Will Touch Screens Kill the Keyboard? 332
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."
No (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:No (Score:5, Insightful)
Add to that, the best device for avoiding RSI has a large amount of travel and a gradual resistance in the keys. A touchscreen has no travel and a very sudden resistance. Try spending five hours typing on one and see how much your fingers hurt.
They're fine for consumer devices (i.e. devices for consuming), but not for devices people use to create anything involving text.
Re:No (Score:5, Insightful)
And....
You simply can't type on a touchscreen without looking, at least not for any usable amount of time. I love my Galaxy-S with the Swype keyboard, but even that is no replacement for a physical one.
Re:No (Score:2)
Re:No (Score:2)
The summary specifically mentions haptics [wikipedia.org].
No one argues that current touch-screens would be a replacement for no-look interfaces. But if you can start to introduce tactile feedback mechanisms, there is some incredible potential.
Re:No (Score:3)
You are correct, and this is demonstrated by the fact that the average keyboard is not that different than a typewriter from 100 years ago, in basic layout. With the exception of Windows keys (which come off easily using a screw driver...) a good keyboard still has a tactile feel that gives instant feedback to the user allowing them to speed along at a rate most comfortable to them. Screens that will create "click" sounds and other feedback will never compare because "feeling" with the ears is not the same as feeling with the fingers. You are never quite sure if you hit the right key. With a tactile keyboard, I know instantly if I hit the wrong key or didn't strike heavy enough.
Same thing with voice activated typing. Simply put, it both are distracting and interfere with the thought process, while typing can be done with confidence, almost subconsciously, allowing you to actually THINK about what you are typing just before you type it. Not such a big deal if you are inputing your name and address, but a huge deal if you are actually typing ideas as you come up with, or programming.
Re:No (Score:5, Insightful)
I just don't understand how anyone could do any serious typing on the same screen they are looking at. Sure, causual keying in google search terms is easy that way, but when the screen is at an angle suitable for viewing there's no way I could bend my wrists back far enough to type efficiently -- and even in a compromise between the two positions, I'm sure it would kill my hands. I suppose I could put the screen flat down and lean over it, but only if I want to look like Quasimodo in a decade or so.
Plus my fingernails tend to be kept long (unlike many I actually use them in my job) so I doubt a touchscreen would stand up to my abuse very long.
Re:No (Score:2)
Re:No (Score:2)
Add to that, the best device for avoiding RSI has a large amount of travel and a gradual resistance in the keys. A touchscreen has no travel and a very sudden resistance. Try spending five hours typing on one and see how much your fingers hurt.
I imagine the experience there would not be too different than trying to type in a lengthy BASIC program on an old Timex-Sinclair 1000 with its membrane keyboard (which was one of the reasons I am thankful that my parents, when they shopped for a computer for me back in the 80s, only very briefly considered the TS-1000 and instead went with the TI-99/4a).
Re:No (Score:3)
They're fine for consumer devices (i.e. devices for consuming), but not for devices people use to create anything involving text.
Agreed. Touchscreens will "replace" keyboards the same way that Vista and newer replaced them with their speech-to-text: nowhere visible even 3 years after mainstream launch. Heck, iPhones are older than Vista and I still don't see touchscreens in my work or home monitors.
Here is another [youtube.com] reason there's no general uptake in shipping-grade ultra-different alternatives. Two minutes in you can tell that without an optional standard keyboard, you would never get past the first 3 minutes of a perl script with symbols, sentence cases and impromptu voice commands to compensate when errors happen. Slashdot had another story today about SSH over cellphones, and one of the topics was missing keys like PgUP, CTRL and ESC, that are forgotten in smartphones' space conscious hardware/software implementations.
Touch screens look cool, but they are a museum / kiosk / smartphone item (spend 5 minutes entering input and you're out or done.) TFA's question will make sense the day at least 50% of screens are touch-ready. Hopefully, our living room TV's WON'T be catching this trend.
Re:No (Score:2)
So are crayons, that doesn't mean we don't have nice pens.
Re:No (Score:3)
I don't write with a crayon or pen for ten hours a day. I don't get keyboard cramp, but I have had writer's cramp in college just from doing equations a notebook for a few hours. brutal.
Re:No (Score:5, Insightful)
It also keeps my finger smudges out of my line of sight. I hate touch screen anything. They always end up dirty.
Re:No (Score:2)
Or scratched. And on some touch-screen technologies, a scratch makes it erratic beyond reasonable use.
This is why I hate my touch-screen Sony eReader PRS-650. Not only does the touch screen get dirty and streaky and hard to read through, but Sony has gone out of their way to make the UI unbearable. There is no "up" button to go back up a level or back where you were. While I'm reading the downloaded newspapers (shouts to Calibre, which I was not happy with on my previous Sony, but is simply fabulous now), if I want to go back up the menus I sometimes have to press a little arrow icon on the screen and sometimes press the "options" button so I can get a touchscreen menu that has a little arrow icon, and it usually requires alternating between the two.
