Microsoft Develops Analog Keyboard For Wearables, Solves Small Display Dilemma

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Microsoft Develops Analog Keyboard For Wearables, Solves Small Display Dilemma

Posted by timothy on Sunday October 12, 2014 @04:23AM from the finger-spelling dept.

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.

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Great "invention" by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-12 04:27 · Score: 5, Insightful

LOL Microsoft developed an analog keyboard. OR they just remembered how their palm pilots worked and ported it to android..
1. Re:Great "invention" by PPH · 2014-10-12 04:41 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Yep. They re-invented Grattiti. Knowing how the USPTO works, they'll probably get the patent as well.
  
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Microsoft re-invents graffiti by james_shoemaker · 2014-10-12 04:34 · Score: 4, Insightful

Isn't this basically what the original palm computers did for text entry?
Going in circles by nine-times · 2014-10-12 04:49 · Score: 4, Informative

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.
1. Re:Going in circles by pruss · 2014-10-12 06:57 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  There is an official port of Graffiti for Android in Google Play.
1984 Called by Nkwe · 2014-10-12 05:08 · Score: 4, Informative

An update to the Casio AT-550?
1. Re:1984 Called by Alsee · 2014-10-12 06:32 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Your link is for a 30 year old watch with a touch screen that lets you enter numbers and symbols.
  This story is a new invention watch with a touch screen that lets you enter numbers and symbols and letters.
  That's why Microsoft deserves a patent on it.
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bing dat by geoskd · 2014-10-12 05:30 · Score: 4, Funny

I especially love the part in the MS research video where they use Google to perform a search...
Priceless

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Re:Why would you want to type at all? by lowspeedhighdrag · 2014-10-12 07:34 · Score: 5, Funny

Voice recognition for texting? One of these days we may be able to talk directly to each other through our Mobil devices! Won't that be amazing!