Writing with a Joystick: A Comparison of Date Stamp, Selection Keyboard, and EdgeWrite

A joystick text entry method for game controllers and mobile phones would be valuable, since these devices often have joysticks but no conventional keyboards. But prevalent joystick text entry methods are slow because they are selection-based. EdgeWrite, a new joystick text entry method, is not based on selection but on gestures from a unistroke alphabet. Our experiment shows that this new method is faster, leaves fewer errors, and is more satisfying than date stamp and selection keyboard (two prevalent selection-based methods) for novices after minimal practice. For more practiced users, our results show that EdgeWrite is at least 1.5 times faster than selection keyboard, and 2.4 times faster than date stamp.