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Collapsible 'TextBlade' Keyboard for iOS Devices Uses Just Eight Smart MultiTouch Keys

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NOT the first

Not the first multitouch keyboard. That honor goes to the FingerWorks TouchStream (I own the related MacNTouch for PowerBook).

FingerWorks was bought by Apple in 2005 to bring their patented multitouch technology to mobile, resulting in the first multitouch phone in 2007, the :apple:iPhone.

Also BlackBerry came out with one last year too.
 
Deelron said:
It appears the 4th piece can be used as a iPad stand while you're using the keyboard. Also it's pretty tiny, I wouldn't be all that concerned at where I was going to keep it when using the rest.
Click to expand...

Ah! Thanks for that - I had noticed the stand but assumed that was something unrelated that wasn't for sell. I didn't make the connection that it was the same as the mystery fourth piece.
 
i see the typical MR haters have beaten me to the comments section.

mindblowing -- as if nobody should create new products just because you arent interested in them....
 
After watching all the videos on their site my impression is that they nailed the future of the keyboard. It's smartly designed and is incredibly efficient. I've never been interested in a mobile keyboard before this and this looks even better (more functional) than a traditional keyboard. Hopefully it'll feel as good and work as well as promised.
 
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This makes me realise quite how poorly I type.

Four fingers and the right hand dominates to the T, G and V keys.
 
When I first saw the iPad, I predicted users would become the market for manufacturers to make it more laptop-like. Here we see it for the iPhone. Touch typers would prefer Apple's wireless keyboard or the old Stowaway keyboard, where you get immediate and fast typing using ten fingers and with no learning curve.

As to the video, I've seen videos of jugglers who made it look easy. Until I tried to do it.
 
I ordered one, estimated arrival date Mar. 26th. I'll post up a review when it gets here.

One red flag right off the bat, they've charged my credit card immediately instead of waiting until it ships.
 
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I really like this design, obviously real reviews will be important but I can see a lot of thinking going into this, and I think they came up with some great ways of maximizing important aspects of touch typing but minimizing size as well.

Reducing the effective height of the keys may not significantly impact typing speed, and makes moving your fingers up and down the rows a little quicker- I am guessing they did a lot of prototype testing to determine the best height. Making them multitouch reduces the mechanical parts. And making the space bar nice and big is also a very nice touch.

The main concession new users must make is using thumbs only for space bar, but I don't think that will be a hard adjustment to make.
 
Now this is some serious thinking out of the box. It looks like something Steve jobs would be proud of .... if it really works as well and easy as is demonstrated
 
jclo said:
Supposedly you don't have to. It's just like typing on a regular keyboard because you use the same fingers for the same keys. Pretty interesting premise... really want to find out if it really is as easy as the site says it is.
Click to expand...

Yeah, except I'm looking at my keyboard and my muscle memory is used to my fingers moving as they do. There is no way that blade allows the same movement I am used to. My hands are on the larger side, and having to shorten my keystrokes to accommodate the the blade, that could be an issue. Would love to try it out though as this is a cool concept. If it works as it shows, I could see this replacing desktop keyboards too, or at least offering a new form factor for full size keyboards.
 
As a test to see how well it would work at least specially, I printed out a to scale print of the keyboard from their patent drawings. Just messing with it for a few minutes, everything lines up really nicely; my fingers line up with the keys pretty darn well just by following natural typing.
 
Fake?

Some1 wondered if this *could* be a fake?


I am just curious about it....

Nice Promo web site which costs a lot if its just a fake - but on the opposite: No new news about for quite some time...

Tayler
 
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Tayler said:
Some1 wondered if this *could* be a fake?


I am just curious about it....

Nice Promo web site which costs a lot if its just a fake - but on the opposite: No new news about for quite some time...

Tayler
Click to expand...

Delivery is scheduled to start later this month. I agree, it doesn't look like a fake to me, way too much detail has been provided for a relatively specialized device.

We'll know soon enough, my main question is how well it actually works. It's a bit pricey for me (the price looks fair, I just don't need a portable keyboard that much), but something I will be interested in for sure.
 
Just curious to see if anybody who ordered has one in hand yet. My order (previously expected to arrive Mar. 26th) has been pushed back to April 10th due to something called a "Butterfly Mold Upgrade".
 
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Anyone considering this keyboard should take a long, hard look at how the company is treating people who are asking questions as to why their orders are delayed.

Order delayed four times now; no explanation provided on blog, twitter etc

Apparently asking for more communication and transparency means you're engaging in some form of corporate espionage. If this is how the company is treating paying customers who don't yet have the product, I can only imagine what will happen when it's in peoples' hands and actually technical support will be required for units that are malfunctioning.
 
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Your warning was prophetic.

Thirteen months later and they switched from the paranoia strategy, to the silent treatment, and back to hardware excuses. The only part you were wrong about was that there would be tech support issues. You were too optimistic. Since they still haven't shipped any products they have no need for support.
 
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They actually have keyboards in the hands of some users now in a testing program to help iron out remaining bugs.

They did a lot of things wrong, but the actually keyboard is looking to shape up as advertised.
 
Updates, I reckon. They are not very clear, but they "feel" more genuine than the official channel.
 
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