A review of Internet Explorer on Xbox 360 | Hacker News Reader

A review of Internet Explorer on Xbox 360

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16 pointsrobin_reala11 comments

One point from article that I found fasctinating/weird:

>The on-screen keyboard is QWERTY (which I don’t understand as that’s only useful for two-handed typing)

Personally, I hate when devices like that use anything different than QWERTY. I feel like I can translate what my fingers hit on regular keyboard to what I see on screen and input with thumbsticks, whereas when I'm presented with ABCDEF keyboard I feel like I'm 3yo again, hunt-and-pecking.

If you layout the letters in 3 horizontal rows, I expect it to be QWERTY. I suspect most people (such as yourself) agree. I have seen onscreen keyboards (such as with my DVR) that layout the letters more like a square. While you are hunting-and-pecking it does have the advantage of being faster to traverse using directional buttons. I believe the Apply TV does the same thing: http://www.podcastingnews.com/content/wp-content/uploads/200...

I think neither suit the context very well. I would have thought MS to come up with something more intuitive to use, like Steam's Daisy Wheel: http://i.imgur.com/l7Rmw.png

It's not ABCDEF (good for learning), nor QWERTY (good for keyboards), it's something else, adapted to the current interface. It may not be perfect, but it's a good way to start.

I hate QWERTY for anything other than two-handed typing, as it's muscle memory I rely on, which is completely absent when using a controller. I would have preferred A-Z, or a single row of A-Z as iPlayer does, or the spiral that Beyond Good & Evil uses, or basically anything other than QWERTY.

Halo 4 is coming out and my son has been bugging me to get another xbox (the last one red-ringed about four times). Browser testing just might justify the 150 bucks. Im willing to bet that it is a bad browser. It will be interesting to see if people will figure out a way to hack the xbox via IE.

I really hope I don't have to start testing for IE on an XBOX.

Since no one else has commented ...

I find it interesting that even this is tied to an Xbox Live Gold account. Questionable decision, but I expect this browser won't be used all that much. I think the majority of people use another device for surfing while at their TV.

This acts like a review of browsing capabilities but it seems to me that isn't what this is for. It's for YouTube or maybe going to CBS.com to see last weeks Big Bang Theory. I'm not browsing HN on my Xbox.

Only if CBS.com doesn't use Flash or Silverlight, as IE9 Xbox doesn't support either of those.

seems unlikely it's flash. why would people still use flash?

I'd imagine one of these[1] would make it much less annoying to use.

[1] http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2007/04/qwerty...

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