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The 8pen

8pen · demo · Watch on YouTube

UX & UI designConsumer devices & gadgets

What it is

A demo of the 8pen, a gesture-based keyboard replacement for touchscreens that lets users enter text by moving around a circle. It is meant for phones, remotes and game controllers and mimics handwriting.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN commenters who used it remember it as an unusually fast and accurate touchscreen text input method and a fascinating alternative to QWERTY.

  • 2 people recommended it
  • 2 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2022, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “It was absolutely, hands down without question, the most accurate way to quickly enter text into a phone using only a screen.”

    Gesture keyboard for Android enabling fast accurate typing

    horsawlarway, 2022-06 · Strong recommendation · in “The PocketReform is a made-in-Berlin Linux handheld”

  2. “I’ve always found the 8pen [1] fascinating.”

    Fascinating alternative touchscreen input method

    Tijdreiziger, 2023-01 · Recommendation · in “The iPhone Keyboard – Make It or Break It (2022)”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: 8pen, gesture keyboard, mobile input, android, ui design

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