Fake iPhone cut & paste demo loves you

Ok, we can officially and finally put this debate to rest: yes, Apple really could use its multi-touch input system to enable users to friggin' copy / paste text in the iPhone. And to prove it, the usual random internet dude (lonelysandwich) has put his skills to the test and developed a demo proof of concept video that Conan O'Brien will probably sue over. Hit it up after the break!

[Via Kottke]

[roulette843 @ Aug 9th 2007 1:17AM]

I love you too, Mr. iPhone Tutorial Guy.

[Andres Mituta @ Aug 9th 2007 10:24AM]

He looks like Ricky Bobby on camera - "What should i do with my hands?"

[Mehdi Cheddadi @ Aug 9th 2007 12:40PM]

LUV

[John @ Aug 9th 2007 1:39AM]

Awesome! Funny & function. Stevo...we need copy & paste!!!

[Drew @ Aug 9th 2007 2:00AM]

Haha,
I love the facial expressions he makes at the end of the introduction.
So random, so cute.

[GregA @ Aug 9th 2007 1:40AM]

Wow, the original iPhone marketing video was really high on the creepy factor. This, just wow, this eleveates the creepy factor to a whole new level...

[Maxx @ Aug 9th 2007 1:40AM]

Did that guy grow a mustash when I wasn't looking ? LOL

[W00ter @ Aug 9th 2007 1:54AM]

jeez that was great. GOOD job! Some Apple engineers owe you lunch

[Ryan Buchanan @ Aug 9th 2007 1:47PM]

That was a REALLY well made fake.

[paloooz @ Aug 9th 2007 1:51AM]

I am probably going to have nightmares tonight.

[mark @ Aug 9th 2007 1:54AM]

Genius, on so many levels too!

[tyler @ Aug 9th 2007 2:13AM]

Woah! Did anyone else notice that guy's chin moving waay more than his mouth was? It was almost if the person who made this video 'photoshopped' in a new mouth for that guy!

All else though, this video is pretty cool- someone definitely had too much time on their hands.

[Zorque @ Aug 9th 2007 2:34AM]

I think they did, actually. I was wondering what was going on, until I realized what the Conan O'Brien comment meant. He occasionally "interviews celebrities" where he's really just talking to a still image with moving lips.

[Podaman @ Aug 9th 2007 11:27AM]

that was the intention...

[Dave @ Aug 9th 2007 2:54AM]

"and tap the copy button to..m..copy...it....."

beautiful

[Richard A. @ Aug 9th 2007 3:09AM]

hahaha, he's using copy/paste to take some text from a "Nigerian scam" email (read subject line: Nigerian Viagara Cheap!!" and send it in a new email to one of his contacts! hahahahah, priceless!

I love you too, man.

[Alex S. @ Aug 9th 2007 3:26AM]

HOT!

[J @ Aug 9th 2007 3:34AM]

The "Conan" effect was awesome. Very well done.

[supermeerkat @ Aug 9th 2007 3:47AM]

Lonelysandwich? What a dumb name! How about a proper, sensible named, like Supermeerkat, for example.

[supermeerkat @ Aug 9th 2007 7:59AM]

Lowest ranked? C'mon people don't you get irony?

[Fruition @ Aug 10th 2007 6:00PM]

No, we don't.

[supermeerkat @ Aug 11th 2007 2:06PM]

That doesn't surprise me. Philistines!

[geekoid @ Oct 1st 2007 9:47PM]

Shut up, you nugget.

[supermeerkat @ Oct 2nd 2007 4:02AM]

No - you shut up!

[VikoRasmussen @ Aug 9th 2007 3:54AM]

Nice, now there is only one catch...

If I want to copy text from the new e-mail, I just... mmm, lupe, second finger, aaaaaaand...

The "paste" dialog shows up... I want select mode damnit!
-----------------------

Maybe he planned some kind of timeout.. In which case it could be a good concept :)

[Glazun @ Aug 9th 2007 4:39AM]

I presume there would be a difference between the text input and the emails you read. Like you can copy from posts here but you can't paste into other peoples posts.

[Glazun @ Aug 9th 2007 4:39AM]

Actually forget that, I'm after realising that the problem would likely occur if you were trying to move text around while writing it.

[ElMAGNiFiCO @ Aug 9th 2007 4:53AM]

I love you too!

[xSEOx @ Aug 9th 2007 3:27PM]

The funniest part is the "I love you" at the end. Simply genius.

[sinead @ Aug 9th 2007 5:50AM]

really funny stuff... such a pity though, "copy and paste" could very easily have featured in the recent iPhone update, the reason Apple don't want you to? simple - word processing should be done on a piece of equipment 4 times as expensive than an iPhone. damm capitalists.

