App Review: 8pen – reinventing the keyboard wheel

[Sam]

a trial version would be good.. i have been using it since it was made available, but REALLY need more than 24hrs to get used to it. not that it takes 24hrs worth of learning, i just don't type enough in 24hrs to give it a fair shot... the only trick is remembering where the letters are, once you get that, it is really really fast. i like it a lot.

 

[PhAcEpLaNt]

8pen FREE

Just so it's in this 8pen thread, the app is now free on the market. I'm gonna give it a shot to see if it seems worth learning.

 

[UNC]

Y'all already gave up on this right? It was soooo broken.

 

[unseenme]

I downloaded it last night and typed a few messages with it. I'm actually diggin it. Its not gonna be as easy to learn as swype but I'm not giving up on it. If nothing else, its kinda fun to use.

Swyped from the BIGGEST BADDEST machine on the planet

 

[bazar6]

go figure, after I paid for it and didn't return in time. it was interesting to learn, I got the hang of it, but I like the on screen QWERTY keyboard better. I think it'd take too long for me to get so used to it to make it faster than the regular.

 

[Inkarnit]

I said from day 1 that if they were truly trying to be innovative and replace the qwerty keyboard for phones, then they would make this available for free. If it caught on, they would make their money on it. I tend to agree with one of the previous posts about them trying to make a quick buck while they could. Now that they've made it free, I've downloaded it to try it out. I could see where this might be better than a regular soft keyboard, but I don't think it can ever replace swype for me. It's too easy to type entire words with swype imho. I see what they're trying to do, but I just don't think it will work. I won't uninstall it. I'll give it a fair shot. I just don't have much faith in it being beneficial for me in any way.

 

[UNC]

The whole idea of 8pen is ridiculous, learning a completely new layout!

We already know a qwerty keyboard well, so with swype you are "learning" nothing, just applying what you know which is obviously much more user friendly.

I agree with the other poster, I think 8pen promoted itself here and in other forums, and sold it for a buck a pop just for people to try it. They then had such a difficult layout to understand that noone could really figure it out within the 24hr refund period.

Scam.

 

[Omnipharious]

I love 8pen. I see that now it is free on the android market. I also agree with one of the comments posted there. It says that with the proper advertising, 8Pen has the potential to be the next big thing. Or even revolutionize the virtual keyboard for all future cell phones.

 

[zodder]

You'll have to pry Swype from my cold, dead fingers............unless this turns out to be better! lol

 

[Mayerling]

Not for everyone..

I am going to fight my way through the rough learning curve.

I would like to see it gain more popularity but I am afraid it will not. This is not because I think it is an inferior system...I think this is the most efficient text input method to ever appear on a mobile device. I think this technolology will not see the widespread success its developers want because the majority of the consumers that can benefit from 8pen will be unable or unwilling to devote the time and/or effort required to master it. But I do believe that anyone that takes the time to memorize the location of all letters will probably never go back to QWERTY again.

Honestly though I only typed up this long winded reply because I am forcing myself to learn this thing.

The simple fact is that 8pen is not for everyone.

 

[jodyberry]

It's kinda like the Metric system to Americans - we will NEVER learn it because we're stubborn and don't want to change from our old ways!!

I am going to fight my way through the rough learning curve.

I would like to see it gain more popularity but I am afraid it will not. This is not because I think it is an inferior system...I think this is the most efficient text input method to ever appear on a mobile device. I think this technolology will not see the widespread success its developers want because the majority of the consumers that can benefit from 8pen will be unable or unwilling to devote the time and/or effort required to master it. But I do believe that anyone that takes the time to memorize the location of all letters will probably never go back to QWERTY again.

Honestly though I only typed up this long winded reply because I am forcing myself to learn this thing.

The simple fact is that 8pen is not for everyone.

 

[Lenagainster]

Once you've gotten accustomed to SwiftKey, you would give up on 8pen.