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iPhone Copy and Paste: Proof of Concept [VIDEO]

vimeo.com — here's a video mockup of what the missing Copy and Paste might look like on the iPhone. done in the style of the Apple iPhone demo videos.

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RATIO 350 days ago, made popular 350 days ago

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conshok26, on 10/10/2007, -4/+47haha this is great. the best part is that it would work pretty well.
- streak, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4I believe it would work more naturally without using a second finger. After positioning the insertion point with the loupe, just release the finger and quickly tap the screen again to get a menu to appear.
  - whistlerpro, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Because apple love contextual menus and right clicking, right?
laserob, on 10/10/2007, -10/+9The pause in the middle is hilarious! Well done. Apple take note.
mhusson, on 10/10/2007, -18/+3What if you were trying to copy text from a message you were in the middle of writing but there was text already on your clipboard. That wouldn't work.
Dugg for the Conan-esque mouth overlay anyway.
- laserob, on 10/10/2007, -2/+21The clipboard had multiple selections.
- RATIO, on 10/10/2007, -2/+17there's a little button on the clipboard that says Select... that would allow you to bypass Paste and continue selecting text. i didn't go into the specifics because i wanted to keep it short (and pithy).
  - mhusson, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Ah, very nice. Answers my question. I think it's a good idea, but my guess is this isn't "simple" enough for apple, not intuitive enough. They would probably leave it out instead of have something just for power users. At least I think they would for iPhone users, that is.
meichow, on 10/10/2007, -12/+1Haha! love the mouthpiece ... esp. the 'i love you' - hilarious!

one of the reasons i dug this ... and that pause in the middle is just freaky
Ireland, on 10/10/2007, -6/+39I'm nearly crying here, very funny!!

Seriously though, the copy part could be made much more user friendly. You select text with one finger by bringing up the loupe, then you add a second finger to the screen, but you don't lift up either of the two fingers liked demoed, instead you drag both fingers to the end point as you would with a mouse, the text highlights in blue as per norm, and thanks to multi-touch the iPhone knows to keep the loupe centered with your first finger, you lift both fingers and that's when the cut/copy/delete dialog appears. That would be even easier then a mouse too.
- RATIO, on 10/10/2007, -4/+6this would assume, however, that if you drag up or down past the edge of the screen, iPhone knows to scroll up or down to accomodate you. and i think that technology (the drag-and-scroll) is a little trickier to pull off, seeing as how, your fingers would literally stop moving at the edge of the screen, even though your intent would be for the movement to continue. that is why it is a necessary step to lift your fingers off and scroll in the usual manner.
  - Ireland, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6They could easily make it scroll it little as you approach the edge of to screen to ensure that wouldn't happen, that's a small hurdle. The invention of that loupe UI was the amazing achievement here, that was the hard part, they did that already. The rest is simple in comparison.
- brandn487, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2what about a button you press to enter copy mode so you don't have to use two fingers. also what if you entered "copy mode" on accident? there should be a way to exit
  - RATIO, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6there's a button there (in the video) that says "Cancel".
- sekhui, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2how the ***** would that be easier than a mouse?
  - bkemper, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2You can't use a mouse with the iPhone.
    - sekhui, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1i didn't say you could, read the comment i was replying to, ass.
  - Ireland, on 10/16/2007, -1/+1More natural, and less steps too.
drumpat01, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10wow that is really cool and I think it could actually work. Great idea and great video editing.
Solomonenator, on 10/10/2007, -5/+56I love you
- tinkafoo, on 10/10/2007, -5/+24Welcome to Costco
  - trvr, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2wow, maybe I don't hang around here often enough; but that is the first Idiocracy reference I have heard here. Or anywhere for that matter. good work!
Aminmadani, on 10/10/2007, -8/+106If only Digg had a video section to submit topics like this.
DaBrainiac, on 10/10/2007, -4/+18Brilliant video! Give Vimeo some love.
merkle, on 10/10/2007, -12/+1the way is mouth moves is freakin me out. why was the guy even in the video? weird.
- skoles, on 10/10/2007, -7/+1Cause his mouth is made of FLUUBERRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!! HOOO-HOOOOOO
- konstantinos88, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4That guy was the person who did the hour-long iPhone tutorial about a week before the iPhone came out.
- FTLJohnson, on 10/10/2007, -12/+2as I said above-
  it was an avatar. That was a computer animated model. The face was a texture from a photo.
  
