an 'on-screen' keyboard sticker for iphone4

Want an iPhone but need a physical keyboard? A New York-based developer has created a thin plastic screen cover with "ridges" that helps guide typing, ensuring thumbs don't slip and send embarrassing mistakes.

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4i Concepts's 4iThumbs2 is an invisible, removable plastic film that sits over the face of an iPhone, with ridges between keys to help ensure a finger hits the intended key, not any of its neighbors. The film is held in place by a bumper, and can be easily removed and stored on the back of the phone when not in use.
4iThumbs2 is available in either a landscape or portrait version for $13, or $25 with bumper for the iPhone 4.
"As the only tactile ridged screen for the iPhone, 4iThumbs2 is sort of like training wheels for new iPhone users, making their transition to a touch screen comfortable and easy," said Jerry Rosengarten, founder of 4i Concepts.
A lot of iPhone owners complain about the virtual keypad -- their fingers slip and hit the wrong buttons, sending embarrassing mistakes. The problem is so widespread, in fact, that a popular website dedicated to slip-ups, called "Damn You Auto Correct," even got a book deal in January.
Meanwhile, Android users have Swype. Standard on many Android models and available in beta testing mode for others, Swype essentially predicts the words a user intends to write by monitoring finger swipes across the phone's virtual keyboard.
Swype builds on T9, the here-to-fore standard predictive text technology for mobile phones co-invented by Cliff Kushler, one of the Seattle-based Swype's founders.

This plethora of solutions testifies to the ongoing difficulty in typing on phones. Despite the ingenuity and variety of options, nobody enjoys the experience of composing an email on a tiny device. Voice input, still in its infancy, may ultimately prove a more workable answer to the problem. Google's Android platform already integrates voice searching and message dictation, and the voice recognition giant Nuance has released a dictation app for the iPhone as well.