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zub3qin

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 10, 2007
1,314
2
I was thinking that a bluetooth keyboard with iPad in vertical (portrait mode) running Pages or some other word processor would be a very good thing.


But a lot of the advantage of the bluetooth keyboard is in the fact that you get a full screen of text (no pop-up virtual keyboard hogging up 30% of the screen real-estate).

BUT- I don't think that the iPad virtual keyboard is going to disappear even if you are connected with a bluetooth keyboard!

Anyone think Apple was smart enough to disable all pop-up keyboards when BT is connected?
 

Hard-Hat-Mac

macrumors regular
May 18, 2007
198
1
Philly Burbs
Hmm this is a great point. I hope they don't leave it on screen, and see all the keys being pressed. I would think that Apple, being UI experts would somehow know this... I guess only time will tell.
 

brooks.curly

macrumors member
May 16, 2009
49
0
Missouri
I'm pretty sure I remember seeing a little button on the virtual keyboard with a picture of a keyboard and an up arrow, possibly indicating that one could bring the keyboard up/hide it. In which case, you could just hide it as you use your BT keyboard, or use it if you need to take a break or something.

EDIT:

Here is a picture. The bottom-right button is the one I am talking about. I'm pretty sure that's what it does.

pages_write_20100225.jpg
 

zub3qin

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 10, 2007
1,314
2
I'm pretty sure I remember seeing a little button on the virtual keyboard with a picture of a keyboard and an up arrow, possibly indicating that one could bring the keyboard up/hide it. In which case, you could just hide it as you use your BT keyboard, or use it if you need to take a break or something.

EDIT:

Here is a picture. The bottom-right button is the one I am talking about. I'm pretty sure that's what it does.

pages_write_20100225.jpg


Except in the keynote, Phil Schiller showed how to type in Pages. He said just touch the document wherever you want the cursor to appear and up pops the keyboard.

I think you have to touch the screen to tell it where to start typing, so a keyboard will probably pop up. But, I HOPE you can hide the keyboard and keep typing with the BT one, by hitting the button you pointed out...

It is things like this that may not be known to the developers of the apps, since they are stuck making the apps on a virtual ipad.
 

4DThinker

macrumors 68020
Mar 15, 2008
2,033
2
Now if they could only eliminate the need to be touching the screen when you are plugged into a keyboard. :eek:
 

zub3qin

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 10, 2007
1,314
2
Now if they could only eliminate the need to be touching the screen when you are plugged into a keyboard. :eek:

And add a pointing device that you can use with your hand, moving it around on a table. :)
 

sammich

macrumors 601
Sep 26, 2006
4,305
268
Sarcasmville.
And add a pointing device that you can use with your hand, moving it around on a table. :)

I'm sure adding a cursor into the UI isn't a problem, Apple just won't do it, it'll be taking a step back and confuse the masses who adopted multitouch.

What would be great is camera eye tracking so you just look at where you want to start typing.

Oh wait....guess that'll be the great new feature in the next iPad
 

G5isAlive

Contributor
Aug 28, 2003
2,462
4,247
Be careful what you ask for...

And add a pointing device that you can use with your hand, moving it around on a table. :)

And that's the problem with disabling the onscreen keyboard because you have a bluetooth keyboard. Your hands will leave the physical keyboard. And tap the screen and often text input is required... I would prefer to do it on-screen then...its not hard to hide as is... A hardwire keyboard wants a mouse.. If you can't easily switch between virtual and real...
 

SnowLeopard2008

macrumors 604
Jul 4, 2008
6,772
17
Silicon Valley
So many posts but not one truly addresses the OP's question.

Go to my YouTube channel (link in signature) and find the bluetooth keyboard demo video. The on-screen virtual keyboard hides when you have a bluetooth keyboard connected. If you press the eject key (upper right hand corner) the on-screen virtual keyboard returns. I got that little eject key tip from the ipad tips and tricks thread.
 
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