Fat finger syndrome

And, we talked about using a stylus earlier in the post. You can get a pack quite cheaply on the online book and everything else store to which many of us are addicted..

It's also fairly easy to disable the same thing on the iPad.

voice input is fine... until you find out your text to your friend about her mother's flock wallpaper was somehow sadly mistranscribed...

I have just used the voice input on my Samsung Galaxy S3 mini to write a text and it got it right first time. I am very impressed as it might be the answer to my finger problems

It's not fat finger syndrome that causes the problem! It's making the keys too bloody small.
You can always trust the manufactures to push the blame the onto consumers for what is basically poor design.

luckily my hands have not yet been ravaged by the cruel whims of time. but i am familiar with the problem of smart phone texting difficulties. similar to conchord, it is something that has actually reverted - one could write faster and more precisely on phones ten years ago. i actually dont like predictive text myself - i was around 15 when the first affordable pay as you go nokias came out, thus i sent messages for years without predictive text - and i absolutely, positively refuse to learn now. if you can find the settings option on your mobile phones, have a look for a message options sub-menu - that should contain predictive text options to disable at will.

would suggest to those struggling with touch screens to use a pointer of some sort - anything, a pen, matchstick.. whatever - to select the keys, slower yes, but more precise and therefore generally quicker

blackberry-type phones with the 'qwerty' keyboard physical keys (same as computer keyboard) are much easier to type with i find, anyhow

GinnyTonic I posted a long time ago, after I had got predictive text here on my iPad, when sending an email to my sister. I ended it with 'looking forward to seeing your moron' which should have read 'looking forward to seeing you soon.'

Why on earth would you want a "smartphone"!!!
My other half uses a standard phone with BIG keys. No problem at all.
Of course I would not use a mobile other than to save a life! And to give out my wifes mobile number is a big big no no!!! It's bad enough having to give out our landline number for some things.

I like that, Ariadne, 'sword' it shall be from now on!

Hunt my smallest DGD (just 3 now) called the stylus a "sword" because he didn't know the right word. (Oh dear, I have posted this before...)

I use Swype on my Galaxy. You just move your fingers to each letter without lifting them. It gives you a list of words it thinks you are writing to choose from and remembers names and words you use a lot. I love it and don't think I could go back to tapping with my fat fingers.

Oh the joys of predictive text . Spill chucker is sometimes hilarious. When OH was in hospital over Christmas, he sent a text to say his brother had smuggled in some goodies and "I am warming the WIND in the bed". I intended to send a text about a ladies golf competition and pressed send before I realised they were consensual lads, not competing ladies.

They must all have very thin thumbs!

I have had exactly the same experience. Really wanted a smart phone but hate the virtual keyboard on my Samsung Ace. Should have got a Blackberry with a real qwerty keyboard.. Suspect my fingers would still be too big. I notice kids text with their thumbs mostly. How does that work??.

That's handy info, Hunt. I didn't realise you could use any sort of device when texting, as I, (in my ignorance) thought the heat from our flesh was necessary to make phone screens work. How stupid am I ?
This could be the deciding point.... I shall move forward now into the world of smart phones! (probably!)

My DH and I use a redundant pencil with a rubber on the end to type our txts; entirely eliminates 'fat finger' Also a phone with a qwerty keyboard ( which appears when you turn the phone sideways) means you only have to tap each letter once.

I have sent some really random texts, but it keeps the family on their toes trying to keep up with me

You are right Ana! I googled it and I have now turned off the awful "guess the next word" thing on kindle fire. I didn' t know you could do that! And it was easy.

(Thank you!)

You can turn off predictive text on all these devices - it's just a matter of finding out how. I'd suggest Googling...

Is it not possible to turn off the auto-completion on these tablets?

If you do have fat fingers, my advice would be... don't take up the piccolo...

[gin] aka oops, did I mean ? Maybe - maybe not!

When setting up a new touch screen phone for DD1, I discovered than turning the screen on it's side gives a wider keypad, less likely to cause problems. I managed it ok.
Having said that, I make typos all the time on my Samsung tablet, it is very annoying! going slower helps, but I am not a patient person!

Couldn't be without mine now. Although DD did have to persuade me. I use it all the time for posting here and for google.
The problem with texting on it, is that if I type a slightly obscure word it will change it to what it thinks I mean. But it does spell check which is good.