If thinking critically, what does multiple home screens really add? Aside from multiple screens off course. Is there any explanation for their existence?
I hear this even in my sleep already: "Everyone thinks they're amazing / Everyone is used to them." But, that's just repeating an opinion. It doesn't explain why do people need them?
Another common one is: "Statistics tell us that people like products with multiple home screens in them." With that logic, you can say that statistically people also like seats with feces in them, because they use bathrooms several times a day. Sorry, people would be happier without the poo being involved if it would be possible.
This as well: "We have done extensive consumer studies to prove it's a must feature to have." Sigh. On paper, you can make people like poo just by asking them the right questions.
This comes up every now and then: "It's for everyone to personalize their devices." I'm pretty sure the device is already a personal one, and what user does with it, will make it even more so. Also, there's countless other ways to make the interface a personal one.
But the winner is: "What is this heresy I hear! From the beginning of time as we know it, home screen content has always been arranged in horizontal pages!" From the beginning of 2007. But then why is pretty much every other content browsed in vertical direction? Web pages, content streams, call histories, messages and gallery grids. All vertically arranged.
So really. Why does a smartphone need multiple horizontally arranged home screens? How do they make a smartphone smarter? What is the user need they fulfill?
Anyone?
I think it's actually the other way around. A smartphone would be smarter if it didn't have multiple home screens. The main issue is in the thinking that adding more, automatically equals a better product. And as usual, people are blind to the opposite.
It's a better product, that equals more. Let's try it out.
You give a user seven home screens, instead of five. Did it make a single home screen any better? Is it easier to move or find things between seven home screens? Are seven screens easier to decorate with widgets? Is it easier to find nice widgets that don't look horrible? Is it more personal solution? Did the product become smarter than before? Does it free system resources for actual user tasks?
Nope.
Then try removing all but one home screen. Make that single remaining home screen better. Make it smarter. So that it adapts better to what user is actually doing with the device, removing the need to juggle between multiple home screens. Because everything you did and worked on, is found from the same home screen, everything becomes much faster. You launched a music player, and suddenly the controls are also there. You arrived at work and your email account summary is greeting you on your home screen. Suddenly the behavior feels more helpful and smarter, since you can do more by actually doing less.
Do you spot a pattern? Better, equals more.
There's even the age-old saying about quality trumping quantity. Well, marketing was clearly invented as an counter-argument. Because smart is hard to do. Just adding more is easy. A hammer with three heads instead of a single good one: a great idea everyone can boldly stand behind of. And with a good marketing campaign, nobody notices it's heavy as hell and unbalanced beyond practical. The rendering looks amazing, though.
So compared to doing smart and meaningful things, marketing is dirt cheap. Guess which path big manufacturers favor?
So let's try one more time: Does adding more home screens make a product easier to sell?
Hell yes it does!
If I buy a hammer, I want a better hammer than I had before. One that allows me to work faster, more efficiently and comfortably, not to forget improved safety. I don't want to buy an inferior hammer, just because it's easier to sell to other people; who at the end of the day, would also prefer a better hammer with a single good head, instead of having the option for multiple ones.
That means the product was intentionally made to perform poorly, just to make it sell more. Since the modular-wonder-hammer has the option to add more heads to it, the potential to develop a single good head is lost for the sake of a nonsense feature.
If Sailfish OS would have multiple home screens next to each other, it wouldn't be possible to have cover actions as explained in my previous post. It would mean that the ability for user to interact with tasks would be reduced.
For the sake of having a modular-wonder-hammer, that's heavy as hell and unbalanced beyond practical.
To be honest with all of you. Making a better product is really hard and painful. It's because the industry around you keeps repeating how more equals better. Especially when the rendering looks awesome.
The dumbest thing I've heard.
In the smartphone industry.
Thanks for reading and see you in the next post. In the meantime, agree or disagree, debate or shout. Bring it on and spread the word.
Good post again, Jaakko ;)
ReplyDeleteWhen we look at the desing from "Scandinavian" perspective, it is easy to agree that less equals more. However, when you move your origin to some other place, lets say China or India for example, I am not so sure any more. Just think about Bollywood vs Mika Kaurismäki, and you get the idea (btw, I saw one very good Bollywood film on my previous trip to China ..).
When we introduced the concept of "Partner Space", there was lots of this talk happening, first of course internally and then some of that externally. But one of the first questions that I remember I got at MWC was: "Can I personalize that ?"
