First look at the iPhone's new Hebrew keyboard | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California

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First look at the iPhone’s new Hebrew keyboard

12:42 pm Thursday, June 18, 2009
by rachel leibold

This was the first e-mail I sent from my iPhone after updating the OS to 3.0 last night:

hebrew_msg_320

(Translation: "Sweet, I'm writing in Hebrew!")

I know, I'm a huge nerd, but when my boyfriend and I were tittering back and forth during the keynote speech at WWDC a few weeks ago, my big joyful moment was not copy-paste, it was this: "yay, Hebrew supported, woot!" I'm majorly excited about the iPhone (and iPod Touch) finally having a Hebrew keyboard, as well as displaying Hebrew properly (i.e. not backward).

I assume Hebrew wasn't supported in 2.0 because the iPhone isn't yet sold in Israel - and while that's still the case, there are probably enough Silicon Valley ex-pats/Israelis who are, er, "somehow" using the iPhone in Israel to make a Hebrew keyboard a Very Useful Thing Indeed.

Anyway, in case you're wondering how to get the magic of Hebrew on your very own iPhone, here's how to do it (after you've upgraded to 3.0, that is): In the Settings app, click on General, then Keyboard, then International Keyboards. Scroll down to find Hebrew (be sure not to accidentally turn on the Greek keyboard, like I did) and then flick the switch to "on":

keyboard_settings_480

Now, when you use any program that allows typing, you'll see a little globe symbol next to the button you press to toggle between letters and numbers/symbols. When you click on the globe, you'll toggle between the English and Hebrew keyboards:

hebrew_keyboard_480

Neat!

That's not all you can do in Hebrew with the iPhone - you can also set the entire system to run in Hebrew (under Settings, click on General, then International, then Language, and choose עברית). Beware, though - if you don't speak Hebrew, it can be a wee bit difficult to turn it back.

hebrew_setting_480

The update also adds an internal Hebrew dictionary, so that annoying/super useful autocorrect feature? Will change your עולמs to עולםs with ease.

hebrew_correction_480

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Tags: iphone, ipod touch, hebrew, jew tech

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Comments

Posted by Pravdaddy
06/18/2009 at 04:04 PM

One other cool keyboard feature . . .

Great post!

There’s one other cool keyboard feature that has been adapted in an interesting way for international users. If you’re typing in a web address with a .net, .org, etc. domain, you can shortcut it by holding down the “.com” key for an extra split-second. A little window will pop up with those extra domain suffixes, and you can just slide your finger over to the one you want. Now, if you add the Hebrew keyboard, they add “.co.il” and “.il” buttons, clearly under the assumption that those typing in Hebrew may be linking to Israeli websites. Add other languages and a whole slew of appropriate country domain buttons pop in.