A Study of Smartphone Text Input Methods

This research aims to establish how typing how smartphone typing may inhibit user, and ultimately whether it is a hindrance or help. Chapter 1 aims to discuss the evolution of smartphones. Chapter 2 explores the science and theory behind soft keyboards and how to determine and compare their usability. The following chapter investigates the alternative input methods currently available on smartphone devices. The final chapter discusses the result from testing 6 smartphone users to assess which method is most efficient, and also discusses results from the questionnaire completed by 30 smartphone users. This research concludes that alternative input methods such as Swype and SwiftKey offer substantial benefits to users and are comparable with common typing speeds found on computer keyboards.