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Two Videos of E-Lead's Noahpad in Action
Engadget has a couple of great videos depicting the new 'Noahpad' laptop offering from E-Lead. This laptop offers a new kind of touchpad that is integrated with the keyboard. An interesting idea to be sure, but I doubt I could ever get used to typing on something this strange.
Ok, I know its not the point of the article, but if you want to make a serious product demo video (which it seems like they did), wouldn't you first want a native English speaker to massage the copy a bit before the British guy reads it? Excellently dictated British Engrish (Britgrish?), its a first!
I'm fairly sure I saw that same design on a recent list of 'worst keyboards of history'--I'm getting carpal tunnel just thinking about typing on that abomination. Not to mention it's one of those flat things of the same type as your typical McDonald's cash register of late '90s vintage--and the chief difficulty of that kind of keyboard, besides the anti-ergonomic layout, was that frequently used keys would wear away, and the contact would become exposed--and shortly thereafter, break.
The designer should be either shot, or forced to use it.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
Add this one to the heap... http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/10/1316255
My question is why? The video seemed to emphasize the idea of having a 10" screen on a 7" device. Where is the great application for this? I mean where is it you are needing to bring a portable that you have room for this but not a 10" version? It's not like it will fit in your pocket.
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Finally, using a point-and-click interface will resemble using VI. The beard-suspender set rejoice !
> The designer should be either shot, or forced to use it.
That's WAY too harsh a punishment for the poor keyboard designer. I mean, all he did was design a hard-to-use keyboard, so he can't possibly deserve a punishment that awful.
Better just to shoot the poor guy.
Summary: they are using "Virtual" screen option, available since years in X11. Throw in two touchpads (one for mouse, second for scrolling on virtual desktop) and totally DESTROY the keyboard layout.
Two touchpads are nice. I don't mind the lack of per-key response when typing, probably could get used to it. But the keyboard layout? C'mon, that will be the next PCjr of "dual-touchpads". PCjr inveneted pc101 keyboard layout, see?, so I bet that they just invented "two touchpads" thingy.
If this is ever gonna work, it will be touchpads overlaid on a classical keyboard, and the border frame between them will be just to fit between the keys.
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Not only is the keyboard a lame idea but the idea of making you scroll around the screen because the resolution of the desktop is greater then the monitor is dumb too. Been there, done that. It sucks. You miss pop-up windows all the time and never know what the hell is going on.
I love how the voiceover - done by someone who's clearly a native English speaker - sticks exactly to the fractured English script. You've got to wonder if it just wasn't part of his job to point out all of the errors, or if the non-native speaker who wrote it had too high an opinion of his own language skills to listen to him.
Why force buyers to purchase two? Customer satisfaction, that's why! Because, when that keyboard pisses you off for the last time, merely throwing one Noahpad across the room might not be enough to soothe your rage.
Think about it. Wouldn't the *crunch* or that thing hitting a masonry wall at 40MPH with all those little *$(@#$# keys spilling onto the floor be really satisfying? You know it!
Thanks, E-Lead, for putting the customer first!
This would _dramatically_ decrease your typing speed. On a normal keyboard, once you depress the first key, before the key has even traveled back to its starting position you've struck the next key. This is possible because the keys aren't physically linked. The key press isn't signaled once the key has returned to it's starting position, but after it's depressed completely. For you to type any two letters on the left or right hand side you have to wait for the "key" (the whole side) to return to the starting position.
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"They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
Look, I know everyone is saying the same thing, but sometimes, you know, you've just got to express yourself.
This has got to be the absolute worst computer I've seen since the Adam. That keyboard is insanely ill-conceived -- the key layout, the split, the two big buttons idea. The display is horrendous. I've seen that sliding window idea on laptops and it really just completely sucked. Horrible. And it's just about the ugliest laptop I've ever seen.
An abortion.
Dreck.
Awful.
How sad that someone devoted all this time and money to such a piece of crap.
Whoever invented this is the anti-Steve.
...that British men sound smart regardless of the words coming out of their mouths.
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Let me assume you're right, regarding this keyboard.
I'm not sure you are.
Quite simply, since the keyboard is also a touchpad, there is no need for you to actually depress the button to record a keystroke. A simple touch will do it. The depressing of the keypad is good for other functions, such as:
(1) Mouse button. No different than a mouse.
(2) Function keys/shift. Hit your key lightly, and it's a key. Hit it and depress, and it's a function key.
I imagine that you could even select a function key with one hand, temporarily redirecting the other hand to an alternate usage. For example, select "c" on the bottom row, and you immediately put the other hand into greek (or hebrew, or math) characters. Select "Z" on the bottom row, and the other hand is shifted. Select "B" on the bottom row, and the other hand is mouse.
For a greater extension, imagine that you have the same four "function" keys across the bottom of either keyboard. Then you essentially have four full keyboards of functions.
In other words, even if this laptop were in Windows and completely unusable, it would be great to get this little gadget into Linux, and rewrite the interface.
Now, my only other concerns are (1) uploading/downloading ease (does it have USB for a USB drive?) (2) expandable usability (printers, cams, etc: USB would be fine) (3) Power concerns (how long does the battery last? Does the battery feature pyrotechnic surprises?) (4) Durability.
Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's