  I hope that one day the face tracking on avatars is that good for avatars used in MMO games.
  - Audacitor, on 10/10/2007, -3/+4Would you just stfu?
    
    Please?
tzonic, on 10/10/2007, -7/+6Ok, now that was funny. Great voice dubbing. I love the seemingly extra, random hand gestures at the beginning and end. And of-course, its good to know the iPhone demo guy loves us.
Warptera, on 10/10/2007, -12/+7That really wasn't funny. It seems like some people's humor sensitivity is set a bit too high... Or mine's just too low.
- Firehed, on 10/10/2007, -3/+3Well the random lip-synching and overdubbing that didn't work at all was amusing, but more than anything else it was a great proof of concept. I'd be quite happy to see copy+paste implemented in such a manner.
- nickbarber, on 10/10/2007, -4/+7Yep, it's too low.
eridius, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8I hope you've filed an enhancement request against the iPhone for this on bugreport.apple.com.
alexkehr, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2Haha. That's great.
flawless1979, on 10/10/2007, -3/+4that was so funny was not expecting the i love you part lol
- colouredlights, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1thxinfo
ryanmct, on 10/10/2007, -5/+3Hehe, It was really funny, and it has a real application to it, I could totally see that on the iPhone 2G
- AfterTen, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Doesn't need to be on an iPhone 2G, simple software update would bring it to the current crop of iPhones.
iStunT, on 10/10/2007, -4/+2Thnaks for watching. I love you. Pretty cool concept.
djnick, on 10/10/2007, -7/+1why is one of the most basic features in any device even news? this shouldnt be on the front page
- aka007ii, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1It's on the front page because most of us "loved" it. A well done parody and a much needed feature. DIGG DUGG
HyperDav, on 10/10/2007, -4/+5Surprisingly hilarious and great idea to boot! TOTALLY DUGG!
astrosmash, on 10/10/2007, -6/+1No, that's dumb. Here's how it works (just off the top of my head):

- Double-tap to make the magnifying class sticky; at the same time a toolbar appears over or above the keyboard.
- The toolbar has four buttons: Select, Copy, Paste, Cancel.
- Position the magnifying class, tap the 'Select' button, drag the magnifying glass to select text, then hit copy (or paste to replace the text).

It's that simple. It'll be in the next iPhone update.
- Firehed, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2Do you work for Apple?
  
  Didn't think so. Don't get me wrong - I like that approach, but we'll see what happens in 1.1.
- PathDaemon, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I can totally see Microsoft doing it that way. Totally non Apple. See that above comment that's being dugg up for a more awesomer soluter.
- astrosmash, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2No, modal popup dialogs and convoluted scenarios are the Microsoft way of doing things, and it sucks.
  
  In the video you can't copy text in an edit window, which is dumb. And as the other comment described, you only have one shot to get the selection right before you're harassed with a popup dialog. Extra dumb.
  
  All you need to do is make the magnifier sticky so you can position it freely, and display a couple of buttons for cut and paste. Simple.
Snoz, on 10/10/2007, -13/+26I still can't believe the iPhone can not copy and paste. How retarded is that!?

p.s - and you paid $600 and are paying $60/month, pfft.
- afruff23, on 10/10/2007, -7/+2http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=iphone
  
  Has a part about copy and paste.
- Firehed, on 10/10/2007, -3/+15Blackberry service costs about twice that, and those phones are unbearably assey in every way I've had the displeasure of experiencing them. FFS, reading even plain text email was painful when I had to borrow my dad's for a few minutes (though in fairness, he definitely has the worst model BB out there), and those are primarily mobile email devices.
  
