I have updated my iPad 2 to the beta version of the iOS 5 and one of the things i notices amongst many other improvements to the iOS 5 is the split keyboard option when typing a message, browsing using safari and what not. First of all I watched the feature get announced at the WWDC and I straight away expected the option to be available through settings but it wasn’t which was a good start for me because what Apple did was include it as an option on the keyboard interface itself so you can quickly switch between normal qwerty keyboard and split qwerty keyboard.
I have to say having used qwerty keyboard nearly all my life, it was quite awkward using the split keyboard; I loaded it up and I tried touch typing with it and found myself making more spelling mistakes than usual. It was quite hard for my little brain and eyes to keep the hand to eye coordination rhythm going smooth as I had to keep looking left then right then from right back to left to find keys that I needed.
I think the split keyboard is a good idea, well at the time when it was announced and with the power of Steve Jobs persuasion I was convinced this was the real deal, then when I used it, i switched back to standard qwerty keyboard faster than I could say split. When the stable release of the iOS 5 gets released, you guys will feel my pain and if you already upgraded successfully, i’m sure you will agree with me here.
