<p>My kids have iPhones. My husband has an iPhone. My work issued Blackberry is on death’s door and I need to replace it. The natural choice is an iPhone but i just can’t type on the keypad. I don’t even have large fingers, but I simply can’t type the right letter. I spent a couple of minutes last week trying to text on my H’s phone " r u on the road" and could not do it. It always thought I was typing one of the letters next to it. I had to give up and give the phone to my son (who has huge fingers.)</p>
<p>Is that something I would get better at or should I admit failure before I even try?</p>
<p>Fear not! You have alot of company! You can try two things which help a little; first, by turning the phone sideways, the keypad shifts from its vertical orientation to a horizontal display, and the keys become a little bigger. Or, you can opt for a little typing stylus tool (somehow for me that’s one more thing to lose!) but the stylus has a soft, squishy end which you use to hit the keys. </p>
<p>Practice helps, and then you’ll gradually get comfortable letting the occasional typo go on it’s merry way.</p>
<p>i feel your pain and bought the Droid 4 two weeks ago. Love my ipad, but typing on it is a nightmare and I have small hands. </p>
<p>There are 3 phones on Verizon that have full keyboards: droid 4, blackberry & samsung. Given the rest of my family has (or had) droids, I figured they can help me navigate a smart phone.</p>
<p>Before I had my iPhone I tried to type on my sisters and just couldn’t. But I do ok on mine. I think the iPhone will adjust to your fingers and typing style. I also like the stylus, it does help. </p>
<p>I do have to say that I liked texting on my old slide out phone than this and my D agrees. I get less texts from her on her smartphone than I did before.</p>
<p>I avoid Siri as I don’t think she’s nearly as accurate as the voice recognition native to the keypad. I use it all the time. Missypie, on the bottom row, third from the left there is key that looks like a microphone. Tap that, wait for the tone…speak what you want to text or write, hitting the mic bar when you are done. Your text should appear. You can use this anywhere within the iPhone that the keyboard appears. Perhaps it’s grown used to my voice, but I think it’s far better then Siri.</p>
<p>Every once in a while I have trouble typing due to hand tremors that come and go (what a pita!) so it comes in handy. My kids like the android platform and I know there are excellent phones there as well. If you like the iPhone I do think you’ll get used to the keyboard, but if you’re not entirely sold on the iphone then definitely look at android. You might find something you’re more comfortable with.</p>
<p>I much prefer Android devices over iPhone, but iPhones may have a similar app. Personally, I don’t like Swype, but what I do use is SwiftKey. It basically learns what you type and what word you use, but it also knows that when you hit a letter next to the one you meant to hit that you are tying to say a different word. It’s a little hard to explain…</p>
<p>Let’s say you typed, ‘ead’ - it knows that the word you mean to type was ‘was’ (you hit ‘e’ instead of ‘w’ and ‘d’ instead of ‘s’). It’s a really great app, and it allows you not to look at the keyboard when you type and not to type with one finger. It is NOT a T9 type feature - it actually tries to figure out what word you are trying to type, assuming that you may have hit the wrong letter by accident.</p>
<p>O! M! G! I have had an IPhone for ten months, and still experience “fat finger syndrome” a bit. But I’m much better than I was at first, and the other functions of the phone (moving up from a very old, basic, free clamshell) still amaze me. (Late to the party, I know.)</p>
<p>If for no other reason, being able to Facetime with my husband (Afghanistan for nine months), S1 (all over Europe for a month), and S2 (Malawi for several weeks) is worth any amount of temporary texting frustrations.</p>
<p>OMG…One night I tried to ask my family via a group text if they wanted burritos for dinner. The text sent…would you like butt ottos for dinner…</p>
<p>Common problem. I’ve taken to finding the humor in iPhones auto correct and also in my own fat finger problem. I have found that using the index fingers instead of thumbs lessens the problem…but then my kids roll their eyes at how silly that looks .</p>
<p>D2 texted me last night, and instead of texting back, I called her; her response" “Don’t you text anymore??” Yes, I have become increasingly frustrated with typing on my iPhone, but it still better than the old phone I had with a keyboard. I have gotten better over time, but it still frustrates me.</p>
<p>Hey Missy, hope everything is well with you.
I had trouble at first but got better as time went on. My real problem is reading email on the phone with my bifocal contacts, LOL.
I have become much more proficient over time. I text all the time and don’t make too many mistakes. You learn to look for the letter to flash up above the keyboard when it’s something that must be perfect.
Siri, on the other hand, has * never* placed a phone call correctly. It just can’t understand what I’m saying. Maybe because it detects my location and I don’t sound Texan.
Keep trying, they’re lots of fun.</p>
<p>Count me in the iphone challenged. My smart phone has a slide-out keyboard which I love. I do think we will all switch to iphone, though, when this contract is up. Supposedly, I can get a keyboard to attach (?). Sure hope so. I am so slow at texting.</p>
<p>With my son’s help, I got an ipad this spring and my case has an attached keyboard. My son knows me!</p>
<p>You’re among friends here. I suck at typing on an iPhone but I got one anyway. You get used to it, but it does take a while. Also, there is autocorrect. I actually can type on mine without even looking at it. You could also go for a phone with a physical keyboard line one of the droids.</p>
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