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iSlate Input Alternatives: Handwriting Recognition Without a Stylus and Much More
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No no no!
the input method is easynew earbuds. They will be two-waynot only will you use them to listen to output from the tablet, but they will listen to US! our THOUGHTS, no less! want text to appear? THINK it and it will be so...
the input method is easynew earbuds. They will be two-waynot only will you use them to listen to output from the tablet, but they will listen to US! our THOUGHTS, no less! want text to appear? THINK it and it will be so...
This is exactly what I was thinking. The only unatural thing would be that you can't use your thumbs as the hold the device in place. I guess you are a touch typer like I am. Maybe the spacebar can be solved some other way. The only problem is that a lot of people are not touch typers. So that means a lot of people will have a steep learning curve.
I certainly don't think it is impossible and it would be a bold move by Apple if they did implement this technique. Of course it is already crazy that in the twentieth century people still cannot touch type. I've heard a lot of people that claim they can type faster with two fingers than somebody with ten fingers. Well maybe a very slow touch typer but a regular touch typer types about 240 characters a minute. Which only really talented two typers can match. We will see.
I think it is a driver setting-- the current iPhone recognizes a touch of about 1/8 " or 30-pixel radius. Anything less is rejected as noise. They could change the granularity based on the type of input (stylus, virtual stylus, etc).
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first , i'm not an native english speaker
I think that this Islate , won't be used as a laptop or anything with massive text inpunt ..
If you always watch your keyboard while using your laptop (assuming that the tablet will be in the same position on a table than the keyboard of a laptop ) you'll suffer neck and head pain after 30min , and if this islate have an 10' screen , how will you see the letters and the text you're tapping ? smaller keyboard ? translucid letters ? I think that this tablet, have been designed to be a multimedia/small text inpunt device and not a macbook/laptop like device..
we will have same text inpunt method as the iphone because the best massive text inpunt method , exept keyboard , is a stylus , and apple 'll never use a stylus with this one .
sorry for my poor english, i hope everyone understood this ..
I think that this Islate , won't be used as a laptop or anything with massive text inpunt ..
If you always watch your keyboard while using your laptop (assuming that the tablet will be in the same position on a table than the keyboard of a laptop ) you'll suffer neck and head pain after 30min , and if this islate have an 10' screen , how will you see the letters and the text you're tapping ? smaller keyboard ? translucid letters ? I think that this tablet, have been designed to be a multimedia/small text inpunt device and not a macbook/laptop like device..
we will have same text inpunt method as the iphone because the best massive text inpunt method , exept keyboard , is a stylus , and apple 'll never use a stylus with this one .
sorry for my poor english, i hope everyone understood this ..
With the iPhone in landscape mode, typing with your thumbs while holding the iPhone with both hands is a much preferred method for many (myself included). Typing with your thumbs while holding the much rumored tablet with both hands would be difficult given the larger size with the tablets form factor unless the keyboard is split in two with a curved virtual keyboard (as the image(s) suggest). However I find this to have more restrictions than benefits as it assumes the general populace would be able to type with their thumbs. Personally I would expect Apple to adopt advanced handwriting recognition over a virtual keyboard that predominantly caters to thumb input, especially given the issues with tactile feedback that seem to be an issue for some given the virtual keyboard on the iPhone.
Your English and diction is much better than most Americans
(well, at least a few commentators on MacRumors)We have a few options:
1-On screen keyboard like iPhone.
2-Stylus or pen.
3-Bluetooth keyboard
4-Some form of a different onscreen keyboard like the split image shown.
5-Physical keys actually raise out of the screen to give tactile feedback to the onscreen keyboard.
6-Multi-touch gesture typing.
7-Writing with your finger like holding a fake pen (the patent).
Although I have seen Apple's patents for #5, I doubt we will see that this time around. My bets are on #7 with perhaps #1 and #3 being additional options while the rest of the UI is touch and multi-touch.
Kind of like how the iPhone keyboard comes up and you can toggle to a drawing area for Chinese. Bigger drawing space, and maybe the drawing space will be the default, and you would toggle to a keyboard as traditional back up.
1-On screen keyboard like iPhone.
2-Stylus or pen.
