Pseudo-pressure detection and its use in predictive text entry on touchscreens

In this article we first present a new hybrid technique that combines existing time- and touch-point-based approaches to simulate pressure detection on standard touchscreens. Results of two user studies show that the new hybrid technique can distinguish (at least) two pressure levels, where the first requires on average 1.04 N and the second 3.24 N force on the surface. Then, we present a novel pressure-based predictive text entry technique that utilizes our hybrid pressure detection to enable users to bypass incorrect predictions by applying extra pressure on the next key. For inputting short English phrases with 10% non-dictionary words a comparison with conventional text entry in a study showed that the new technique increases entry speed by 9% and decreases error rates by 25%. Also, most users (83%) favour the new technique.

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