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IBM's Morphing Touchscreen Keyboard Interface
cylonlover writes "While most people prefer using physical keyboards and only tolerate virtual keyboards on their mobile devices for the sake of portability, onscreen keyboards do potentially offer a flexibility that can't be matched by physical keyboards. It's this flexibility that IBM is looking to take advantage of with the company recently filing a U.S. patent application for a morphing touchscreen keyboard interface that would automatically resize, reshape and reposition keys based on a user's typing style."
I beta tested this a few months ago on my media center. I found it terribly slow and uncomfortable, as one might expect from a virtual keyboard
I don't want to have to look at my keyboard to ensure my hands are in the proper placement, and I'm striking the right keys. Most efficiency in typing consists in the textfile feedback, not in seeing what is reflected by the screen (most of us type looking at a document or not even watching the screen, and we let our muscles inform our brains that we've struck the correct key combinations). This isn't the first touch-screen keyboard, and I've used ones that were of adequate size to accommodate both hands (no thumb typing) and the number of errors incurred just as a result.... screw that!
I mean it reminds me of the new ipod nano's. Ever goto the gym with those and you aren't one of the track-at-a-time generation? Shuffle does no good for most of us who like a whole album. With t hose tiny touch screens, you literally have to look at the screen in order to change songs or browse around different artists. That really breaks your stride when working out, or when smoking cigarettes with a drink in another hand, etc.
Morphing may sound cool, but touch screen for input devices needs to get out of general purpose computing. It's just slowing everyone down.. that is where our productivity is really going.... The extra time spent manipulating touch screens really adds up at the end of the week...
Let's play "Where's the 'e' key *today*?"
The main reason it's awful with touch interfaces is that you can't touch-type.
Writing habits depend on how you sit and you can easily adapt between angles by tactile feedback.
So, get a functioning tactile response system which is morphic.
THEN, I'm sold.
At least if it flexes, if not, it's bad for your fingers.
Diehard touch typists using English-language keyboards actually use the little dimples on the F and J keys. Feeling them under your index fingers confirms that your hands are correctly positioned. While this is a noteworthy advance on IBM's part, I doubt that a keyboard which morphs keys - but lacks a way to ensure your fingers are where they're expected to be - will get much traction in the marketplace.