mobile devices and services make them more accessible and preferred by a large group of users. Some of the main factors that have a significant impact on user interaction with ...

Touchless Text Entry for All: Initial Design Considerations and Prototypes

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2015

In this paper, the foundations for a new touchless text entry method are set. The method in question is based on hand tracking for interacting with a novel virtual keyboard that has been designed to support adaptive text entry for all, including for users with disabilities or users of various assistive technologies. The virtual keyboard in question, which can be graphical or even imaginary (i.e., implied, but not visualised), implements a hierarchical selection approach for the act of writing, which involves character selection, text navigation and text modification. The proposed structure guarantees minimum keystrokes per character, and allows for user-friendly adaptations for offering accessibility, personalisation and increased performance rates for diverse input settings or display preferences. An implementation of the text entry method in question, using the LEAP, a novel 3D motion controller, is introduced here. Along with the fundamental specifications of the proposed keyboard and the required functionality of a software mechanism for initialising, personalising and interacting with it in any given context, this paper presents two prototypes currently under development for one-and ten-finger touchless text entry with LEAP, which are considered in view of developing a universal text input solution that could overshadow all past technologies.