iPhone Copy and Paste?
Brendan Sheehan believes he’s figured out the “perfect” Copy & Paste solution for Apple to implement on the iPhone…
Firstly, I think the reason we haven’t seen a solution to this problem yet is that Apple is unsure which method to use so that “all” users can grasp it. And they really want to get it right first time. Seeing as they are developing a new kind of user-interface here that will no doubt extend well past the realms of the iPhone, I think they are nervous they would add a feature that wasn’t as good as the current mouse interface method for performing the same task. This UI is newer, so in theory it should be even easier to use. If it’s not then people may ask why.
I am 99% sure my solution here is a new one. I have looked into this, I have seen the proof of concept videos and read all the forums. It came to me in a eureka moment. And like all good ideas it’s brain-dead simple.
Here’s my thinking C: You know the magnifying loupe on the iPhone? Well to bring that up (as you know) you hold your finger down for about 1/2 a second at any point in a text box. Here’s the clever part… when you find the position where you want to start your Copy & Paste at you simply freeze, you hold that position (with loupe present) for about 1.5 seconds and the “navy” text selector within the loupe changes color to “green” (or any other color) right before your eyes. A subtle yet obvious clue that something is happening (i.e. hint hint iPhone user, you are now in select mode).
At this point all you have done is positioned the loupe and held it still for 1.5 seconds. So far so good.
Now, while your finger remains on the screen with the loupe present (as you would do with your mouse) you drag the text selector to the end of the piece of text you want, and you leave go.. and up pops all the clipboard options you’ll ever need; Copy, Cut, Paste, Delete etc. You choose an option and you’re done.
And when you want to Paste some copied text or a URL or something, you bring up the loupe and position it where you like, hold it for 1.5 seconds until the text selector turns green, and instead of dragging you just leave go and choose Paste from the pop up options.
A long email for a simple procedure I know. But it will be easier to do than to write about. That much is certain. And given that you will have to hold the loupe still for about 1.5 seconds, you can bet your bottom dollar you won’t ever enter select mode by accident.
I’m sure it’ll happen eventually… and maybe video recording, to boot.
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8 Comments
Ray Zed Blog
January 28th, 2008
at 10:00am
benwilson: Seeing as they are developing a new kind of user-interface here that will no doubt extend well past the realms of the iPhone, I think they are nervous they would add a feature that wasn’t as good as current the mouse interface method
iPhone Problem - Learn more about iPhone Problems
January 28th, 2008
at 10:10am
iphoneroethwrote an interesting post today on Here’s a quick excerpt Brendan Sheehan believes he’s figured out the “perfect” Copy & Paste solution for Apple to implement on the iPhone… Firstly, I think the reason we haven’t seen a solution to this
MrBuzz
January 28th, 2008
at 8:27am
Chris, if you have to brag to stay popular then they;re not really your friends. :P
I agree with you that you’d need 16GB to future proof it but, as otimistic as I am, I can’t see you needing 32GB before your ready to put this MacPro to rest.
Still, if you get a good deal on 32GB take it…. you never know if you might need it for something else.
Shay
January 28th, 2008
at 8:34am
Hey there, I’m interested in how this will work out. I don’t have a iPod touch or even an iPhone yet though. If your idea gets implemented, then I congratulate you. :)
KeynoteKen
January 28th, 2008
at 9:47am
Most people are concentrating on text because that’s the classic and obvious use of cut and paste (going all the way back to ancient text editors). However, there is so much more on the phone, there’s audio, there’s video, there’s pictures, all of which Apple probably wants to handle similar to the way it’s handled in OSX (where you have a master pasteboard that can potentially hold several versions of a copied item). I’d even figure that the text copying problem was solved long ago, and now they’re working on what happens when you copy and image into an email message, will they allow copying images from web pages, how to copy a series of objects (or a non-continuous series), and more.
The solution, whatever it is, will have to work for not only text, but all of the media on the iPhone. A lot of people will be happy to have simple text copy/paste, but a lot more will be amazed at what eventually is released. :)
doug petrosky
January 28th, 2008
at 4:45pm
Maybe, but probably not. Too much mandatory slow down in selection. I say you simply bring up the loop, position to where you want and then pinch out to select text. Then you could use a popup message as described but seeing as apple has already define a method for copy (three fingers spread apart on the screen and then brought together as if to pick something up of the screen). Then a reverse of this process to paste. Set your insertion point, three (or more) fingers on the screen together and spread them out.
You can look up apple’s patented filing on finger cords to get more ideas.
Frank
January 28th, 2008
at 7:22pm
there you go..if you made this public before Apple apply for patent, they won`t be able to patent it since it is now “public domain”.
You could have make some money selling this to Apple instead of posting in the idea in your blog.
(maybe it is already patented but not implemented..they need to keep us happy paying for those 20$ “upgrades”)
iPhone Apps
July 21st, 2008
at 1:05pm
iPhone Copy and Paste Coming to an App Store Near You – http://www.appleiphoneapps.com/2008/07/iphone-copy-and-paste-coming-to-an-app-store-near-you/