Windows Phone 7 soft keyboard a scientific marvel, will only get better

April 28, 2011 | By Surur

keyboard_touch_points

We all know the Windows Phone 7 keyboard is good, but even I am surprised by the behind the scenes sophistication of the software.

Much of the technology of the Windows Phone 7 soft keyboard came from work by Microsoft Research, and employs a variety of techniques to increase accuracy.

“We wanted to have the best text-input solution in the world. When it comes to digital communication, the task of getting an idea from your head to the keyboard is really important.” said Eric Badger, from the Windows Phone 7 team.

The current soft keyboard was developed using machine learning, statistical models of language, and data collected from user experiments which eventually turned into the Text Text Revolution game, released by a member of the team.

By combining statistical models of language patterns and touch points, the keyboard dynamically changes the virtual size of the likely next letter, so that it has a larger target area—the area where tapping the keypad results in a particular letter, symbol, or number.

In upcoming releases, the keypad even will take into account the speed at which a person is attempting to type.

“When you’re typing really fast with two thumbs, the touch patterns are sloppy, so you have to make the target area even bigger.”

The statistical prediction algorithm of the keyboard even knows when to back off. When you type in the direct centre of the letter you will always get the letter you typed, rather than what they algorithm thinks you want, and when it comes across what appears to be an unfamiliar word it will be less eager to suggest words.

“The quality of the keyboard has been amazing, thanks in large part to those who designed the Splash user-interface framework and those who tuned and optimized the touch pipeline. We’ve gotten a lot of really positive feedback.”

Read a lot more about the keyboard at Microsoft Research here.

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged microsoft research, soft keyboard, windows phone 7

Chris S

The way the WP7 keyboard works is really good but I would love a swype like feature on WP7. I had swype on my old WinMo phone (taken from the Omnia II thanks to the guys at XDA) and its the easiest way to type on a touchscreen

pedro

+1 Swype is great.

Alan Strangis

I'm really impressed with the WP7 keyboard compared to the iPhone or Android (even the latest Gingerbread on a 4.3 inch screen). It would be nice if it could learn that I press the space bar a little too high frequently enough that I still get 'v' or 'b' instead though I'm getting used to it

http://www.facebook.com/wixostrix Edwin Michael Rodriguez-Duplesis

I do that too. It catches sometimes and it will give a suggestion that will eliminate the v and add a space but never changes it automatically.

Rich Adair

I would rate it 5 stars if it had keys to move the cursor.

travis

I hated them! On every WinMo I had I had a custom keyboard of my own to get rid of those useless arrows! I love the WinPho7 keyboard

Ben Chia

agreed, the WP7 is elegant the way it is now.
Rich Adair

The having to move the cursor with the finger is awkward. I have to remove my fingers from keyboard and then touch the screen to move the cursor, and then back to the keyboard. If you are typing in a dialogue box like on facebook then the cursor movement is impossible if there are more lines of text than the size of the window.

ICE

You are spot in. They've introduced unneeded touches and unintuitive UX by omitting arrows on the soft keyboards.

Bernard Angustia

If only they would port it to Zune HD…one can only dream.
Eric

The WP7 keyboard is nice, but I prefere SWYPE.

I hope MS can develop this quickly, because swype is really faster and more intuitive.
This is one of the features I miss the much.

david

not so sure about that … its cool when you have only one hand available but i prefer to type with two hands. I'm faster like that

jabtano

Yes it's good but my god I am all thumbs. I mess more times it's not the device it's me. I'm so use to pounding a keyboard that the onscreen keyboard on my HTC HD7 Wow Poor thing I abuse it, really abuse it.
PMT1209

I really like WP7 but honestly the keyboard doesn't thrill me, I wish the keys were larger and this is with my Focus with a 4" Screen.. I have larger fingers and some may I disagree but I actually have a easier time typing on my wife's iPhone 4 then my Samsung Focus.. I tried the LG Quantum with it's slide out keyboard but the display paled in comparison with the Focus.. I was hoping NoDo included a larger keyboard, guess now I will be hoping for a larger/better keypad with WP 7.5(Mango).

http://www.facebook.com/danrh Daniel Rivero Horie

You're right, even when the keys on my Focus look bigger, it's easier for me to type on my brother's iPhone than on my Focus. I'm wondering why

kdk

I have no real proof of this, but I think the touch sensivity on the focus is not that great. I have an easier time typing on my brothers Optimus7, which has a smaller screen as well, which is the same OS, so it must be the screen…

syrinx

I'm another Focus owner who's not too thrilled by the keyboard. I have large fingers and yes, I have an easier time typing on an iPhone than on the Focus. Like PMT1209, I also wish the keys were bigger. I hit the wrong letter pretty frequently.

Rich Adair

The prob with hitting the wrong keys( I have a Focus) is that the keys are oriented vertically, but our fingers' pressure points are actually horizontally oriented when they hit the screen.

syrinx

That would explain my better accuracy when the keyboard is on landscape mode, where the keys are slightly wider and not as tall.

sab0tage

From using a friends iPhone today to setup her email account on the thing, I can tell you the keyboard is bloody awful.
Daniel D

"the keyboard dynamically changes the virtual size of the likely next letter, so that it has a larger target area—the area where tapping the keypad results in a particular letter, symbol, or number"
Ahh, that is why I it works so bad with me. Because WP7 does not have russian keyboard I have to type latin letters for russian words. And ofcorse it can't predict the right letter and I get always the wrong one
Wozniak

What's special? I am not thrilled by this WP7 keyboard at all.

Be realistic:
- It is not multi-language (you have to switch yourself between languages: ridiculous)
- You have to select another layer to get the figures (!)

It's a shame not to have a Swype-like keyboard on a modern device like WP7.
Anonymous

I would love to be able to hold a key to insert a number 0-9.. Pressing a key to go into the other layout annoys me no end!
Anonymous

I would love to be able to hold a key to insert a number 0-9.. Pressing a key to go into the other layout annoys me no end!