"Old people use 9 keys, young people use 26 keys"? Your typing habits have betrayed you...

Just like the never-ending "sweet and salty" debate in the food world, there is also a very "troublesome" question in the mobile phone typing world: Is 9 keys better or 26 keys better? The 9-key camp believes that the 9-key layout makes each key larger, the letters are more concentrated, and it is fast to press, even if it is easy to operate with one hand.

9 keys. Image source: Screenshot by the author

The 26-key camp believes that the 26-key layout on a mobile phone is similar to that of a computer keyboard, which makes it more familiar to use. In addition, the 26 letters are separated, making typing more precise and less error-prone.

26 keys. Image source: Screenshot by the author

The two camps refused to give in to each other, and there was even a saying on the Internet that "only old people use 9 keys, and young people use 26 keys."

Is this really the case?

In fact, neither 9-key nor 26-key is the most efficient input method, they are just our compromise of input tools. Today, let's talk about mobile phone keyboards in detail~

9-key and 26-key mobile phone keyboard

How did they come about?

The reason why there is a saying on the Internet that "older people use 9 keys and young people use 26 keys" may be related to the evolutionary history of mobile phone keyboards.

In fact, long before the advent of mobile phones, the design of corresponding numbers and letters had already appeared on rotary dial telephones, but the arrangement of letters and numbers at that time was somewhat different from what we are familiar with today. For example, the letters O and Q were placed on the number 0, and there was no letter Z, etc.

Rotary dial telephone. Image source: wikimedia

After the advent of mobile phones, the earliest correspondence between numbers and letters still followed this set of rules, such as the picture below, which is the E.161 standard released by the International Telecommunication Union in 1988. The letters O and Q are still on key 0, and there is no letter Z.

The 1988 version of the International Telecommunication Union's E.161 standard. Image source: International Telecommunication Union Standards

The 9-key layout of mobile phones that we are familiar with was first established by the International Telecommunication Union in the E.161 standard updated in 1993, and has been used to this day. Many people born in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s may have first come into contact with such a mobile phone keyboard.

The 9-key layout we are familiar with. Image source: wikimedia

The early 9-key input rules were relatively complicated, for example, pressing "2" twice meant "b" and pressing "7" four times meant "s", but as long as you use it more, you can master it, and many people have even mastered the skill of "one-handed blind typing". After getting familiar with this layout, switching to the current 9-key layout is naturally smooth.

This is most likely the reason why people born in the 70s, 80s, and 90s are more accustomed to the 9-key input method.

In comparison, the 26-key keyboard on mobile phones appeared much later than the 9-key keyboard.

In 1996, Nokia 9000 Communicator was released. This phone was equipped with a 26-key full keyboard, making it convenient for people to reply to text messages and emails using their phones.

Later, the BlackBerry full keyboard mobile phone that people are more familiar with was also launched in 1999. But in the early days, the full keyboard design of the BlackBerry mobile phone attracted many people to complain that it was crowded and unsightly.

You can see that the phone keyboard is much smaller than your finger, so typing is not very convenient. Image source: pixabay

In 2007, the first generation of iPhone was released. The earliest iPhone used a virtual keyboard, and the default keyboard layout was also 26 keys.

After 2007, mobile phone screens have gradually become larger, from 3 inches and 3.5 inches to today's 6 inches and 7 inches. The 26-key layout no longer seems so "crowded and cramped" and is more convenient to use.

Average mobile phone screen size changes from 2007 to 2014. Image credit: AlexBarredo, @somospostpc

When the post-00s came into contact with mobile phones, 26 keys were already very common. In addition, the layout of the 26 keys is very similar to that of a computer keyboard, so people can "seamlessly switch" between computers and mobile phones.

These reasons may have led to the saying on the Internet that "old people use 9 keys, young people use 26 keys." Of course, the old and young here are just relative ages. And this statement is not absolute, after all, people can choose according to their own preferences.

Which one is better, 9 keys or 26 keys?

Although there is little authoritative literature on the typing speed of the two mobile phone keyboards, some people have conducted tests and comparisons.

For example, a study in 2012 compared the typing speed of two mobile phone keyboards. The results showed that when the input content includes Chinese, English, and numbers, the total input time of the 26-key (i.e. full keyboard) is faster than that of the 9-key keyboard. However, if only Chinese is input, the completion time of the 9-key keyboard is slightly faster than that of the full keyboard.

The study also found that in terms of error rate, the 26-key keyboard has a higher error rate when inputting Chinese content. The article speculates that this may be related to the size limitation of the mobile phone screen.

BlackBerry phone released in 2012. Image source: wikimedia

Considering that this study was conducted in 2012, when mobile phone screens were relatively small, a 26-button layout would indeed seem a bit crowded.

In 2017, a netizen also found 8 undergraduates to compare the 9-key and 26-key input. Although the sample size is relatively small, it can be used as a reference.

This experiment found that the 26-key keyboard had fewer errors and faster input speed than the 9-key keyboard. However, when inputting Chinese and mixed Chinese and English content, the difference in input speed between the two keyboards was actually very small.

It can be said that from the perspective of daily typing speed, there is not much difference between 9-key and 26-key keyboards, and there is no absolute saying that one is better than the other.

Neither 26-key nor 9-key are the fastest

Although people have been arguing over whether 9-key or 26-key is better, in fact, neither 9-key nor 26-key is the most efficient keyboard layout.

Let’s talk about the 9-key keyboard first. It is easy to understand that the 9-key keyboard is not the most efficient one for input.

