How does the iPhone touchscreen feel? Is the touchscreen really better than a keypad with tactile feedback?

Those in the press whom were granted early access to the iPhone provided a variety of opinions regarding the experience of "typing" on the display compared to devices with dedicated buttons with tactile feedback.

In the Chicago Sun-Times, Andy Ihnatko proclaimed:

I think the iPhone's virtual keyboard is a huge improvement over the mechanical thumbpads found on the Treo and any other smart phones of its size.

The buttons are significantly larger, you don't have to hit them dead-center, you lightly tap them instead of punching them down, and the software is smart enough to know that you meant to type "Tuesday" instead of "Tudsday."

After 30 seconds, I was already typing faster with the iPhone than I ever have with any other phone. I suspect that true e-mail demons will need to adapt to the lack of tactile feedback, though.

In MacWorld, Jason Snell noted:

I typed on its on-screen keyboard with my index finger, and after about a minute I felt that I was already well on my way to be a proficient iPhone typist. (The iPhone's software works very hard to figure out what you're trying to type, including taking note of what keys are nearby the one it thinks you pressed, in case your finger was just a bit off target.) And as you type, the keys "pop up," getting larger as if they're rising up to meet your touch, which gives you visual feedback that you’re pressing the right letters.

In PC Magazine, Cade Metz found:

At first, I typed with two hands -- gripping the device on each side and taping a thumb on each end of the keyboard -- but I was only about 50 percent accurate. Then I switched to hunting and pecking with a single index finger, and though this was (slightly) more accurate, it was much slower. My guess is that after some practice, you could get pretty efficient with two thumbs. But the keyboard is obviously something that takes some time to get used to.

In the New York Times, David Pogue lamented:

Typing is difficult. The letter keys are just pictures on the glass screen, so of course there's no tactile feedback.

Software helps a lot. You can afford to make a lot of typos as you muddle through a word, because the software analyzes which keys you *might* have meant and figures out the word you wanted. Its best guess appears just under what you've typed; if it’s correct, you tap the Space bar to accept it and continue. I typed a couple of e-mail messages with lots of typos but eventually 100 percent accuracy, thanks to this auto-correct feature. (My testing didn't involve proper names, however.)

Ultimately, whether or not the iPhone touchscreen is better or worse than handheld devices with dedicated keypads is a personal decision. Some users likely will learn to quickly type on the iPhone and not need tactile feedback whereas others always will prefer the physical tactile feedback that a touchscreen cannot provide.

Also see: How does the iPhone "multi-touch" interface work? Who developed the "multi-touch" interface originally?