Since the T-Mobile G1 Android phone was upgraded to Android 1.5 last week, I had a re-occurance of an epiphany I had once long ago… 1999 to be exact. Back in 1999 I got my first Windows CE Palm-sized PC. It was the very feature-rich Uniden UniPRO PC100, and like the Palm-Pilot’s of the time, it didn’t have a hardware keyboard, just a touch screen. Its default input method was an on-screen QWERTY keyboard where you had to press each button with a stylus. I quickly realized that this was a horrible way to type.

I had the same realization when I first tried to use the capacitive touch-screen keyboard on the iPhone and now on the new Android 1.5 Operating System. How could anyone think this was an easy way to type? My thumbs are way too big to touch those tiny keys, and you have to look at the keyboard to make sure you’re pressing the correct letter every time. It takes so much concentration!

Luckily, even in 1998, Microsoft knew how horrible a QWERTY keyboard on a touch screen might be. So they designed a software input panel that could be changed to a variety of different input methods that the user could choose and developers could create. The Character Recognizer, was my favorite. I could just write letters in one place, and it would instantly enter them in the insertion point. Unlike Palm’s Jot, I didn’t have to learn a new way of writing either.

Today, there are dozens of 3rd party Software Input Panels for Windows Mobile. TouchPal has a wonderful Sure-Type style touch keyboard, as well as T9 style buttons for even bigger fingers. When I want more screen real-estate, FITALY is the fastest stylus-input keyboard around. Calligrapher is probably the most advanced handwriting recognition software on any mobile platform.

Compare this to beginner smartphone operating systems like the iPhone, Android, and Blackberry Storm which have zero choices insofar as touch-screen input methods.

What’s your favorite touch-screen keyboard software input panel?