How To Use Keyboard Gestures On Windows Mobile

photo credit: JulianBleecker

With the onset of the iPhone craze, there’s no end in sight for the vast popularity of the touchscreen phone. On touchscreen phones, including those with hardware keyboards, users utilize on-screen keyboards when inputting textual information into their phones, usually with a stylus. Of course, an on-screen touch keyboard doesn’t present the same functionality as a traditional keyboard, so its not uncommon for users to type slower when using them. The touchscreen keyboard are obviously much smaller than the standard variety, also making use of only one hand(using the stylus) rather than two. However, many users can learn to love and even be efficient with touchscreen keyboards nonetheless. That’s where keyboard gestures come onto the scene for WM touchscreen cell phone users.

How To Use Keyboard Gestures On Windows Mobile

Most people are unaware of this feature, but keyboard gestures can be used to simplify typing with a stylus on a touchscreen keyboard. In the rush of typing with the stylus, it can be difficult to hit the space key, backspace, scroll through the document, or create new paragraphs. Windows Mobile users can use keyboard gestures to perform these necessary tasks while pecking out words just as quickly with the stylus. Rather than clicking a button, in this case, a flick of the stylus is all that is needed to complete the touchscreen keyboard experience on Windows Mobile.

There are 4 basic keyboard gestures on  Windows Mobile:

1. To capitalize a letter, tap the key and flick stylus up
2. To backspace, flick stylus left anywhere in the keyboard area
3. To move forward, flick stylus right anywhere in the keyboard area
4. To move down or add a new line, flick stylus down anywhere in the keyboard area

In addition, a similarly advantageous feature on Windows Mobile is the transcriber, which inputs user handwriting and then converts it into text. Also disregarded very often, this handwriting recognition tool is an easy yet effective feature for both beginner and advanced users. Gestures are quite important when using the transcriber, and unlike keyboard gestures, they are more complex than a simple single-direction swipe. The most common transcriber gestures, called quick gestures, are copy, cut, paste, backspace, and quick correct.

The upcoming release of Windows Mobile 7 is expected to include additional functionality for Keyboard Gestures and other touch gestures on touchscreen phones.