The iPhone “may not be suitable for heavy text use.” That’s the end-of-the-day result on a recent study comparing users’ text messaging abilities. The study, carried out by User Centric, compared iPhone users, QWERTY-based cellphone users and regular old multi-tap phone users. It found that iPhone users were able to text, generally, as fast as their QWERTY counterparts, they made a whole lot more mistakes in both text entry and in the messages they actually sent out.
I gotta say, I’m not entirely surprised by the results. I’ve only used the iPhone at the Apple Store but could tell it wasn’t the best texting device. Comedian Louis CK, a big fan of Apple, has a running gag where he hates on the iPhone’s texting ability. It’s pretty funny; go see him live.
Direct Comparison of iPhone and Hard-Key QWERTY Phone Owners Indicates Higher
Text Entry Error Rate for iPhones [User Centric Press Release]