I've finally given up and simply press the "HOME" button and re-navigate down through the periodicals pages to get where I want to go. At least that way it is one button press followed by a sequence of screen taps. It takes less time overall because I'm not having to switch gears and moving my hand around so often.
Re:No (Score:2)
Plus I can still read the screen if I use a keyboard with greasy fingers. Good luck to any parent who tries to use a touchscreen shared by their kids.
Re:No (Score:3)
Good luck to any parent who tries to use a touchscreen shared by their kids.
Was thinking that myself. Toddlers and young children are well know to want to bang on things. Imagine a child banging the mouse on the touchscreen. Shattered glass, while it is most likely to stay in the frame and not hurt the child, it's still a very broken keyboard then.
Re:No (Score:3)
I will give up my keyboard once the neural implant technology becomes available.
Re:No (Score:5, Funny)
My Model M [wikipedia.org] has never failed me.
Except that one time when it only caused an ugly bump, rather than kill my opponent. I mostly blame my aim for that.
Re:No (Score:3)
Me either and I have two.
The Mac keyboard on my MacBook Pro is a bit annoying in that I have to keep my nails trimmed down to nothing in order to accurately touch type. Even with a 16th inch long nail overhang on my ring finger, I find I tap the laptop and not the key. I keep my left hand trimmed anyway due to guitar playing so it's not a hardship. Still it's annoying.
[John]
Re:No (Score:4, Interesting)
For the record, I just ordered a Mattias Tactile Pro 3 keyboard [matias.ca] because the Apple "chiclet" keyboard on my Mac pro is so appallingly bad - no physical or audible feedback, mushy feel, unreliable rollover / missed keys / extra keys. This is for my desktop; I suffer with the awfulness on my Macbook pro.
The TTP3 has Alps mechanical switches, basically unlimited rollover, and key legends that won't wear off, at least according to them (laser etched.) It's my xmas present to myself.
The idea that a touch screen could take over -- and mind you, I'm really into my iPad -- is no less than ridiculous. The "keyboard" on an iPad is meant to cover you in very rare instances. It's not usable long term or in a serious manner. People who type for a living, or simply a lot... they can't be moved to a touch screen. Not even remotely viable.
Re:No (Score:2)
Re:No (Score:3)
Touch typing is for weenies. Real geeks can be blind and not touching the keyboard and still hit the right keys. You could call it zen but really you're talking muscle memory. The same thing that makes you cringe when you're about to strike the wrong key before your finger even touches the key. The same thing that makes it so I can't tell you my password but I can type it.
Last time I took a typing test for a job the recruiters eyes about popped out because I looked like I was haphazardly pecking at the keyboard with whatever finger strikes my fancy without even looking at what I'm doing or trying to keep track of my hand placement and I still was typing well over 100 words a minute without making errors.
And now I have a condition that is gradually making it so I cant use a keyboard or mouse but thanks to the joy of good touch screen interfaces I can still do anything I need to.
Re:No (Score:3)
I have GOT to get one of these.
I saw that Unicomp [yahoo.net] seems to be the place to get them now.
Which is the best one to get...?
Customizer 101, or the Customizer 104/105? Those look to be the most normal keyboard layouts?
Re:No (Score:2)
Re:No (Score:2)
Re:No (Score:2)
Precisely. That's why I have 5.
One I hit too hard with a keyboard wrist rest causing a hole to appear in the spacebar key after losing a boss battle in COH a few years ago when some tool wouldn't tank. But that keyboard and spacebar works perfectly, the hole being on the left side of the spacebar key.
Re:No (Score:3)
How expensive is your keyboard, that you send it to the shop?
I have only used two types of keyboards: those that are so cheap you replace them when they break, and those that never break.
Re:No (Score:3)
Try playing a FPS on a touch pad sometime. Even beyond the "I don't need to be looking down at the keyboard when someone has an RPG pointed at my head," I'm sure we've all whacked the spacebar a little more violently than necessary when the game is tense.
For that reason alone, I expect keyboards in one form or another to be around for awhile.
Also, I defy anyone to make a touch interface that I can type 100wpm on, without looking at the virtual keyboard. The tactile keys give the fingers the clues they need to remain in the right spot when you're typing from handwritten notes. Swype is great, but I think the record for swyping is something like 60wpm. Doesn't sound like much of a difference, but tell that to a medical transcriptionist who gets paid by the page.
haptics? (Score:2)
Re:haptics? (Score:2)
Re:haptics? (Score:5, Funny)
And Shit Cap. :-P
Answer: no. (Score:5, Insightful)
No matter how good a smartphone gets, that doesn't mean that old technology people still benefit from should suddenly disappear. My phone has a built-in keyboard; I can text so fast it startles people and any flashy features my phone doesn't have would be all the better with it. Give us more functionality, not tell us we should settle for less.