We can bypass that question just by noting that there is perfectly fine Ambience system in Jolla, so there is no further need for personalization. However, by doing that we miss how some of us behave.
I think that best analogy (for me) would be car tuning. It is an old joke that tuning of the motor is successful, if it still delivers the same power and torque that before tuning. And for tuning that happens anywhere else even close by the car, it is always obvious that they would not have been accepted by the initial designers of the car.
So what you wrote sounds ok, if we accept the currently very limited customization possibilities of our UI. And I am not blaming anyone here, just making remark of the current state.
Thanks for stopping By Harri :)
DeleteI really like the comparison to car tuning, and we've seen our community tuning the Home screen quite a few bits already. Some of them, which are btw really nice adjustments, even deliver more than the original amount of power and torque. And that's only with a single home screen, not multiple ;)
Because that way user still has the overview of everything with one glance, in one place. With Partner space, it's not the case. User is not in control, without having dedicated editing modes and settings. All that easily spins out of control, and actually prevent users from harnessing all the potential of the device device through tuning, due to increased system resource requirement from Partner space.
In other words, multiple home screens result in a car that responds poorly to tuning, but that's a different story :)
As you know, this blog contains my unfiltered professional opinions and thoughts about how to solve common problems in touch interfaces designed to be used on the go. These thoughts pretty much reflect how I think and pursue product design goals in my work.
However, if Jolla chooses to act against my advises, it's an internal matter I would not like to discuss in this forum. I hope you understand :)
Jaakko,
DeleteSorry about using an example that relates to our product, but for me it is difficult to stay purely on abstract level. On the other hand, it is quite obvious what product you are mostly talking about, and in this posting you did a good job on describing on what kind of environment and process your design job is applied in practice.
And I was not proposing that it should be possible to customize partner space, but I said that one of the first questions from potential customer was related to that .. ( for me partner space is partner space, not a space to be customized)
Maybe one takeaway from your original posting is, that design is never applied on vacuum, there is always other people involved and also disruption like users, that may or may not have similar background or taste like you.
Alright Harri, here goes :)
DeleteI use examples of SFOS because I know it really well.
I also know really well the capacity Jolla can deliver new features on top of working on the system maturity. You know, things like making and receiving calls and stuff :)
Design is _nothing_ if it's not grounded in reality, and to the available capacity a company has to deliver accordingly. I've never had the luxury to have a "taste". Just trying to pick the path of least resistance, in animations, components, colors and so forth. Just taking the amount of work we had to plow through into account.
Disruptions are nonsense. Just a new word for lack of focus or inability to process ideas/requirements.
Simply implementing "something" is not enough. It needs to be of good quality as well. If the ratio between required features and engineers working on them is unhealthy, you cannot sustain that.
Jolla had to leapfrog years and years of created value by other manufacturers. It was done with guerrilla market positioning, fresh design, strong community focus and excellent software talent.
Software complexity is the enemy, it still is. While the knowledge of the software is your best ally. You either listen to it, or ignore it. Live or die. That's why I like to spend time with our developers, because I learn from them every day. Nobody else can help me in my work in the way they do. And I love every one of them for the help and support they give me. It feels I'm the only one enjoying their expertise, even if it's equally available for all.
All you have to do is listen. Yes, it's those guys who don't have time to attend to meetings because they have their hands full already.
Almost a year now, I've been trying to find ways with them to simplify and sharpen the Home screen implementation, to bring some sanity there. It's gotten really complex and challenging to maintain. But no matter how many ways we find, nothing gets done or even agreed. For a someone like me, it's very frustrating. Knowing all this time, that many things could already be fixed only if we wanted to. I would appreciate if you wouldn't talk to me about practice. My work has nothing to do with it.
Then, it's not about what a customer wants. Because they always want things, no matter what you ask from them. And especially if you ask them.
The amount of value to be created in the smartphone business is equal for everyone. Ways of achieving those are however unique for each. If you try implementing something by copying others, it's going to be a long fall with a sudden stop at the end.
You need to understand the strengths of your product. They're not the same as Android or iOS have. Why make your own life hard by choosing a path that's already traveled by others and it will be difficult to compete in. You're not strong there. I'm talking about multiple home screens if I'm too abstract :)
At the end of the day, it's about being honest to yourself, to the company, to our faithful community and interested industry partners. Promise only what you can do properly. Make sure those promises are rooted firmly in Jolla's capacity to deliver. It's smooth from there on.
