Someone typed out a 160-character block of text in 25.94 seconds using SWYPE on a Galaxy S. Shortly after, another individual cranked out the same text on the standard keyboard of his iPhone 4 in less than 22 seconds. Here is the text:
the razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.
The question is: how fast can you type out that sentence?
Get someone to time you if you can’t handle that yourself (a timer is more accurate than the average clock or wrist watch), get out your mobile device and give it a go, then post your result/s here. Tell us:
- what device you used
- what text input you used e.g. T9, SWYPE, landscape onscreen QWERTY, etc
- your time record (or a list of all your readings)
Feel free to try as many times as possible and then post your best record. While we have no way of verifying that everyone will be truthful, what does anyone stand to gain by cheating on this? The purpose of this exercise is fun. The results presented here cannot be deemed scientific in any way as we each have different typing speeds and are used to different input media.
Let’s have some fun!
This post was written by
Mister Mobility – who has written 926 posts on Mobility blog.
Founder, Mobility blog, serial lifestyle entrepreneur, speaker, & writer. Charming, passionate, tenacious & non-conformist. Will dance! Follow him on Twitter @Mister_Mobility.
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August 25th, 2010 at 8:04 pm Browsing with
without bothering to try out the above , it is clear to me that i could never hope to type that fast. not even on a conventional fullsized physical desktop keyboard!
your typing speed is a combination of your spelling_accuracy skills, your mastery of the keyboard layout and the software assistant (if any) used (Mr Milk dayhand input, swype, dasur slideIt. quickWrite, etc).
at the risk of starting a fight, software-assisted autocomplete / autocorrect imput methods – on a touchscreen device seem to work best. most modern electronic devices are making more use of touchscreens. convenient. fast, nonmechanical(and thus, less likely to fail)
i envisage a future where physical typing will almost be totally eradicated, and (almost totally) replaced with voice input – out of the box..
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August 25th, 2010 at 10:09 pm Browsing with
really. i am yet to do my own test, but i am in no way optimistic. i use a windows mobile running x1 which i’m sure a lot of people know its a slow device. my hardware keyboard had since stopped working well so i now depend on using a 3rd party virtual keyboard which cant be compared with the likes on iphone. will probably send in my test results when i get my samsung galaxy s. i think Yomi got hint from saumsung at the just concluded mobile app exhibition in unilag that the phone will be launched in two weeks time…cant wait!!
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August 26th, 2010 at 3:34 pm Browsing with
Phew. It took me 1 minute 15 seconds to type this on my Iphone using the virtual QWERTY type keyboard. I guess if I get more practise, I should do better.
@eyebeekay. i get your point. I have always preferred only touchscreen phones. And if you have an app such as swype on android’s touchscreen to assist you, perhaps, you should be faster than when you use a physical keyboard like that of a laptop.
To experiment this I did 49 Seconds when I used the full fledged typewriter keypad on my laptop. Still slower that the 25.94 seconds on the Samsung S touchscreen running Swype apps.
My conclusion: Touchscreen wins!
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August 26th, 2010 at 4:03 pm Browsing with
Afewgoodmen,
Perhaps if you send 40-50 text messages daily like the lady who clocked 25.49 seconds does, you’d get better results on your iPhone? There’s no way you and I will be competing with someone who sends 40 text messages a day.
Also, your conclusion that “Touchscreen wins!” is not a scientific one, as I had mentioned. As EyeBeeKay has taken the pains to list, text entry speed is a combination of several factors. If you send 40 SMS daily on your iPhone, I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to hit your record. And should I habitually send 40 SMS per day on the E5, I doubt that anyone would be able to hold a candle to me
In comparison with your 1 minute and 15 seconds on the touchscreen iPhone, I got 43 seconds on the hardware Nokia E5 QWERTY keyboard. That’s a full 32 seconds faster than you did on the iPhone and 6 seconds faster than you did on a laptop.
Conclusion? Nada! Too many factors involved. However, I do agree that software assisted input will mature over time to carry the day in terms of ease of use and speed. I am not sure that we are there yet though.
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August 26th, 2010 at 10:05 pm Browsing with
I think a physical keyboard like the one on the Nokia E63 is much easier to type on than a virtual QWERTY keyboard like the one on Nokia x6. I own both phones and I’ll pick a physical keyboard if texting, tweeting and facebook is my thing.
As per the test,physical keyboard won for me.
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August 27th, 2010 at 6:22 am Browsing with
archie,
Do you mind sharing your scores with us?
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August 27th, 2010 at 12:03 pm Browsing with
How fast you can type on your phone is dependent on some factors, some of which Eyebeekay has highlighted above…..I dont want to come across as boastful but I know I can come close to that record (maybe between 30 and 35 seconds). I ve actually amazed people around me (family and friends) with my typing skills on QWERTY Touchscreens. Maybe a true comparison can be made if am given the opportunity to try out a SWYPE-style keyboard.
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August 29th, 2010 at 6:20 pm Browsing with
On an average i send normal text in 30s on qwerty phones but for a sentence with unfamiliar words like this i dont think i can get close at all or may be i will get familiar with the words first.
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September 1st, 2010 at 5:54 pm Browsing with
Swype for Symbian^1 now available via Nokia Beta
Labs
All About Symbian – News
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September 2nd, 2010 at 7:32 am Browsing with
Swype for Symbian^1 now available via Nokia Beta Labs
My Miro downloaded the video from Nokia Conversations yesterday.
I have downloaded it and tried it on Nokia 5230, believe me it sure makes typing faster and fluid.
Its time to break a Guinness Record.
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September 2nd, 2010 at 7:35 am Browsing with
Bosun99uk,
Go for it! Don’t forget to post your results. I’m wondering why people haven’t been forthcoming with their results.
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September 2nd, 2010 at 5:39 pm Browsing with
I totally agree with Bosun99un. I have been using Dasur SlideIt (a similar program) for over three months now. I am really excited about this new effort.
Competition drives EXCELLENCE!
I will rate this Swype above SlideIt _when it leaves beta. Some minor bugs still exist, I principally prefer Swype because it seems to “hold on” to the Swypes berra than Dasur SlideIt. Slide It sends to be too sensitive to miniscule accidental lifting from screen while swyping.
This new way of texting is a wonderful piece of software engineering.
I Am persuaded this is the future of speedy and accurate texting. Problem is _ you must know the layout of the screen keyboard and have top notch spelling skills to achieve the best results.
am having problems deciding on which of the the two swiping software to stick to. Will probably keep switching between them, depending on my mood. They both have their strengths.
This was written using Swype. …
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September 2nd, 2010 at 5:44 pm Browsing with
EyeBeeKay,
It would be nice if you carry out the above typing test using Swype, SlideIT and if available a hardware QWERTY keyboard. If the latter is not available, let’s have just the two soft solutions.
Thanks.
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September 2nd, 2010 at 8:01 pm Browsing with
Will do and revert…
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September 6th, 2010 at 2:32 am Browsing with
Very slow. 2mins and 18secs on my mobile. QWERTY keyboard. Should be faster with time and practice
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December 18th, 2010 at 3:16 pm Browsing with
on first attempt. It took me 56secs to complete it. Wheee!!! I’ll try again.
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