The TouchStream - Yet Another Keyboard?

omen asks: "I know the subject of keyboards seems to come up every week or so, but the FingerWorks has recently come to my attention. Before I shell out $330 for the TouchStream Stealth, I was wondering if anyone has any experience with it. Is the gesture system useful? How hard is it to get used to 'zero-force' keys? How well does the 'two finger' mouse work? Any thoughts on the Qwerak layout?" This keyboard looks to be another incremental improvement on ergonomic keyboards, but are these keyboards really good enough to justify their prices?

Comments

chances to try them..

[Cuthalion]

Well according to their FAQ they only sell them directly over the web site, and as such the only way to try one out is to buy it. If you don't like it you can return it but there is a 15% restocking fee.

I'd thinking that something this different from what people are used to would really do well to have some kind of trial offer. I'm certainly not going to shell out $45 just to try the damn thing out.

Strained Eyesight

[FunkyRat]

I know this has been mentioned in other discussions on keyboards on Slashdot, but I think it bears repeating...

Would it kill these companies trying to sell keyboards (especially non-traditional ones) over the web to include some large enough pictures that you can actually see what the keyboard might be like to type on? There's no way I'm going to plop down $100 or more for a product I can only get a 250 or 300 pixel wide view of.

QWERAK the Inclement

[fm6]

I personally would never switch to a non-QWERTY keyboard. The length of retraining (supposedly a couple weeks for QWERAK, a couple months for Dvorak) is beside the point. What does matter: it would be a nightmare to be a QWERAK typist, er, keyboarder in a QWERTY world.

About a year ago, I bought a Goldtouch keyboard for the machine I do about 60% of my work on. This keyboard caught my eye mainly because the cursor keys are rather more rationally arranged than on the standard IBM 101 layout. I used to have a persistent problem of hitting Page or Home when I meant to hit an arrow key. No more. And 101 keyboards are just too damn big.

Took a little getting used to, but I now much prefer the Goldtouch keyboard. Except I had a hell of a time whenever I switched to my secondary machine. Finally had to get a Goldtouch for it as well. It was either that or trash the first one.

And my mutant keyboards were still QWERTYs! Forget QWERAK or Dvorak.

YMMV. Especially if you're a hunt-and-peck typist, with fewer skills to unlearn. I'm a touch-typist, a skill I learned on an actual typewriter (that's how old I am). One with blank keys, to break me of the habit of looking at the keyboard.

Still, I wonder who really needs the extra 30% throughput that non-QWERTY keyboards supposedly offer. Aside from professional keyboarders. I think the rest of us need the extra time to stop and think!

Re:QWERAK the Inclement

[fm6]

... the staggered layout of qwerty keyboards was influenced primarily by mechanical considerations. The result is actively painful and harmful for a large number ...

I don't know enough about RMIs to properly argue the point. Instead, I'll offer some semi-informed suggestions.

I would hope somebody who's suffering harm from use of a keyboard would look at all the possible causes, rather than focusing on a single "obvious" one, like use of the QWERTY keyboard. As I said, I'm pretty ignorant of RMI issues, but what I do know that the "experts" are far from unanimous.

For my part, I get a lot of relief simply by not typing as fast as I can. I once typed for a living, and can still go pretty fast. But as I get older I try to pay more and more attention to my comfort level.

Which is the basis of a lot of self-care: pay attention to your own body. It knows more than you do!

On that same basis, I've come to prefer an adjustable keyboard. As I said before, I bought the Goldtouch keyboard because I was impressed by the layout. But I also find that if I adjust it right, typing feels better. Which has to be a good thing.

I'm also vaguely sceptical of the Dvorak layout for these same reasons: it isn't necessary a good idea to type as fast as you can. Well, perhaps that Dvorak makes up for it with "natural" motions or whatever.

But I'm left more skeptical of QWERAK than ever. If you're right about Dvorak being better for you, QWERAK would seem to offer the worst of both worlds.

Re:Missing features

[unitron]

As far as you know you're an owner? Waiting to see if your check clears or something?

Re:Aesthetics

[jaffray]

I just received my Touchstream today. The strip in the middle isn't a ribbon. The whole thing is a single rigid piece - either metal or hard plastic - and the sensors are mounted on that plate.