3-Bluetooth keyboard
4-Some form of a different onscreen keyboard like the split image shown.
5-Physical keys actually raise out of the screen to give tactile feedback to the onscreen keyboard.
6-Multi-touch gesture typing.
7-Writing with your finger like holding a fake pen (the patent).
Although I have seen Apple's patents for #5, I doubt we will see that this time around. My bets are on #7 with perhaps #1 and #3 being additional options while the rest of the UI is touch and multi-touch.
Kind of like how the iPhone keyboard comes up and you can toggle to a drawing area for Chinese. Bigger drawing space, and maybe the drawing space will be the default, and you would toggle to a keyboard as traditional back up.
A lot of people made such remarks when the iPhone was announced, negatively reviewing the virtual keyboards lack of tactile feedback as well as being too small for general use. Years later, people have adapted to the virtual input of the iPhone, having some praising it as a brilliant form factor for the keyboard being able to adapt to the software/application currently running on the iPhone.
I would love to see an advanced handwriting method for the rumored tablet. Perhaps the device allows for handwriting any where on the screen, which is then translated into text given the running application. If writing in cursive, a word is transcribed with every instance the users hand is lifted from the screen to enter a new word. There are so many possibilities for an advanced human interface device that Apple may readily explore. From advanced handwriting recognition to a projected virtual keyboard, only time will reveal the path Apple may have chosen.
Have you tried simulating this with a book? I think thumbs will be perfectly useful (though they wont be able to cover the whole screen). Its the heels of your palms that actually hold the device in place (and their presence there will tell the device to pay attention to touches on the back).
Yes, but those people could be touch typers with a small time investment. I dont think this learning curve will be any worse, and will probably be faster than Palms Graffiti, which lots of people took the time for.
This is one of the most realistic comments regarding what may be revealed for the rumored Apple tablet. A tactile feedback virtual keyboard would be interesting, but I highly doubt it would make an appearance for a first rendition HID.
I remember this very thread right before the iPhone was launched. I remember so many speculating it might appear in the iPod Touch, and as I recall there were mockups by a few suggesting the scroll wheel would appear as a virtual interface over a playing movie, etc. when the device registers human touch.
Stylus support is desirable... but as an optional form of input, for those who need/want it!
Has anyone used ShapeWriter? It's an alternative text-input app for iphone. It lets you draw a line on a virtual keyboard which passes through all the letters of the word you want to enter. So you're drawing the 'shape' of the word, and it's surprisingly (though not entirely) accurate. It could lend itself to tablet input because if the keyboard were arranged in a fan in the bottom left (or right...) of the screen, you could hold the tablet firmly in both hands and use only your thumb to draw the words.
Heck that's a longshot, but I don't much like the alternatives. A large virtual keyboard is just nonsense - how are you going to hold it? How did all those tablets at CES with this make it so far? And I'm not sold on the handwriting idea, your hand obscures too much of the screen, awkward to hold, and how reliable would it be? Voice entry? Absolutely not. Too many occasions when you're typing something private, or in a quiet place, or a noisy place, and again - not reliable enough.
I'm with the split keyboard as being most likely too. But a ShapeWriter style method would be cool.
Heck that's a longshot, but I don't much like the alternatives. A large virtual keyboard is just nonsense - how are you going to hold it? How did all those tablets at CES with this make it so far? And I'm not sold on the handwriting idea, your hand obscures too much of the screen, awkward to hold, and how reliable would it be? Voice entry? Absolutely not. Too many occasions when you're typing something private, or in a quiet place, or a noisy place, and again - not reliable enough.
I'm with the split keyboard as being most likely too. But a ShapeWriter style method would be cool.
Now it does feel somewhat like that. Apple did break the click wheel model we had grown fond of.
Difference being that if you put it on a flat surface to type your neck would be at an awkward angle to be able to still look at the screen - as opposed to the laptop where the screen is at a 90degree (or more of an angle depending on how you tilt it).
I don't believe apple will start using handwriting recognition as the main way of inputting text; The world is gradually turning away from it. As a result of using computers for so many years I've found that my younger, clear handwriting, has given way to a near illegible scrawl. With this in mind I think I'd find handwriting recognition an unnecessary chore.
