Filed under: Software, Cool tools, Odds and ends, iPhone
A typing tutor for the iPhone
A while back, we reported on a study that (not only had all kinds of holes in it, but) claimed the iPhone's keyboard was two times slower than other phones. But as many commenters said, the keyboard just requires practice.And there's no better way to get it than to jump into a typing tutor. We've seen one before for the iPhone, but reader Travis (thanks!) sent us a tip about TypingWeb.com's free iPhone tutor (just go to their site on your iPhone, and enter some information to create an account), and I was impressed by how smoothly it worked. During the Basic test, I moved pretty quickly-- a nice 36 words per minute. But on the Advanced test, they throw all kinds of things at you (including intentionally misspelled words, so you have to dodge Apple's corrections), and I dropped down to about 16 wpm.
Definitely worth a try. A lot of iPhone typing seems to be situation-- moving around in a car or bus, for instance, makes things a lot harder. But at least this will give you a ballpark figure of your typing prowess.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ron J said 6:21PM on 12-15-2007
Doesn't work in landscape view. I also hate having to register.
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peaches said 6:48PM on 12-15-2007
16...words...per...minute...on...the...beginners...test. Dang.
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StrikerX said 6:48PM on 12-15-2007
it works actually
PS. 26 wpm, in landscape, w/o autocorrection
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Byran said 7:21PM on 12-15-2007
They misspelled "Kentucky" as Kentuky. The irony is that the sentence before that, they promised just standard words. Think it was the medium test.
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Pete said 8:27PM on 12-15-2007
Anyone else see that headline and immediately think 'Mavis Beacon'?
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MRCUR said 12:56AM on 12-16-2007
More like Mavis Bacon...
Raúl C. said 1:56AM on 12-16-2007
Okay, they need to fix this thing. It sometimes ignores my spaces. Ignoring them then saying I typed the last word wrong? The word I had already zoomed by? Geez.
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jared said 11:02AM on 12-16-2007
but the whole point of typing on the iphone is that it fixes your mistakes... so despite the random intentionally-misspelled word, you can just type away and have your mistakes corrected.
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Ron J said 12:17PM on 12-16-2007
jared is right. This typing program is actually teaching you to type slower. The beauty of the iPhone is that you'll make mistakes, but the software will correct those mistakes. Isn't one of the tips for typing on the iPhone that you should allow the auto-correction to fix your mistakes, thus, you'll end up typing faster?
brian said 10:42AM on 12-17-2007
To everyone with an iPhone: try "using the force." Just once, just for fun, just see how it goes. Just stab your fingers at the keys as fast as possible. Don't even look at the words appearing, just watch the keys. If you mess up, keep going. Then, look back at what you've done. Most likely, you'll be amazed at how much the autocorrect did and how good the overall result is. (Assuming you're using real words in the first place.)
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Moosejaw said 1:20PM on 12-18-2007
This reminds me of the Newton typing practice.
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