Test environment is UR13 using IE10, FF and Chrome.
Using IE the getIsDirty() method on a text field attribute is only returns true when the field looses focus. Using the other browsers the method returns true when the field changes even without this.
In addition sometimes the form-wide getIsDirty() may become out-of-sync with the child attributes.

It is also considered very important to provide a supported technique for resetting the IsDirty status of an attribute to enable functionality like custom field formatting and asynchronous (background) saving of form content.