Before we start, let’s be clear. I am not a developer. I am not selling anything. This is merely just an idea based on my own insights as a creative writer. I would love to have different opinions on this one.

Problem: It’s really inconvenient to write long-form content on a smartphone. When the phone is in portrait mode, there’s enough room to see all the text, but the keyboard is too tiny for extended writing sessions resulting in fatigue. When you turn the smartphone to landscape mode, two problems arise: the keyboard takes up two-thirds of the screen, making it hard to see what you’re typing, and reaching the keys in the middle of the keyboard becomes difficult. Thumb mode isn’t a satisfactory solution either, as it leaves a sad stupid wasted space in the middle of the split keyboard.

When writing on a smartphone, screen real estate is precious. Tablets offer a split thumb floating keyboard mode, but they are bulky, heavy, and not comfortable for long-term typing. Carrying a tablet everywhere isn’t practical.

What’s available: I’ve tried a dozen writing apps (even Joe’s Termux with its high-condensed text) combined with several Android keyboards, but none come close to the experience of having a real keyboard (I prefer ortholinear split keyboards btw) attached to a smartphone for travel.

So, how can we fix the typing experience on a phone? Check these mockups.

Solution: The ideal solution would be to have a split keyboard that occupies the two top sides of the screen, with the text editor displayed in the middle. Full-screen mode to get rid of the status bar would be a plus. You would hold your phone like a Steam Deck or, even better, like the Nokia N-Gage (I know that there have been phones closer to what I’m describing, but the N-Gage is the most well-known form factor).

Additional benefits: This layout would be more comfortable to hold, similar to how you hold your phone when playing PUBG. Your index fingers would rest on the phone, and the bottom corners of the phone would fit into the palms’ cavity. Achieving this would be possible since the keyboard would be positioned closer toward the top corners of the phone (remember, the phone is in landscape mode).

Some other thoughts: Perhaps combining a keyboard with a text editor is excessive. It’s possible that a new type of keyboard that splits and allows you to view the text you’re typing in the middle would suffice. However, it’s uncertain whether this would work with every app.

**Disclaimer: **Please note that the following mockups provided are intended solely for illustrative purposes to convey the concept and potential user experience.

  • m88youngling@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Whoah! That’s a really neat concept! I approached this problem by nabbing myself a Surface Duo so I could have an entire second screen dedicated to a virtual keyboard. It’s still kind of difficult to type long form content, so I could see this being very helpful for my daily driver single screen phone.

  • BigTechBlows @mander.xyz
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    1 year ago

    I would absolutely try this keyboard. I try not to type too often on a phone, and stick to my tablet with a hardware keyboard (Logitech Multidevice)

  • seang96@spgrn.com
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    1 year ago

    I saw this app by one of the lemmy devs. It’s an interesting concept and if you’re on Android you can install it. See here

    • sawtOP
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      1 year ago

      I tried that one. Swiping for letters makes it slow. And there is quite a learning curve to it.

      I’d still prefer keyboards that let’s you swipe for whole words over that.

      • seang96@spgrn.com
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        1 year ago

        Yeah definitely not my cup of tea either. Really hard to break away from qwerty haha

  • MiddleWeigh@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I tried to write a few chapters on my phone, and this would be pretty great for that use case. I would use it for sure. Not sure about broad appeal or anything else for that matter, but I’d try it

  • DrSilverworm@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I would suggest checking out foldable Bluetooth physical keyboards. There are some that fold down not much bigger than the size of the phone. Gives tactile feedback, and saves a lot of screen real estate.

  • PangolinPaladin@social.fossware.space
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    1 year ago

    Given that most smartphones are not more than twice as tall as they are wide, wouldn’t having it in the layout you describe leave the same amount of horizontal screen space for the keyboard anyway?

    • sawtOP
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      1 year ago

      Try to put the app screenshot full screen on your phone and tell me what you think.

      • PangolinPaladin@social.fossware.space
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        1 year ago

        I’ve done so and I think my point still stands in terms of the size of the keys. I do agree that having the text show in the middle instead of a blank space for the keyboard is much better than having the text stretched out on the top half of the screen. I personally have not done much if any typing on a split keyboard like that, so I don’t know how comfortable it would be, but I do like your idea of having a touch pad included.

  • Strayce@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    Modern phones are kind of an 80% solution. The UI conventions that have evolved work well enough for most use cases that they’ve become ubiquitous. There will always be niche situations like this that they won’t cover. The mockups look cool and remind me of the old Nokia “texting” phones like the 5510, 6800 and E70. As much as I love Nokia’s “eh, let’s see if this works” attitude, that design didn’t catch on when they tried it, either. If you already have a bluetooth keyboard that you like, just use that. Anybody else that wants to write long form on a phone will do the same.

  • Kowowow@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    I still miss my physical keyboard phone if swipe didn’t exist I’d be buying a bluetooth one