I think people forget touchscreen is old (Score:4, Informative)
Touch screens have been around for a long, LONG time. There are various places where they are used quite a bit too. Point of sale terminals often use touch screens, and have for a long time. They are useful in some situations, but not generally useful. The reason is because having a touch screen involves having your hands on your screen. This means you occlude part of your view, and of course in a desk environment means that either you are stretching your arms up, which is uncomfortable, or you are hunched over a display.
The keyboard and mouse endure because for a sitting working environment, they are generally what you want. I want to be able to easily enter text while looking at a display that is in front of my face at a comfortable level.
Basically touchscreens will be used where they make sense. This can be in things like phones where space is a premium, and you want as big a screen as you can get, or in specialty applications. However they are not going to be the be-all, end-all.
Re:I think people forget touchscreen is old (Score:2)
Exactly. the Keyboard isn't going anywhere(Mice might fade slowly for tracpads, but that is also a debate).
Keyboards enter raw data very very quickly. However not everything needs quick data/ large quantities of data to be entered for those Keyboards will stick around.
Mice well they work well for some things track pads work better for others, some form of mouse will always be available along side the keyboard, As reaching up to click on the screen doesn't work so well.
Re:Answer: no. (Score:4, Funny)
Big media: quit saying "XYZ is dead" every time you're starved for attention.
Are breathless claims that some ubiquitous technology is dead dead? We spread a short article over twenty pages for you to find out!
Re:Answer: no. (Score:2)
Big media: quit saying "XYZ is dead" every time you're starved for attention.
Big media is dead!
I'm so lonely. :-(
Re:Answer: no. (Score:2)
I'd be surprised if you break 40wpm on a phone's physical keyboard.
It's not all about speed, though. I think I'm less likely to get RSI issues using Swype than the physical keyboard. Not that I do that much text entry on my phone.
Still hanging on dearly to my IBM Model M... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Still hanging on dearly to my IBM Model M... (Score:2)
Serioulsy though, I used to love that keyboard, but my wife made me give it up because she got tired of hearing the clickity-clack all night when I was pulling all-nighters.
Re:Still hanging on dearly to my IBM Model M... (Score:2)
But... how can you possibly get along without the "Windows key"????
I get along fine without a 'Windows Key', but if the 'Windows Key' is a must, there are these available from Unicomp: http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net/customizer.html [yahoo.net]
Re:Still hanging on dearly to my IBM Model M... (Score:2)
Re:Still hanging on dearly to my IBM Model M... (Score:2)
You could map the caps lock key as windows key for example. In fact, I'm using a Model M, just had this idea and found a solution.
http://mattshaw.org/news/window-map-caps-lock-to-windows-key/ [mattshaw.org]
Re:Still hanging on dearly to my IBM Model M... (Score:2)
Re:Still hanging on dearly to my IBM Model M... (Score:2)
Yes! I can imagine that better haptics might actually replace physical keyboards for general consumption just like membrane / scissor keyboards replaced mechanical keyswitches.
But the real enthusiasts, heavy typers and power users are still going to want real mechanical switches like they alway have done.
[Typing this on a Maltron 3D keyboard with Cherry MX black keys; my IBM Model M is at work, my Model F (like the M - but even more so) is sitting handily next to me.]
Re:Still hanging on dearly to my IBM Model M... (Score:2)
Curious: How do you bridge from the old school 5 pin DIN to USB? Do you have to go to PS/2 then to USB? Or is there a more direct method?
I just dug out the keyboard from my IBM Personal Computer for this purpose, but haven't tinkered with it yet.
Re:Still hanging on dearly to my IBM Model M... (Score:2)
You need a USB to PS/2 adapter that provides enough power to run the beast, about an eighth of a watt. Some cheap USB adapters are unable to source that much current since a typical modern keyboard only takes a milliwatt or two.
http://www.clickykeyboards.com/index.cfm/fa/items.main/parentcat/11298/subcatid/0/id/124184 [clickykeyboards.com]
They have more information, and apparently sell one for about $20 that is known to work. Also on that page are links to projects in case you want to integrate the USB control or learn to reprogram the microcontroller inside the keyboard to speak USB.
Re:Still hanging on dearly to my IBM Model M... (Score:2)
wasteful (Score:2)
It seems like it'd be awfully wasteful to build a touch screen to replace a keyboard, both in terms of money and actual resources. Keyboards are fairly cheap on both.
Plus -- ergonomics?
Hell No (Score:2)
Seriously, try using a touchscreen for more than a text message. Use a bunch of on screen keyboard variants. Swype, android, apple, and any other one you care to try.
