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Microsoft Develops Analog Keyboard For Wearables, Solves Small Display Dilemma
MojoKid writes Have you ever tried hunting and pecking on a miniature keyboard that's been crammed onto a smartwatch's tiny display? Unless the tips of your fingers somehow resemble that of a stylus, you're in for a challenge. Interestingly enough, it's Microsoft that might have the most logical solution for typing on small size displays running Google's Android Wear platform. Microsoft's research division has built an analog keyboard prototype for Android Wear that eliminates the need to tap at tiny letters, and instead has you write them out. On the surface, such a solution seems like you'd be trading one tedious task for another, though a demo of the technology in action shows that this could be a promising solution — watch how fast the guy in the video is able to hammer out a response.
LOL Microsoft developed an analog keyboard. OR they just remembered how their palm pilots worked and ported it to android..
LOL Microsoft developed an analog keyboard. OR they just remembered how their palm pilots worked and ported it to android..
my thought exactly, and then I recall how blackberry took a big chunk of the pda market from palm. perhaps the smaller form factor will make it compelling again.
on the otherhand apple watch already demoed transmitting drawn shapes on their watch presumably for the same rationale of input to a small form factor.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Isn't this basically what the original palm computers did for text entry?
Isn't this called Graffiti?
This reminds me of the Graffiti input method Palm developed for its devices. It was used on a small touch pad, before larger touch screens became available.
I want Windows to send M$ everything I type when I'm on the go so I can subpoena myself later.
Does anyone else remember Palm devices having a little handwriting recognition box at the bottom, with the Graffiti? Hopefully this system does a better job at recognizing handwriting, but it's hardly a novel idea. I'm half expecting that next, someone is going to release a groundbreaking new smartwatch with a physical keyboard that looks like a casio watch.
Not that I object to drawing on old approaches in designing new products, but I can't help but roll my eyes if Microsoft is going to try to claim that this is innovative. Off the top of my head, it seems like we've had 4 different methods for text input: physical keyboards, virtual keyboards, handwriting recognition, and speech recognition. Each has problems that are fairly well understood. Speech recognition has gotten better in the past couple years, and Swype-style virtual keyboards (analyzing shape rather than simply button pressing) is fairly innovative, but I'm not seeing how this is actually a new thing, other than implementing it on a watch.
And again Microsoft is ripping someone else's technology and saying it is their own invention. Take your pick: dos, windows, mouse... the list goes on and on.
morcego
I know I can't write longhand as fast as I can type, not even counting the time spent correcting interpretation errors made by the software. I guess Microsoft wants us to all learn shorthand...
Microsoft "innovates" by copying sub-pixel rendering and modifies it to hammer fonts into sub-pixels to make the text looks like crap.
An update to the Casio AT-550?
90's calling, and they want their Newton back:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQqQwauidKw
I've owned a 1.5" Android 4.0 watch (the ZGPAX S6), and can tell you from experience that the standard Swype-style input on the Google keyboard is an order of magnitude faster than this, without even being developed with tiny screens in mind. The only time you would need something like this is maybe for typing in usernames/passwords and URLs. It's baffling how a major corporation could ignore the fact that they didn't even need to develop a proof of concept to (in)validate their own ideas - anyone could just buy a $120 watch phone from Shenzen as far back as a year ago, download graffiti and Google Keyboard, and see for themselves.
Handwriting input is routine for input of Chinese characters on mobile phones, and has been for many years already. The character recognition part works quite well there, and is certainly a lot harder than for the very limited Western alphabet. So unless I'm missing something, there doesn't seem to be anything innovative about it.
Why not just tap morse code? That worked quite well over a hundred years ago.
I especially love the part in the MS research video where they use Google to perform a search...
Priceless
I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
I have a Palm Fossil watch that uses the same concept. It worked quite well as one would scribble the palm symbols on a tiny screen. What's better is how the problem of clicking through on the menus was solved while scribbling -- a little longer tap would select an item beneath and you could use the entire screen as an input surface.
it's Microsoft that might have the most logical solution for typing on small size displays running Google's Android Wear platform. Microsoft's research division has built an analog keyboard prototype for Android Wear that eliminates the need to tap at tiny letters, and instead has you write them out.
Why would you want to type at all? There's reasonably good voice recognition now, that's got to be better than trying to finger-paint letters on a tiny watch screen?
I'd like a handwriting implementation that can handle cursive. Not because I write cursive on paper, but because it enables to write without lifting your pen/finger from the surface, and if I'm using my finger, I'd rather not lift and place it back down again and again. I actually like handwriting in general. Typing is great: it's fast and more easily implemented, but when I'm taking notes, I find that I function far better if I'm physically writing each letter. Rarely do I need to go back and consult my notes after that.
Alright, I guess I'm officially a luddite. I still use graph paper and pen. I use a Wacom tablet and pen. Sadly, handwriting recognition/note-taking on a computer is crap (at least on Linux). When I need a paper replacement for Linux, I'm still using what amounts to a Sketchbook Pro clone (MyPaint).
Graffiti is actually patented already, so unless they bought the patent holder, they cannot get a patent on this.
If they every try to sell this, I see a patent suit coming their way in no time - Microsoft makes for a really juicy target.
Wasn't Graffiti like in 1996? Should be unpatented or the patent will run out soon (yeah with some padding for the rule changes and whatever)
https://play.google.com/store/...
meep
And it's fucking annoying!
sic transit gloria mundi
Prior art - Fossil Inc. PalmOS Wrist PDA circa 2003
"Have you ever tried hunting and pecking on a miniature keyboard that's been crammed onto a smartwatch's tiny display? "
Smartwatch? You young whippersnappers, you don't know what 'tiny' is.
We had Casio Calculator watches in the eighties.
Those had real tiny, real hardware buttons that had to be pushed hard.
And now get off my lawn.
Then again, a smartwatch is pretty much up there with those goofy wristwatch calculators in my book.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Graffiti is actually patented already, so unless they bought the patent holder, they should not be able to get a patent on this.
FTFY
There even used to be a 1980s calculator watch which used the watchface so you could draw on your digits. The technology is rather simple so it is a logical thing to do.
The problem is, while it works for calculators, writing complex command lines is much harder.
I doubt the patent covering this stuff has long to run.