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.

  • Jamie@jamie.moe
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    1 year ago

    I have a bluetooth keyboard for my phone that is a proper full size keyboard. Came with a nice little minimalistic plastic stand to hold my phone up for me, too. Of course, it is a little unwieldy to just carry around, but it’d be fine on a trip if you can’t take a laptop for some reason.

    Speaking for myself personally, usually the screen real estate isn’t why I dislike long phone writing sessions, it’s the slow typing speed. Going down from the 90-100/110+WPM I can do on a real keyboard to the 40-45WPM I get on a phone. It makes typing anything feel devastatingly slow compared to using a proper PC with a keyboard. There’s just not really a way to migrate that speed to a mobile device without having a proper keyboard where I can utilize all of my fingers toward writing.

    • bugsmithA
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      1 year ago

      It horrifies me that my key card typing speed is slightly closer to your mobile typing speed. Wow.

      I’m a programmer by trade, so do a fair bit of typing. But my speeds just never reached anything like yours. How have you become so fast?

      For what it’s worth, I do touch type (possibly not perfectly) and use the standard UK Qwerty layout.

      Edit: just tested myself. I actually get around 75 WPM, so near enough in middle of your two ranges.

      • Jamie@jamie.moe
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        1 year ago

        I’m not a programmer by trade, but I have been programming since I was about 13, and I’m 30 now. Plus I spent my entire teenage years online, I grew up in a rural community with nothing else to do but do stuff on the Internet. So it’s some culmination of who knows how many tens of thousands of hours online.