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Review Of Upcoming Projection Keyboards

Posted by timothy on from the easier-than-fingernail-implants dept.

malpern writes "I've written a review of upcoming virtual keyboards based on published reports. There are pictures, descriptions, and details for each of the four major manufactures (Virtual Devices, Developer VKB, Canesta, and Senseboard Technologies)."

8 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. What about ... by whacker9 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    the feel of keyboards which is important too. I don't think this will pick up especially the senseboard ones (the rest atleast have a keyboard image). Type into thin air !! People around may take you for being psychotic or something. Plus I would really like someone to do this: "Now where is that Enter key?" heh heh heh.....

  2. Potential finger damage... by httpamphibio.us · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I hope you don't actually have to touch the surface that it's being projected on. A couple weeks back somebody posted a link to a modified typewriter keyboard to use on a computer because his wife's fingers reacted badly to the jarring motion of using a touchtype keyboard. Imagine how jarring it would be to repeatedly slam your fingers against such a hard surface...

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    1. Re:Potential finger damage... by Mr_Silver · · Score: 4, Insightful
      I hope you don't actually have to touch the surface that it's being projected on.

      I just made myself look really stupid in the office here by pretending I had one of these keyboards.

      What did it prove? Well apart from the fact that no-one noticed, this might actually be better than a keyboard.

      Go on, try it. Pretend you have one of them laser keyboards and type a few words on the desk. Notice how lightly you type? Now hit a couple of keys on your keyboard with the same pressure and notice that you don't get anything.

      In fact, as long as you don't have to hammer the table (i doubt it), it'll probably be better for you as you won't be hitting the "keys" as hard.

      Also don't forget that you won't have to raise your hands at the wrist quite so much as you do for a keyboard.

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  3. Finally! by kwoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have been waiting for something like this for a long time now. I have keyboard preferences that many people deem odd (Sun 3 keyboard, QWERTY layout, essentially), and this looks like the answer to my problem.

    I also like that at least one of the devices will have RS232-C output. That will make connection to older devices a lot easier, and drivers easy to write.

    Does anyone have any idea when these will hit the Canadian market? Sometimes we lag behind the US market, and other times we get it a week or two early.

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    unixkb.com -- articles on practical Unix issues.
  4. Feel & screens by Malfourmed · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I've tried typing into the air, or onto a flat surface. It's weird. Good keyboards depend a lot on the responsiveness of the keys - the feel. Like the old solid but noisy clickety-clack IBM keyboards or (my personal favourite) the almost noiseless, light (as in "lightness of touch", not as in "light emitting diode") Honeywells.

    Still, I'm excited by this technology. Now someone needs to marry it up with a similarly sized projection screen and we can have a computer with a full-sized screen and full sized keyboard that you can fit into your palm.

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    a world in progress...
  5. Re:Release timescale by Proc6 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I dont think these will help your space solution. They all seem to still require about the same size flat smooth surface as a mini-keyboard to operate. The only advantage is less to carry (ie. good for PDA's). Not to mention, if you're a fan of an ergo keyboard, boy will YOU be in for a suprise when you're banging away on a non-forgiving hard-wood or formica surface. You'll be Remo Williams in no time!

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    I'm Rick James with mod points biatch!

  6. Re:Pain and Suffering by ndogg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Actually, I would argue that the opposite is true. I would say that these are probably better for your hands. I would imagine that with these you would not have to press so hard on to a surface for it to register a keypress, and so therefore you're merely tapping the surface, not drilling your finger into it, which would make RSI worse.

    Of course, many people are already use to using the normal keyboard with tactile feedback, so their typing ability would go down.

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  7. Re:Mapability? by droleary · · Score: 4, Insightful

    While this wouldn't be so practical for work (except for maybe switching keyboard nationality at the press of a button), how badass would that be for gaming?

    Actually, it may be extremely practical for work, just not in the way everyone (or even the manufacturers, apparent) thinks. I see this sort of thing as being really useful as an extra, programmable keyboard. I mean, I could honestly do without the keypad most of the time, and surely I'm not the only one who remember when software relied heavily on function key template maps. You could virtualize those things and, in fact, could provide a number of custom layouts for macros or toolbar items as well. Just in typing this reply, I can see the use of being able to call up a special HTML keyboard that would easily allow me to tag a selection (an <i> key, a <p> key, etc.). Really, these people should forget about the stagnant PDA market and focus on providing a virtualized interface for the desktop market.