  Don't get me wrong - the iPhone has it's shortcomings. You've cited one of them, and as an iPhone owner, I'm quite willing to admit there are others. That doesn't change the fact that it's unquestionably the best mobile device I've ever used.
  - aaronm67, on 10/10/2007, -8/+2...have fun connecting to your work's Exchange server (many offices have a dedicated blackberry Exchange server, and aren't likely to be changing anytime soon), zooming with your camera, putting on ringtones from mp3s, or downloading custom apps, written with the publicly available iPhone API.
    
    ...the iPhone is a toy, and it is missing so many basic features it's ridiculous. Just because you can play with zooming on a website and you get to tap all the pretty icons doesn't mean it's the best mobile device ever.
    - snarkleclackers, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Have you never heard of the iPhone Dev Team? They've been all over Gizmodo. And Digg quite a few times for that matter.
- VulnoX, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1You need to try more devices then. My Sprint Mogul does everything the iPhone does and so much more. It even has EVDO Rev. A. You think regular EVDO made Edge look slow? Rev. A is going to my more than twice as fast as current EVDO and is going to be released in the next couple months. Not only that but it has been rock solid stable for me, I have a ton of apps and games installed (I love how the iPhone getting an NES emulator makes front page while I play NES, SNES, Genesis, GBA, etc, as well as the SCUMM Emulator that lets me play Lucas Arts games perfectly, Monkey Island, woot!).
  
  Has Wifi, has adaptive text, has expandable memory, has a real slide out keyboard and can change from portrait to landscape mode, is small and lightweight, and only cost me $100, and my plan is only $30 a month for 500 minutes, unlimited web, unlimited text, unlimited roaming, unlimited sprint to sprint, full insurance coverage, and more.
  
  No, you enjoy your overpriced underfeatured iPhone, I am going to actually do something with my phone.
ani625, on 10/10/2007, -11/+2You may want to digg me down but the iphone hype is getting out of hand... Buried
JAWA, on 10/10/2007, -3/+4"I love you" is the best!
Chocolatefatkid, on 10/10/2007, -9/+0What's with the guys mouth movement?
it looked weird, like a bad animation or something
- FTLJohnson, on 10/10/2007, -15/+1I'm just pasting this now, because this is the third time this has been asked...
  
  it was an avatar. That was a computer animated model. The face was a texture from a photo.
  
  I hope that one day the face tracking on avatars is that good for avatars used in MMO games.
  - NicksVideo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7I'm just pasting this from another reply to you because you have no idea what you're talking about. Go watch the long iPhone demonstration on Apple.com. Notice the guy doing the presentation: it's the same guy. This is just very basic, anyone-with-video-effects-knowledge-can-do-it, 2D motion tracking of the guy's mouth onto the Apple video.
Tweekster, on 10/10/2007, -8/+1Wow that was incredibly stupid.

exactly what part of elementary school do you need to drop out of to find this funny, or in any way interesting whatsoever

everyone is now dumber having watched that, may god have mercy on your souls
- Emrtr4, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2i concur, it was not funny, good proof of concept, but the humor there is lacking.
hlcno, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5I love you.
- carl25, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4i love you too
andydude117, on 10/10/2007, -4/+3WOW we really should get a video section - oh wait...
andrew52, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2best laugh i got all day.
superyounan1, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4i love you too.
carrognia, on 10/10/2007, -5/+0I wish digg would have a video section...*sigh* oh, wait...
allstarcac, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2i wish i could digg this more than once
jabberwolf, on 10/10/2007, -10/+1OMG it might be that complicated just to do that on the iphone.
But I'm sure if it ends with an "I love you" users won't mind.