[Argot @ Aug 9th 2007 6:16AM]

Or you could just buy a real smartphone, you know, one with cut/paste already implemented.

[Mr Yuk @ Aug 9th 2007 10:45AM]

too bad I can't see the video on this darn iPhone.

[AirStrike X2 @ Aug 9th 2007 10:30AM]

his hands have a mind of their own

[Craig @ Aug 9th 2007 10:38AM]

the video is genius and hilarious... with the exception of the actual copy/paste method he employs. when he does the second double-tap maneuver to paste the text, it's the same motion as the copy maneuver. how does the iphone know he wants to paste the text and not copy more text? since there's a clipboard, you might want to be able to copy, copy, copy, paste, paste, paste. unless his intent is to simply copy, paste, copy, paste with a history of the recently copy-pasted items.

copy and paste needs to be two different motions unless you're limited to simply copy, paste, copy, paste.

[Noah Mittman @ Aug 9th 2007 11:26AM]

Right, it's not "Copy-then-Paste" that needs to be implemented, it's "Copy" and "Paste" as independent actions that can be done in repetition and in custom sequences. That's why it's tricky.

[Dodo @ Aug 9th 2007 10:52AM]

How about adding the CUT, COPY and PASTE buttons around the magnifying lupe?

The CUT and COPY buttons act as toggles and holds down for highlighting\text selection mode.

[Dodo @ Aug 9th 2007 11:12AM]

To make it even more transparent: make the lupe able to rotate. Clockwise for copy, anti-clockwise to cut, and tap on the lupe-frame for paste or access to the clipboard.

[Jason @ Aug 9th 2007 6:08PM]

Did he say "I Love You" at the end LMAO awesomely funny.

[crescentdavid @ Aug 9th 2007 11:48AM]

Copy and paste? Next thing, you'll want voice-activated dialing or something hyper-advanced like that ....

[photog @ Aug 9th 2007 12:04PM]

F'ing brilliant. No, really.

[jeremy @ Aug 9th 2007 12:04PM]

How do you know when you're selecting, or just dragging the loupe around? I almost never set that loupe down exactly where I want it.

[phinnvr6 @ Aug 9th 2007 12:30PM]

If Apple hasn't seen this yet, someone should get it to them.

[Maztec @ Aug 9th 2007 2:23PM]

Use the same method as the TouchStream keyboards with a minor addition:
Tap-Find Start, Tap-Drag to End (with the loop highlighting the whole way to make it easy to see), Pinch fingers to copy (pinch fingers twice to cut), spread fingers to paste. Done!

Easy, intuitive, simple. That's the way I like it.

[Darwin Smith @ Aug 10th 2007 12:02PM]

That is awesome. I hope they add this like yesterday!

[Piko @ Aug 9th 2007 5:19PM]

Awesome mockup. Only one problem. Steve (and thereby Apple) HATE buttons. And, if you were to go back to the old Macintosh days (by that I mean prior to 1984), you'd find the original design docs for the Macintosh (Inside Macintosh) which clearly state (paraphrasing from memory) "never use modal states as they tend to confuse the use".

Not bad for 25 year ago.

Rather than the copy/paste mode, why not use the second finger touch to mark the beginning of the copy and just drag to the end of the copy. Then, in the case of the paste, a second touch without moving the finger makes it paste.

Piko

[Michael @ Aug 9th 2007 9:13PM]

In unix-ish shells, just the act of highlighting text copies it to a buffer. You don't need a separate gesture. But, if more word processing functions come to the iphone, will that be a problem since you will want to select text in order to format it for instance.

[hairypsalm @ Aug 9th 2007 9:50PM]

would be nice..

[Ryan @ Aug 9th 2007 10:39PM]

I'm with VikoRasmussen, I think there is a fundamental flaw with how you distinguish between copy and paste. Bringing up the loupe and marking where you want to begin coping has the same action as trying to paste. In one case it brings up a blue bar telling you you're in select mode and in the other it pastes... how do you distinguish between both actions while editing?

[mike @ Aug 12th 2007 12:23PM]

Well, as an oldtimer, I figure a press and hold a la the Newton might work well. It's oldskool 'squeaking mouse noise' would be pretty cool too. press the loupe, hold steady til it squeaks, drag to the end of the selection.

If there's something already in the cutnpaste buffer, press and hold the loupe, wait for the squeak, and press the 'paste' button in the blue bar along the top.

[mike @ Aug 12th 2007 12:23PM]

Well, as an oldtimer, I figure a press and hold a la the Newton might work well. It's oldskool 'squeaking mouse noise' would be pretty cool too. press the loupe, hold steady til it squeaks, drag to the end of the selection.

If there's something already in the cutnpaste buffer, press and hold the loupe, wait for the squeak, and press the 'paste' button in the blue bar along the top.