Investigation into Touch Performance on a QWERTY Soft Keyboard on a Smartphone: Touch Time, Accuracy, and Satisfaction in Two-Thumb Key Entry

Abstract

This research aims to examine touch performance and user-satisfaction depending on key location in a QWERTY soft keyboard during two-thumb key entry on a smartphone. Thirty-three college students who were smartphone users were recruited, and an experimental program was implemented to measure their task completion time, the number of touch errors, and user-satisfaction during key entry. The QWERTY layout was split into 15 zones to assign absolute positions for reliable statistical analysis. The results showed that the zones with significantly longer task completion times were observed more prevalently in the zones in the periphery (p < 0.0001). In addition, relatively higher subjective satisfaction ratings were found in the zones in the center area of the QWERTY layout (p < 0.0001). It seemed that both of the results were improved in the zones that participants could immediately see without moving the thumbs, before touch interaction. Meanwhile, touch error frequencies failed to show statistical significance among the zones (p = 0.3195).

Which Thumb, the Left or Right, Touches the Letter Keys on a Smartphone QWERTY Soft Keyboard during Two-Thumb Key Entry?

“…First, it can be utilized to improve the quality of interaction with a smartphone QWERTY soft keyboard in terms of user experience. Smartphone QWERTY soft keyboards typically have the inherent design challenge of placing a large number of keys in a small space, and thus, there has been a constant need to improve usability, especially in terms of typing speed and accuracy [14][15][16][17][18]. In this context, obviously, the study on the thumb choice patterns for keystrokes and their causes is expected to not only directly and indirectly help improve the design of the QWERTY soft keyboard for better usability but also increase user satisfaction.…”