Apple tards " I love you! "
- Billions, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5...And then, someone has to go and be a dick. And of course, that trolling guy has to be JABBERWOLF, who only trolls Apple topics. You sure are busy these days, Jabberwolf. Apple-people-bashing... What a hobby.
pabloD, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2that was awesome. great proof of concept. i love you too.
damnyooneek, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1double tap and hold for the magnifying glass then drag whatever needs to be copied will work better.
- astrosmash, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Nope. It would be very difficult to double-tap and land on the right spot to start the selection.
  
  Plus, if you're positioning the cursor for a paste and accidentally double-tap you clobber what was on the clipboard.
DejectedRobot, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4That was both creepy, and funny at the same time.
ahill7, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Doesn't proof of concept imply something more than a mockup?
- Mike89, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Yep.
bensonjacob, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1i love you man,,, awesome..
spicytuna, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7is it just me or it's the SAME gesture for copy as it's for paste. How does it know when you want to enter 'select' mode versus bringing up the clipboard?

magnify, second finger tap = select mode
magnify, second finger tap = clipboard

:confused;
- jk_baller23, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I guess you would hit cancel, then do another magnify tap combo to select the text. You could probable delete the previous clipboards as you would delete messages by swiping your finger across the message you wanted deleted.
  - DesignerScott, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I think it would only bring up the menu if there is something on the clipboard, but it clearly does cause problems for wanting to copy something else.
- RATIO, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1thanks for asking - that's a good question. if you're in an area where you have NO editing permissions (incoming email, website), Copy/Select is the only possible option and you will go into Select Mode immediately. if you DO have editing permission (outgoing email, form in Safari, SMS, Notes), and your clipboard has at least one item in it, the dialogue box pops up instead of going to Select Mode automatically, and you would tap the button that says "Select." good catch, though.
mmxtreme, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Seriously, that's pretty awesome. The gesture looks very natural and simple to use. The clipboard popup is great too. Awesome work and the lipsyncing is really funny.
- ACMoxon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Haha, yes. The lypsync is hillarious. Quite a solid proof of concept video -- both intelligent and funny.
  - enginbeering, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Definitely. Except for the fact that it's a mockup, not proof of concept.
SeanG, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1This may be obvious... but the copy/paste functionality is already built into the iPhone, there just isn't a UI for it. Right now you can "copy/paste" a URL into an email by tapping on the address bar in Safari, then tapping the Share button. It starts an email for you and the URL is in the body - presto.

So whenever Apple does release the update, they'll just be adding the UI, not the functionality. Cool eh?
dman84, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Great video! I also like the idea too - although it does reuse the same touch sequence, I'm confident that a proper GUI would still make it intuitive to the user... If Apple doesn't make use of the idea, I hope they at least consider the ending.. ;o)
RooDoG, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I was not expecting that... BRAVO!
Bulldogge16, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3That was an awesome video, dont have an iPhone nor a Apple, but that was pretty well done...
sp1nm0nkey, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I'll probably get dugg down for this BUT, this is incredibly un-apple. See... pinch zoom is cool because it's obvious, put two fingers, and pull, you're making the interface more in sync with how you'd think it'd work. Why would tapping with a second finger have anything to do with copying? You'd have to put it in the manual or something for people to get it. It's just not obvious. What happens if you're selecting and you touch the screen with another finger accidentally? Now you have this copy dialog that people have to click through, which is really difficult because if someone hasn't read the manual and doesn't know that it exists, they'll wonder how they got there, and get frustrated by how to get to it again.
jc7012, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0it's sideburns
identifiedlogo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I'm thrown out of the loop here...Apart from the copy/paste idea...what the hell is going on around his mouth???????????
- aiten, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5It's a fake mouth pasted on top of the real apple guy
Crispuk, on 10/10/2007, -6/+3I thought digg had a video section.
fidunderground, on 10/10/2007, -2/+0hahahhahaha....this is totally LMAO!
bloominoctober, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1"Thanks for watching. I love you."

Priceless!
criskywalker, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I know...
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iPhone Copy and Paste: Proof of Concept [VIDEO]

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