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Comment by KiwiCoder | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure this is a problem. Android supports precise text-selection via automatic zooming and start and end block markers, like this: https://www.dropbox.com/s/grmlsgqgqc5qqs6/Screenshot_2012-11...

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While I agree that it is possible, I don't think this method (or Apple's) is anywhere near as efficient as a mouse. It will always be 20 times slower to select a part of a word, compared to a mouse, because you have to hide the word with your finger, see a popup of what's underneath, and then somehow select the letters.

It still isn't precise enough (well, not unless you're selecting monospace font type), and even ignoring that, it's a level of abstraction extra, because you don't just click and get where you want in just one step.

Stabbing at the screen with my sausage finger works fine for me, in fact it works so well that I hadn't thought about it until now. Of course, I don't code or write on my touch devices and when I do code/write I use a different machine (a laptop or desktop) and have no impulse to touch the screen. Different modes. I don't understand your comment about monospace font type.

I personally have troubles with either iOS or Android around small width characters in variable width fonts (like ',il.;:).

Fixed width font would help me greatly around those.

It is also extremely failure prone, bordering useless due sensitivity bugs. But that is fixable in theory.

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