Want TouchPro's low profile soft-keyboard? Here it is (.zip & comparison PICTURES!) >

[snovvman]

When I got the Touch Pro, I noticed that its soft HTC keyboards (Phone keypad, Compact QWERTY, Full QWERTY) in portrait mode takes less space than the ones from the Diamond.

My Diamond/TP comparison w/ pictures: http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=41533

Comparing them side-by-side, I realized that the Diamond keys are taller, and there is a white strip on the bottom taking up extra space.

The quest begain to port the TP's key skins over to the Diamond. I ran into an issue where I couldn't copy a file off of the TP that I needed. Thanks to shadowmite, I was able to get the file.

So here it is cab'd. Just install it to device and reset. What you will see after are lower profile keyboards (Phone keypad, Compact QWERTY, Full QWERTY) with everything else the same. This takes less desktop area so you can see more of what is behind the keyboard. I find that I'm just as fast on the smaller keys. If you don't like it, just un-install.

I tested this on two diamonds, and it works fine. Landscape skins are untouched. Your mileage may vary, no warranty implied or expressed.

Enjoy...


EDIT: While it may take a while to get used to the difference in size and finger travel distance, I noticed that these skins will expose the "remaining character" display in SMS as you type more characters whereas the Diamond OE does not. This is a nice side benefit.

EDIT 2: Not recommended for people with fat or thick or uncoordinated fingers.

Pictures of BEFORE (OE Diamond) and AFTER (OE TouchPro). Widen your browser so the pairs pictures line up side-to-side so you can see the difference:












Notice how the Diamond skin hides the character remaining information. Also note how the Diamond skin does not allow one to see as much information.

Now that I'm used to the lower profile, the shorter travel required by my fingers actually allows me to type faster.

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EDIT: Juicy ROM 2.4 appears to use a different skin than stock and therefore this .cab will not work for you. I don't know about other Juicy ROM versions.

[darren.wlsn1]

probably wont use it but thanx for all your hard work.

[ou2mame]

i'm gonna check it out.

[bridic]

let us know what you think.

[tobeychris]

I believe the lower profile keyboards are already in the newer ROMs, but I might be wrong.

[snovvman]

Originally Posted by tobeychris

I believe the lower profile keyboards are already in the newer ROMs, but I might be wrong.

AFAIK, Sprint has not released a new ROM for the Diamond. I presume you're talking about cooked ROMs. I have not seen one with the low profile keyboards.

Post above edited with comparision pictures added so people can see the obvious difference.

[tobeychris]

Obviously sprint does not have a newer ROM.. it just came out. So yes, I do mean cooked ROMs

Yep, latest kitchen has that. I think Juicy 2.7 does too.

I personally like them... I don't feel any difference when trying to input text, but it takes up less of the screen.

I definately recommend this for anyone who doesn't already have it!

[ou2mame]

i tried it out for the rest of today, but i found myself making so many more errors, especially with hitting the shift key instead of the 7 (pqrs), as well as hitting return instead of backspace... i don't think that the gain of a few pixels is worth the added concentration needed, because i text a lot while i drive and i don't want to have to look at what i'm typing while i'm typing it.

[snovvman]

Originally Posted by ou2mame

i tried it out for the rest of today, but i found myself making so many more errors, especially with hitting the shift key instead of the 7 (pqrs), as well as hitting return instead of backspace... i don't think that the gain of a few pixels is worth the added concentration needed, because i text a lot while i drive and i don't want to have to look at what i'm typing while i'm typing it.

Sorry it didn't work out for you. After about fiften minutes of getting used to the new distance relationship, I found myself actually faster and more accurate because there is less distance to move between the keys.

As I wrote before, and as a general statement, I wouldn't recommend this for people with larger or thicker fingers.

I think, because the Touch Pro has a seperate hardware keyboard, they deployed this more compact keyboard to give way to more desktop space. What I especially welcome is the exposed character count while text'ing.

[hecatomb]

Looks like the soft-keyboard that comes on Alltel's Diamond... Maybe I'll DL it tonight to see if there is a difference.