Apple recently filed a patent that highlights the possibilities for gesture based text editing. Swipe one way, you delete some text, swipe another and you copy, and yet another, you paste… ok, I made those last two up. But why the hell can we have gesture based editing tools in the pipeline, and not copy and paste? I mean, can’t we cut some text by making a knife slashing motion with your iPhone, and maybe paste that text by, oh i don’t know, caressing the screen? At this point the lack of cut and paste seems more about spite, than about functionality. The gesture editing seems like an interesting concept, but at what point do we run out of possible “gestures” for the phone, and run the risk of turning the screen into a Palm like device? Actually, that wouldn’t be all that bad of an idea. You make a “C” on the screen with your finger and you enter copy mode, thereby allowing you to ‘select’ text and copy it to a clipboard, and then a “P” to paste it to an empty field or document. Problem = solved. Someone call the iPhone software engineers.
[via engadet]
