Comment by drbawb | Hacker News Reader

Comment by drbawb | Hacker News Reader

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I still look for tactile buttons, but not when it comes to a handset.

For instance: I don't plan to own a car that incorporates an in-dash entertainment/nav system w/ a touch-only interface. (My only notable exception would probably be a Tesla vehicle.)

When picking out an aftermarket head unit: I look for tactile controls that I can operate, _without looking_, using one hand. I've passed up some superior equipment (from an audio standpoint) simply because it has a touch-screen, an unintuitive interface, or poor tactile feedback.

The reason I don't apply these same restrictions to my taste in handsets is simple: I don't use my phone when I'm distracted. The phone itself _is_ a distraction. So long as the interface is responsive and fluid I don't particularly care about feedback, because the phone typically has my undivided attention whenever I'm using it. I only pine for tactile feedback when the device is to be used in conjunction with an activity that requires a concentrated effort.

Funny, years ago a friend of mine refused to go touchscreen phone, because he was able to send a text message without looking at the phone as it had actual buttons.

I'm more like you, but I like to have a physical button on my phone for the camera. I don't find the on-screen camera button user friendly, esp for half-press focus/exposure. It severely limits my choice of phone though...

I was the same as your friend. And unlike drbawb, I never gave my phone my undivided attention.

Back in the day, PC gamers would learn quick repetitive sequences of key presses, sometimes with specific time delays. It would allow you to quickly select what you wanted so you could continue gaming in real time. I used phones the same way.

End, star, menu, up, select, up, up, select, "4390416046662023020548853052831,down,right,0225509680460,long 3,long 0", select, select, end, keylock.

I would send that text to my girlfriend while I was driving - while the phone was still in my pocket. It's impossible to do today with a smartphone. Luckily, dumb phones still have interfaces that respect certain rules of user input, and have simple single-tasking schedulers that obey your every command without hesitation. The only downside is the lack of good cameras, but the GPS nav and very minimal browsers give me almost all the functionality I need.

For reference, the best T9 texting phones i've ever used were Sony Ericsson. They were european-designed for a market that had long since embraced texting, and made it as natural, efficient and intuitive as possible. Oh the glory days...

[The text I sent above? "Hey i'm gonna be a little late, call you in 30"]

Haha, that's awesome. I'm guessing you were 30 mins late pretty often then? :) I never had the capacity to learn all the key combo's, I do remember hearing about competitions to find the fastest texter, going with somwthing like 100 words a minute or something.

I had Sony Ericssons, Motorolas but the Nokia interface worked best for me (I had my Nokia N95 for a LONG time, 4 or 5 years). I found it came down to whatever you were used to, since the placement of the keys and combos were different (for things like commas, apostrophies etc) between the different brands.

I'm with you as well. I refuse to get navigation systems in cars (and I work in the automotive industry!) or radios without physical buttons. As far as texting, these days I find it easier to just use Siri to send a text message than to have to type it out on a keyboard - especially when I'm walking and my entire body shakes making it very easy to mishit letters. At least with Siri, you get an audible proof-read.

I'm not gonna lie, although I love the convergence the iPhone provides, I still miss T9 and have many fond memories texting directly from my pocket to other classmates in high school. Once you mapped the alphabet to the number keys in your mental model, communication was a breeze -- until it came time to actually read a response, of course.

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