After all, the 9-key keyboard layout is not designed for typing, it is just a keyboard layout inherited from the dial-up era. Although some people can type very fast with 9 keys, this is just people adapting to the 9-key layout.

The 26-key keyboard we are familiar with is actually not the most efficient keyboard layout for typing. The common 26-key keyboard has a name, called the QWERTY keyboard (because the first few English letters of the keyboard are QWERTY).

Common QWERTY keyboard. Image source: wikimedia

Although the QWERTY keyboard has become the most widely used keyboard, this is not because its layout is the best for fast typing.

There is a saying that the QWERTY keyboard layout was designed to reduce typing speeds because the mechanical structure of typewriters in the mid-19th century could not withstand fast typing speeds, which could easily cause key jamming problems.

However, researchers at Kyoto University also put forward a different opinion. They believe that the design of the QWERTY keyboard has nothing to do with whether the keys are stuck or not. The QWERTY keyboard was designed based on the early Morse code telegraph keyboards. The layout of early telegraph keyboards often changed, and the QWERTY keyboard is just one of the layouts.

In fact, the popularity of the QWERTY keyboard is the "optimal" solution designed based on the mechanical design at the time, research on the frequency of English letters, and optimization of finger length.

In the 1870s, inventor Sholes applied for a patent for the QWERTY keyboard (the QWERTY layout at the time was slightly different from today's, but overall it was very similar). Such a keyboard was also favored by Remington, the giant American weapons manufacturer at the time.

At that time, the American Civil War had just ended, and the American weapons manufacturing giant Remington began to look for new business outlets, and producing typewriters was one of them.

The typewriter designed by Sholes with a QWERTY keyboard layout. Image source: wikimedia

Remington soon signed a contract with Sholes and began producing typewriters with a QWERTY keyboard layout. In fact, the QWERTY keyboard was just one of many keyboard layouts at the time.

But in 1983, the five largest typewriter manufacturers, including Remington, jointly established the United Typewriter Company and decided to adopt the QWERTY keyboard as the standard keyboard. As a result, the QWERTY keyboard almost monopolized the keyboard market.

In addition, Remington not only produces keyboards, but also provides low-cost training courses to train typists. This makes typists and typewriters tied together. If they change keyboards, their typing speed will be greatly reduced. This strategy is very similar to the product ecosystem logic created by many companies today.

In fact, after selling the QWERTY keyboard patent to Remington, Sholes later invented several keyboards, some of which were specially optimized for typing efficiency, but people's habits had already been formed. In addition, typists were almost all trained on the QWERTY keyboard, so other keyboards had little chance of rising.

Sholes invented a new keyboard layout after the QWERTY keyboard (Image source: US Patent No. 568630A)

In the more than 100 years since then, various keyboard layouts have emerged, including the famous Dvorak and Colemak keyboards, which are specially optimized for typing efficiency, but I believe that most people have never used them or even heard of them. After all, the cost of learning and adapting to changing a keyboard and practicing typing again is too high.

Colemak keyboard layout. Image source: wikimedia

In short, from the development of the 26-key keyboard and the subsequent iterative updates of the keyboard, we can see that the QWERTY keyboard is not the most efficient keyboard today. Although we can type smoothly with 9 or 26 keys today, they are not "people-centric" enough. In fact, they are a compromise of people to tools.

Humans adapt to machines

Fortunately, with the advancement of technology, people have found ways to make tools "adapt to people". Although 9-key and 26-key keyboards are not the most efficient keyboard layouts, the current input methods can make typing more and more "smooth".

Automatic error correction

For example, in order to solve the common problem of "thick fingers" pressing keys by mistake, many input methods have an automatic error correction function to automatically correct common wrong keys. Some input methods also take into account the problem of not distinguishing between flat and retroflex tongue, and can automatically correct common flat and retroflex tongue phrases, which greatly improves people's typing efficiency.

Adjust word order

Most input methods will put the words we often use at the front according to our input habits. This can also improve our typing efficiency. Especially when you often use some uncommon industry terms, the input method will remember these terms so that you don't have to search page by page.

Speech to Text

In addition to using the keyboard for input, many input methods now support voice-to-text input. Typing speed of 100 Chinese characters per minute is already very fast for ordinary people, but when ordinary people speak, they can easily reach 240 to 300 Chinese characters per minute. Although early speech-to-text had problems such as low accuracy and inability to recognize dialects, with the development of AI technology, the accuracy of speech recognition is getting higher and higher, which undoubtedly gives people more input method choices. In general, behind the dispute between 9 keys and 26 keys is actually the adaptation of people of different eras to technical tools. And I believe that with the development of technology, this situation will improve, and new technologies and tools will be more "people-oriented" and better serve mankind.

References

[1] He Canqun, Wei Xiujie, Ge Liezhong. A review of research on mobile phone keyboard text input methods[J]., 2012, 30(1): 76-79. [2] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/fact-of-fiction-the-legend-of-the-qwerty-keyboard-49863249/

[3] https://www.cnblogs.com/ljq66/p/7777649.html

[4] International Telecommunication Union standard: https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-E.161-199303-S/en

[5]YasuokaK,YasuokaM.OnthePrehistoryofQWERTY[J].Zinbun,2011,42:161-174.

[6]WatsonI.Theuniversalmachine:Fromthedawnofcomputingtodigitalconsciousness[M].Copernicusbooks,2012.p45

Author: Science Scraps Popular Science Writer

Review丨Zhang Beike, Professor of School of Information, Beijing University of Chemical Technology