Our cities are filled with typing phone users hurrying along with their faces buried in their mobiles. They’re the ones you know to avoid as they trip over curbs, walk out in front of cars and bump into commuters. But a new app could solve this problem by allowing texters to see the street in front of them while simultaneously typing. Type n Walk uses a phone’s camera to show the road ahead as the screen’s background, while the user types over the top off it.
It can be used to write messages which can then be sent in a text or email, posted on Facebook or Twitter or copied to be pasted elsewhere. The $1.15 (N189.23) app has been created by California-based CGactive LLC and is quickly gaining popularity among phone users.
A review on iTunes by Dandy Crush said: ‘This app gives the effect that the phone screen is like glass that you can see right through.
‘It looks like they blur it a little too to help the words stand out more, kind of like a little hint of frosted glass.
‘It works great and I hope it saves me from future mishaps.’
The app, described as the ‘smarter, safer way to type while you’re walking’, can be downloaded on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Its iTunes blurb states: ‘Type n Walk displays a transparent viewport of what’s directly in front of you.
‘This combined with your peripheral vision is just enough visual information to help you avoid obstacles – like walking face-first into a tree.’
Earlier this year, the University of Queensland said people who type text messages while walking develop a robot-like posture that puts them in danger of toppling over.
They also warned that text-walkers are at risk of wandering in front of traffic and stumbling onto train tracks – and urged pedestrians to stop before type.