I guess that's the secret to my good night sleep. I know I've done all that I can :)
My blog exist to help others learn from our journey. Nothing more.
The main goal of an interface IMO should be: the user does what he wants as fast as possible. The allowed customization should target that since different users have different needs and the default should concentrate on how and what most people do most of the time. In the end it's not a matter of maximalisn vs minimalish. Its a matter of getting things done as fast as possible. Really difficult to get it right.
ReplyDeleteAlso Jakko. DO NOT allow jolla people to start adding unnecessary stuff on the UI. (the community can do whatever with patches outside of jolla) Threaten, kidnap their children, point guns at them but simply don't. It is a joy to use and are only minor things that need to be polished.
The first part is perfectly in line with my design ideology, but the second part has a problem.
DeletePlease, let's try to keep Sailfish community free from fear. It's not the correct way to do things together. If I can't convince someone to agree with me, I cannot force them to, and probably have to find other ways to explain my point better. Nothing good comes out of dictatorship. We all need to be able to put our reasoning into words without making threats, even as a joke. Everybody is just doing their job.
I agree that the devil is always in the details, and we're going to keep polishing the interface, starting most likely from smaller changes that have a big impact to the current interaction paradigm.
I don't know what will be decided, but if you'd like to help keep SFOS lean and mean, we should use https://together.jolla.com/ as the tool. Then everyone can be a part of the process.
Thanks for the support. I appreciate it. Let's just keep the commenting civil :)
Just to be clear the second (threatening) part of the comment was not meant to be taken seriously. It was tongue in cheek. Sorry if it didn't come out this way.
DeleteOn a serious note the comment wasn't about spreading fear or enforcing your opinions but more of a letting the experts do what are best at. Usually stuff designed by coders suffer in the UX department and you can see this in many "one man band" apps. This of course doesn't mean not taking into the design a good idea (even if it somes from your 3 year old child) but you have to be able to say no at some point. A design by committee (or trying to include everything) will always end up to the lowest common denominator.
And yeah i am active on TJC. And speaking of which it would be interesting to write a post about ideas/designs/iconsets and everything design related that was posted there and you liked.
Thank you for understanding and clarifying your earlier comment. It means a lot to me as the blog owner.
DeleteYes, I've seen what a committee design is several times, and never liked it. The big problem there, is that merits of a product design seem to vary between designers, and it's hard to crystallize what's the most important product function. Even if it's as simple as serving user needs and allowing natural interactions without getting in the way of things. In the beginning of Jolla, many things were easier since there was peace to work and and immediate communication line with developers. Work moved fast forward.
A post like that is a good idea. I'll work on something like that.
Even though I don't know who I'm talking with, I appreciate your effort coming here to comment. Keep it up :)
Totally agree about widgets, extra app grids, extra home screens, pinning widgets/apps to homescreens etc. They were awful on Symbian and still awful on Android but I've still got a soft spot for the N9's 3 panel home screen. It was the right level of simplicity/separation for me with a thumb to navigate from the middle of the screen instead of edges or lots of scrolling on my Jolla.
ReplyDeleteTrue, N9 was a lovely product. We all miss it <3
DeleteSailfish OS interface was designed to be both display and hand size independent. For that reason, there was few things we had to do differently. I do hope there's enough time and people to make sure those decisions will carry fruit, to make it up to everyone who miss the three panel arrangement.
The smaller screen on N9 did make everything very effortless, and the same interface would feel considerably different on Jolla.
If I may ask, what part do you feel is the most tedious in terms of scrolling currently?
Thanks for your comments :)
I occassionally do this...
DeleteUnlock. Scroll down to the multi tasking screen. Scroll down 4 times to the bottom of the icon grid. Now I'll change my mind, not launch anything, and want to go back to what is running 4 screens back up again. On the N9 it was a flick sideways no matter where you were in the grid.
Also, I find the edge swipe up from the bottom unnatural for notifications to the point that I don't use it and I almost used to live in the event panel on the N9. It's not the same as Sailfish's notifications of course which is much reduced in functionality. Maybe it's my thumb but it doesn't bend that way without discomfort.
