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New Cell Phone Typing Solution

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the look-ma-one-hand dept.

merlin_jim writes "Found this article on MSNBC about a new Cell Phone typing solution. It uses silicon sensors that can recognize the "shape" of each finger. The meaning of each key changes depending on which finger you use to press it; index finger for A, middle finger for B, etc. Unused finger/key combinations can be assigned to functions like ring volume." Watch out for those pop-up advertisements on your way into MSNBC. This is an idea I never really thought about for single handed typing input. A very cool idea.

13 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. Fine, except... by JanneM · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...except that I use the thumb to press every key on the cellphone, holding it with the rest of the fingers.

    If we have to use every finger, this means you suddenly need to use both hands just to use the phone - not a step forward.

    /Janne

    --
    Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
    1. Re:Fine, except... by toxcspdrmn · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What about people who through accident of birth (or just plain accident) have less than the standard complement of digits?

      The one thing that current cellphones have in their favour is that if you can hold one and have one finger or thumb spare, you can use it (sight/hearing impairments excepted).

      --
      "E pur si muove!" - attributed to Galileo Galilei, 1564-1642
    2. Re:Fine, except... by Benjamin+Shniper · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It hurts my hand to type this way.

      I will type k with both hands - try it yourself
      kkkkkkkkkk

      Unlike keyboard typing, you MUST move your hand to do it, and if you do not you will hurt your hand. Also, you may need to hold the phone with one hand and use the other to make a message.

      Why not have shifts/control buttons on the back of the phone where one's hand would normally be, so that you could get the same effect by pressing with one of the four fingers holding the phone, while still only needing the thumb to type with?

      -Ben

  2. What I don't get... by ackthpt · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Is the backside of almost all cell phones is wasted space. Put a small keypad with a slip cover over it and give the user a stylus to type with. For that matter, put a one or two line LCD display there so you can see just the last word or words typed.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  3. And if you're missing a few fingers? by afniv · · Score: 5, Funny

    And if you are missing a few fingers, what is one to do? If you're missing your middle finger, you are already disadvantaged in communications when you're driving. Hopefully that doesn't spread to telephones.

    I didn't read the article to avoid the popups, so kill my karma if it was answered in the article.

    --
    ~afniv
    "Man könnte froh sein, wenn die Luft so rein wäre wie das Bier"
    Richard von Weizs
  4. Watch out for those pop-up advertisements... by MongooseCN · · Score: 5, Funny

    Watch out for those pop-up advertisements on your way into MSNBC.

    That's what the middle fingers function will be for...

    --


    Outdoor digital photography, mostly in New Engl
  5. Gaming by Lizard_King · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Another use of the technology would be for video game controllers. Instead of placing multiple buttons on a controller (Sony's controller for the PlayStation 2 has eight buttons, not even counting the four direction buttons and the start and select buttons), a single button or a few buttons could be used for all the functions, with each finger denoting a particular action.

    This would mean a fundamental change to gaming interaction. Instead of training our hands/fingers to move according to a certain button pattern on an input device, we would need to train our hands/fingers to react in different combinations.

    Take a simple example: Imagine you are sitting in a completely closed off room (some isolated test environment) and you are told that you need to press buttons (provided in the room) to get food and water. So you learn to press this button over here to get food and that button over there to get water, and so on. Now, the test environment changes and removes the buttons from your little room. Now, you must learn to perform certain actions to get food and water like raising your right hand for food and raising your left hand for water.

    Would this change of approach be benificial to gaming?

    --
    "My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." - Jack Nicholson
  6. Dictionary technology still better. by DHam · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I can't see this being easier to use than the dictionary idea employed on Nokia phones (and probably others too). It gets you one push on each key and you can do it with your thumb. The newish Nokia 3330 even has multiple dictionaries so you can SMS in different languages. Admitadly it is a little clumsy when it doesn't know the word you're after, but once you've taught it your friends' names, you don't run into this too often.

  7. Nope, this won't do. by motherhead · · Score: 3, Insightful

    and i don't care that it is fingers he are talking about, 10 individual fingers on a phone as tiny as any nokia is not only embarassing, but impractical.

    a rudimentary stylus pane and something like graphitti would be infinately more practical.

    i for one would stear clear of any appliance that wanted me to learn some obscure dvorkian-esque ten fingered gymnastics to enter in "John Walsh - Home".

    I sympathize with people that want to see a better interface implimented so they can text message, but this is hokie, regaurdless of the of the two patents and the $50,000 VC and the writeup in MSNBC...

    in the words of Steve Martin, "That was shit one, this is shit two..."

  8. Less is more. by Darth+RadaR · · Score: 4, Funny

    How about just putting one button on cell phones and have everybody learn morse code. :)

    --
    /*drunk.. fix later*/
  9. Not very easy to use... by Vapula · · Score: 3, Insightful
    There are several reasons for this :
    • some people are holding their cellular in the same hand they are using to type. the other fingers are used to hold the phone
    • when the keys are small or when the user had big fingers, using the tip of the index finger is easier to type
    • Keyboard entry use all fingers but for DIFFERENT keys. Here, it's about using all fingers on the SAME key.
    • You have far less strength in your small fingers and more in your thumb and index.

    Anyway, cyclic typing is the best possible way to do blind typing (for example, while driving, in order to keep your eyes on the road) and DictAssisted typing is usually the fastest way to type (except when you use a lot of words not in the dictionnary).
  10. this seems VERY awkward. by Telek · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I just tried it on my phone (simulated of course) and it seems like it'd be a LARGE step backwards from the current T9/etc that's on the market. I've used T9 and it works great, and do most of the typing by holding the phone with my hand and using my thumb on that hand only. I can get decent amounts done that way. (I have a Sony J5 BTW)... This way you're pretty much required to use 2 hands, which makes it pretty inconvenient for places where you only have one hand available.

    And actually I doubt if it's any faster. You need to move your entire hand around and hit those small small keys with different fingers which is pretty awkward to do. I can't see this being much faster than T9, or what will soon be (give it a year or so) voice dictated anyways.

    And besides, how much text do you ACTUALLY send on your cellphone? I use the email feature to CHECK email and send a 5 word reply. I use SMS to RECEIVE traffic/weather/etc updates and the occasional note by my friends. But if I need to talk with one of them, I call them! I have the phone right there and talking is BY FAR FAR FAR more efficient than any typing method would be.

    --

    If God gave us curiosity
  11. How about the T9 dictionary?!? by c.r.o.c.o · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't know why nobody posted this before (or why it didn't get modded up), but on my Nokia 8260, and on my old Samsung SCH8580 there is a built-in dictionary.

    The way it works is quite simple, if you try to type the word "message" all you have to do is press 6377243, and it automatically guesses the match, in this case the word "message". If there are more than one match, all it takes is pressing a button multiple times, to scroll through the list of matches. It has English, French and I believe Spanish (my phone is my coat pocket, and I don't feel like getting it).

    I've been using my Nokia for quite a while with this system, and honestly I don't need anyting else. It's almost perfect, and the only difficulty is when you want to insert names, or numbers, but that only requires a couple of extra key presses.

    So my question is why bother with weird finger press combinations, finger-sensing buttons when the best solution is already out there?!? I guess this is one way somebody is trying to make extra money on royalties, but I don't know...