Though it's fairly unlikely I like the idea of more control coming from the rear of the device using similar technology to the magic mouse - no fingers to get in the way of what you are inputting.
Though it's fairly unlikely I like the idea of more control coming from the rear of the device using similar technology to the magic mouse - no fingers to get in the way of what you are inputting.
Great point. A few seem to be concerned with the primary input method Apple may chose with the rumored tablet, yet most have generally adapted to the iPhone. Unless Apple develops a whole new form of interaction with the device, I don't foresee a negative issue with human interfacing. What I hope most have learned from with the launch of the iPhone is that keeping an open mind and learning to adapt to new interfaces (or learning to adapt period) is a positive aspect of the human condition.
That is a sad revelation, however true. I try to handwrite whenever I can, but comparing my handwriting from today to an example from my collegiate years, it's a far cry from what it once was. Is that a bad thing? I don't know. Yet it does raise an interesting point that technology may be advancing much quicker than we can adapt. I would relish in the concept that Apple would resurrect handwriting through advanced digital handwriting recognition. Presently I type much faster than I write, mostly as technology has become a primary form of communication in my life. A few have pointed out the similarities of the rumored "iSlate" with the chalkboard slates schools once used. The iPod helped transform the music industry through the use of the iPod (CD's helped bring music into the digital age, and the iTunes store perhaps helped the music industry fight piracy back when Napster was the first torrent site that allowed individuals to illegally share music). Perhaps the rumored tablet will reignite the writing industry through eBooks, eMagazines and digital handwriting. Who knows? I'm interested in discovering what unfolds.
Is there anyway we can make people read something like that on the day of the announcement before they post? (I changed 'interface' to being anything new)... mostly just the part about keeping an open mind.
That picture of the 2006 Samsung UMPC is bringing back horrible memories of a research and development project I was working on in '07.
We took some of the first 3G USB modems, hooked different gain antennas to them, then supercharged the modem/antenna with lithium ion batteries we took out of consumer electronics to produce super modems. We would hook the modems to the UMPC which also had a webcam or video camera attached which enabled us to literally stream 250k video streams while driving through tunnels. We were trying to create live mobile streaming video for lifecasting, and event coverage that could be shown live on the internet.
Of course as of a few months ago this can now all be done with an iPhone 3GS and an mobile streaming app. In 2007 however this was a somewhat new concept.
Anyhow, we opted for these UMPC's thinking they would be more viable since they had a touchscreen. We wrong. It was basically just Windows XP, and touch barely functioned. We had to recalibrate the screens every few weeks, they kept overheating, and were rather fragile and kept breaking. We had about 15 of them, and after a few months we maybe had 6 working units as the others had failed for various reasons.
We took some of the first 3G USB modems, hooked different gain antennas to them, then supercharged the modem/antenna with lithium ion batteries we took out of consumer electronics to produce super modems. We would hook the modems to the UMPC which also had a webcam or video camera attached which enabled us to literally stream 250k video streams while driving through tunnels. We were trying to create live mobile streaming video for lifecasting, and event coverage that could be shown live on the internet.
Of course as of a few months ago this can now all be done with an iPhone 3GS and an mobile streaming app. In 2007 however this was a somewhat new concept.
Anyhow, we opted for these UMPC's thinking they would be more viable since they had a touchscreen. We wrong. It was basically just Windows XP, and touch barely functioned. We had to recalibrate the screens every few weeks, they kept overheating, and were rather fragile and kept breaking. We had about 15 of them, and after a few months we maybe had 6 working units as the others had failed for various reasons.
As many have mentioned, this is likely not a device to create content. It will likely be a device to consume content. Quick text input is not critical.
I would like to bet the $10,000 on some form of handwriting recognition.
I would like to bet the $10,000 on some form of handwriting recognition.
- In the "iPod mode" you will be able to write out the first few letters of an artist/song/album quickly anywhere on the screen and it will instantly search for it.
- In Safari you will be able to write out the first few letters of a website anywhere on the screen and it will search your history and favorites
- There will likely be the same search capacity from the home screen that we see on the iPhone except instead of using the keyboard you will just start writing on the screen anywhere.