Totally been there. One idea is to _always_ use the Home swipe to get to Home screen. Also from the lock screen and switcher pages below. Reduces the need to scroll a lot, reminds a bit about the N9 since you have always easy way to get back to top.
DeleteThat way, you would always use the same gesture to return to the one pivot point all flows run through - Home screen. Also, peeking time, apps and status information would this way be the same from all places, and would help our muscle memory to adapt to it. Currently, it differs between lock screen (pull the content up), home screen (pull the content down) and apps (swipe from side).
Ambience switcher can be implemented also better and it doesn't need to be on the side like it's currently.
Events view is dysfunctional, and it's merely a shadow of what the N9 had. It needs more work for relevant functionality to appear there when needed. What comes to service integration - times have changed a lot since those days and service providers have much stricter requirements how their content is shown and in which context. Have you tried swiping closer to the opposite corner on the bottom edge (not aiming to the center)? Sorry to hear it's difficult. Since the display sizes seem to be growing without control, the only place that is accessible with one hand, is the bottom edge.
I appreciate your time explaining issues you've experienced.
Thanks and have a great day :)
Hello Jaakko! - nice, thought-provoking article here and I agree with what you say but have some further points to add. :)
ReplyDeleteFirst point is not really related to multiple homescreens as such but just an observation. You mention that people seem to be more familiar with horizontal scrolling and argue that vertical scrolling is used in many other scenarios (including in a big way on Sailfish).
However and perhaps what can be a little confusing (for new users at least) is that Sailfish also adopts horizontal scrolling while in native apps. Therefore, while I enjoy the largely vertical scrolling experience in Sailfish, I don't see why it has to be one way OR the other after all Sailfish definitely isn't. For instance even on the Sailfish homescreen, there is horizontal scrolling to access ambience. So whether you prefer vertical or horizontal scrolling it would seem that even Sailfish has both elements already deeply rooted in day-to-day operation.
With the 1st point in mind therefore, would not the best of both worlds at least offer the *option* to add 2 horizontally swiped page spaces either side of the main homescreen in the same way that the user navigates to the ambience and/or the newly launched Stella toons.tv? NB. this would only be an *option* and would allow user to customise those 2 spaces by having most used features (for example) a web browser to the left side and maybe the message hub to the right side (but user could choose between any 2 native Jolla apps ie. calendar, clock, email etc etc) or just simply leave it as it is - that would be their choice. So it's not really about adding multiple homescreens, as such, but more about enhancing the already multi-dimensional Sailfish UI. I wrote an article about it here illustrating the concept with pictures fyi: http://www.jollatides.com/2013/12/20/sailfish-ui-mapping-potential-improvements/
I (personally) rarely used the traditional "extra" homescreens when I've owned other smartphones opting to rather try and condense everything I need in one or two pages = minimal. Certainly with Sailfish active covers I feel there is even less need for extra homescreens/widgets, but would love quick swipe access to eg. message hub all the same.
Like you though, I personally really like the way Sailfish is mapped on the whole (vertically), and with Sailfish UI would continue focussing on simply optimising the speed at which the user can do useful things while of course preserving the integrity of the UI.
Peace, Timo
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me Timo :)
DeleteI feel that native apps don't really support horizontal scrolling, but are paged, just like every other application framework out there. They all use pages that are also animated most of the time from horizontal direction, implying a hierarchy. SFOS is just true for that animation, so that it can be reversed by user to go back.
Now, inside the application page, the content is browsed vertically. From this observation, it feels funny to have Home screen scroll vertically, since it's not a similar hierarchy as found from apps. I kind of think folders should behave kind of like pages, so you could flick back to the main grid (but that's a different topic:)
Especially with the combined nature of SFOS home screen (swithcer and launcher together), I think it was a mistake to make them in paged fashion. The free flowing N9 method would've supported it better. That way, if no apps would be running, launcher could occupy the screen fully. When apps are launched, they push the launcher down to also communicate what happens in the home screen.
Currently, when new user sees SFOS home screen, the four icons at the bottom look _exactly_ like Andoroid, and they try to flick left/right without much success. With the new tutorial the issue is much less of a problem, but the damage was done already by the sales release. Live and learn I guess :)
Ah yes, I remember your post about those improvements. One huge challenge in making apps reside next to home screen, is naturally that somebody has to implement the support for it :D, and since such a feature has so many degrees of freedom, with so many potential apps, that it's a massive invitation for regression if not properly tested :)
I know it's uneventful to have all apps behave the same on a single home screen, but it's the only way to make it easily digestible for a user what's happening on the device. Also, when you're in a browser, you cannot peek to those apps next to home screen, because you only see what's on home screen. You end up hiding things from yourself.
