Will Touch Screens Kill the Keyboard?

CWmike writes "Next-generation touch-screen devices will embed more haptics, or touch-based feedback, into virtual keyboards. 'A lot of companies are really getting into haptics, [using] source feedback and a sense of touch to try to replicate a keyboard on a display,' says Bruce Gant, a mechanical engineer at Product Development Technologies, which integrates touch screens into cell phones and other devices for manufacturers. 'If people really get that down and nail that experience, [virtual keyboards] could replace mechanical keyboards on laptops.' Don't tell that to Motorola, which just introduced the Atrix 4G, and dual-core 4.3-inch smartphone that docks to a laptop with, you guessed it, a physical keyboard."

Comments

I think SWYPE can be faster than the keyboard

[bigsexyjoe]

Now that I use a SWYPE keyboard on my phone, I realize that it's faster than thumb typing. I think it wouldn't be hard for a keyboard-sized touch to become faster than the physical keyboard it replaces. This would be a great opportunity to kill QWERTY, too. Think about it. You can have five large vowels surrounded by a ring of constants with numbers and punctuation below. You would swype away with the right and pick the word selections with your left hand. It could give you words guesses based on what you are swyping, the sentence you are writing, and common words would just always be there. Oh and it would vibrate to give you tactile feed back. I think when you think about it, this kind of system could allow you to type A LOT faster than a standard keyboard.