And since people will want to access the app on the side with a flick from the screen center (because that's how multiple home screens work), another problem emerges. Some apps use horizontal flick to go through a carousel, or cycle through tabs. If the app on the side eats the flick, it's not possible to get back to home screen, unless with a swipe, and then you end up with multiple ways of accessing and exiting those apps on the side.
It's a surprisingly tricky situation, and the more I talk about it, the more I'm convinced that application covers can be used as a really strong foundation for a much stronger and focused experience :)
Especially after lipstick (home screen application) is optimized and fixed to perform better for handling applications.
I don't know if this was helpful or not, but I'm really glad you spend some time to comment on the post :)
Hi Jaakko, hi Everyone,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I would like to apologize if my english is not very good (writing in French would be much easier for me). I would also like to mention that I am not a designer nor a developer, I work in finance as consultant in Paris (I live 45km from Paris).
To sum up, I have followed the MeeGo project from the beginning. I have been sick when I heard Nokia would go with WP only for high-end smatrphones on 11feb2011. Anyway, I decided to buy the N9, and had to go from Paris to Geneva in Switzerland to buy my N9 (I do not regret it). So, as N9 owner, it was natural to follow up closely Jolla and SailfishOS. I was delighthed to discover the all gesture based navigation in SailfishOS, and I thought (and still think) that it is the natural evolution and heritage of the N9. Then I have pre-ordered my Jolla and went from Paris to Helsinki to attend to “Jolla launch event” on 27nov2013 (by the way, loved and honored to be part of that event).
You can imagine that I have followed up very closely everything around/related to Jolla and SailfishOS. From the first time I touched my Jolla and until now I have always wondered why the hell some interactions with SailfishOS UI were not natural or implemented so wrongly !!! Then I have read this posts and especially the comments here and I have now some responses (or at least some responses that explain some wrong implementation choces).
For example, I have always wondered why, when in lock screen or app Laucher, the swipe from the right/left edge does not take us to the home screen??? Isn’t the same gesture supposed to execute the same action? And this is so natural and obvious that when you show your Jolla to someone and you tell him/her it is not complicated. “See, the same gesture execute the same action” and all… But then you have to add “except if you are in lock screen or in app Launcher…”, unfortunately this last sentence make things comlicated (and you know it, which is frustrating).
Another example, why :
- for sending an sms in messaging app, you have to tap on a button…
- for sending a mail in mailing app you have to use the pully menu and select send…
- for sending a tweet in Tweetian app, you have to swipe to left… (I know that Tweetian is not a Jolla app).
So, you use three diferent gestures to do the SAME thing. It is just confusing and not relevant at all.
I could add a lot of other examples, but I will not do it here, I think if Jaakko’s design clues/tips were implemented as descibed here, a lot of things whould be really better in SailfishOS.
I know that there is still a lot of space for improvement to make SailfishOS even better. A wonderful example : I would love to see the implementation of multitasking option descibed for bigger screen in SailfishOS for smartphones (one hand used to peek the home screen and the other used to trigger a cover action). It would be, or it is, the multitasking to a new/next level. It would be wonderful to use.
So, Jaakko, I would like to thank you very much for this blog and for sharing your thoughts with us. I have read all the posts, and it was a real pleasure to read each one and discover the philosophy behind each SailfishOS aspect expalined. I can now imagine how better SailfishOS could be if your design propositions were implemented as described in your posts here.
By the way, regarding this post, I totally agree that more than one home screen would add complexity and would be really a backward step for SailfishOS.
Chris,
On tweeter as @ChristianEmlek
Hi Chris,
DeleteYour English is very good, no problem at all. I would really struggle with my 2 classes of French if you'd chosen otherwise.
It's really great to hear you've found answers to your questions from this blog. Although many things in SFOS are very easy to use, some remain difficult to explain. It's partly because it's hard for people to see problems in things they repeat a lot. It's easy to become blind to inefficiencies in one's workflows, before someone points them out.
It's like going to a school. You don't see the point in it when you're a kid. Everyone just keeps telling you it's good for you to learn things. You understand later why it all mattered.
The other part is caused by those design bugs you just mentioned. But like you said, it's not like we don't know what the problems are, and I have faith it will improve a lot over time.
It's wonderful that you've spent time on listing things you've found off in various native apps. It's both inspiring and encouraging. I appreciate it a lot. A button to "send" is sometimes needed, when user wishes to stay on the same page to send multiple messages (versus swipe to the next page to share/tweet/etc). I do agree that the button is more conventional, and both could use pulley menu to complete the same "send" task.
Very impressive of you to read through all posts. Some topics take more to digest than others. Thank you for the interest and also keeping up a good spirit :)
I appreciate your support and encouraging words. It gives clarity and makes my job feel more meaningful.
Take care Chris!
Do not get me wrong, I love my Jolla and I use it as main phone.
ReplyDeleteChris
We don't set limits and rules to our children because we hate them. It's because we love them. We want all the best for them to succeed in life.
DeleteI see the same in your post. It didn't even cross my mind you wouldn't like Jolla, so there's nothing to explain.
Only through critical thinking can things improve. The amount of knowledge we have is all the time increasing, allowing us to sharpen the approximation of a good interface.
Just like the scientific understanding of our universe, SFOS UX is never complete. Always looking forward for ways to improve.
Thanks again :)
Hi Jaakko,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your reply. I hope that your vision for SFOS will be followed by Jolla and comunity. I believe that you can convince everyone with arguments and explanations as you do it in your posts and comments. Unfortunately for some people sometimes it is very difficult to choose to rely to new and innovative paradigms over to conform to what exists even if it is not efficient.
Eager to try the new SFOS browser and to read your next post.
Cheers,
Chris
Hi Chris,
DeleteMy pleasure. It's the purpose of this blog for me to reply questions. It's all good practice to talk about this stuff.
Thanks again for the support.
Hello jaako I'm Akshat, from India.i wish to tell you that I love the beautiful SFOS and it's live multitasking. I like that I don't need a Facebook or twitter app as everything is accessible just by swiping up from the bottom bezel. Also how easily I can set my status from online to offline(I prefer offline most of the time as I can concentrate on my work more).i love that I can access all the Bluetooth file transfers (or downloads) from there itself, no need to open the file manager. It's a tedious task in android to find that received Bluetooth file. In windows it's even worse. In ios i can't use the Bluetooth only so forget it. Also I can Facebook message any of my friend from the messaging app itself. No need to waste time on Facebook app like i need to do on Android. But a few things bug Me too. Like when I'm browsing and the screen times out, to reach my webpage i need to go through a three stage process of double tap, lock screen, scroll down to reach home screen and finally tapping the minimised webpage on the browser.i would prefer to just double tap screen and reach the webpage i was reading. Another one is that i would really like to reach the settings menu from a right or left swipe rather than the ambience menu. Because i need to toggle data on off a lot and for that everytime i need to open the settings app.i would prefer to have to open the gallery app to set ambience as this is something that i rarely do but i open the settings app almost every minute of my jolla's use. And third i miss a continuous input of my android, or windows. i feel adding continuous input would make it even more handy for one handed use because typing is one thing for which i need to use both hands on my jolla.
ReplyDeleteHi Akshat, great to have you stopping over. I'm glad to hear you appreciate your work so far, and also spent your time to give feedback. We've making some Home screen changes that will allow more sane window handling and resuming behavior in the future. I agree that the current way is sub-optimal, and feels rough at times.
DeleteWould it help to have settings toggles in the Events view, like some of our community members have demonstrated? That would still keep the edge gestures symmetrical and equal for both left and right handed people (not to mention being able to comfortably switching your phone form one hand to another). I do find it tedious to each and every time open the settings app to change something. In that area, SFOS can be certainly improved.
The core idea with ambiences was to bundle settings and other features with them, so that when you change from one ambience to another, multiple settings associated with them would change accordingly (versus tapping through one by one). That would make it easy to go from one context to another (home - work). Implementing it is however still pending and I don't know when such functionality would be available.
Yes, text input is very basic from the keyboard point of view. It would be nice to have a swype-like keyboard, but the amount of work something like that requires is unknown to me. I've seen a community project related to it, but it seems to be on hold for now.
Thanks for commenting and hope to see you again. Take care :)