You'll be happy when you are back to a machine that has a real keyboard. Even a mobile with a real keyboard.
Re:Hell No (Score:2)
Aside from layout, I think the biggest problem stems from having to hover over it. if more than one finger happens to come in contact with the surface, the results are unpredictable. i don't know if haptics are nearly as essential as some kind of velocity gathered with the touch. Something that would let the device know that just because you were touching asdf and y, you meant to enter y because that touch had some impact.
Sure, just remember the gorilla arm (Score:4, Insightful)
Keyboard ON the screen == bad: http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/G/gorilla-arm.html [catb.org]
Keyboard away from the screen and horizontal, no problem. But then, what's the point in virtualizing it?
Re:Sure, just remember the gorilla arm (Score:2)
Don't forget, a virtual keyboard just means you only have half of the screen to actually view stuff.
Re:Sure, just remember the gorilla arm (Score:2)
Seems unlikely (Score:3)
Doubt it. (Score:2)
Re:Doubt it. (Score:2)
I understand if you didn't RTFA, but did you even read the summary? It explicitly brings up haptics [wikipedia.org].
The Bad Keyboard Trend Continues (Score:5, Insightful)
If touchscreens do kill the keyboard (and I am very doubtful), then it'll just be another milestone for the trend of crappier and crappier keyboard input devices. Back in the day, the mechanical switch and the buckler keyboards were fantastic. They had the weight, they had the tactile response, they had the satisfying click you get when you press down a key, plus they were nigh indestructible. Then, everyone moved to the quiet keyboards that use the rubber sheet and the dielectric, and it had less of a tactical response. Then people started moving towards those awful chiclet keyboards (are they called Island keyboards?) and they make it so frustrating to type something. If touchscreens take over, it'll just be the next logical step towards crappier keyboards.
Re:The Bad Keyboard Trend Continues (Score:2)
Oh, I kinda like the quiet keyboards.
But yeah, we'll keep seeing a frustrating trend to fewer moving parts.
On the bright side, a generation of T9 txtspk didn't kill the keyboard.
On the dark side, accuracy with touchscreen keyboards is so bad, that I think it will just drive up the adoption of speech-to-text recognition, because it won't be so bad in comparison :-P
"Silly computer! I SAID, 'I want a bottle in front of me!' NOT 'a frontal lobotomy!'"
Re:The Bad Keyboard Trend Continues (Score:3)
Keyboards didn't get crappier. Cheap became more popular.
Which is cheaper? (Score:2)
No (Score:5, Insightful)
Touch keyboards cannot keep speed with physical keyboards due to a lack of tactile feedback, space requirements, and hand-strain when typing due to jamming your finger into a solid surface repeatedly (guess its not much different than laptop crappy keyboards, but still). That's assuming you've overcome the software limitation of slow processing that plagues most touch keyboards.
That being said, they will probably replace keyboards for applications(such as mobile phones) where a keyboard would be a waste and inefficient use of space while not being very effective anyway.
But in a laptop? God no unless you're going for lightweight style rather than a useful work space.
Disclaimer: Typed on my model-m.
Re:No (Score:2)
There are times when the "older generation" clings to outdated technology for nostalgic reasons, while the youngsters move on to the better tech (e.g. MP3 players replacing CDs). However that's not the case with keyboards, because physical keyboards have distinct advantages over virtual keyboards, and new generations of consumers are going to notice that! (Gesture interfaces are great for some things, but we're still going to want to write text in this brave new future, and to do that the keyboard is still king.)
As you pointed out, there will be devices for which a virtual keyboard makes more sense. And I have no doubt that manufacturers will keep improving those keyboards so that they close the gap with physical keyboards (using vibration-response and deformation of the screen to provide haptic cues are good ideas). But in any situation where you can afford to have a real keyboard (and I mean "afford" in the "have enough space" sense), people will prefer to have one.
What I do hope to see, however, is a convergence of the capabilities of both. This is what I see happening: virtual/touchscreen keyboards add features to be more 'physical-like' (vibration response to give some haptic cues, elastic displays that have a bit of 'give' so that you can feel the tap/click, deformable displays that reconfigure so that you can feel ridges for key edges, etc.) Meantime physical keyboards might start becoming more advanced (they are too expensive right now, but there are keyboards with built-in displays (the Optimus keyboard [artlebedev.com]), and some that have variable-pressure sensors, etc.). We will likely reach a day where the current split between 'simple physical keyboard' and 'flat virtual keyboard on touchscreen' won't be the two options. Instead we'll have 'dynamically reconfigurable keyboards with deep key-press response' for desktops and laptops and 'dynamically reconfigurable keyboards with shallow key-press response' for tablets and smartphones.
Re:No (Score:3)
I agree with you 100%.
I recently invested in a couple of 'Das Keybard's. One for home and one for work. They're expensive as heck, but I haven't regretted it for a second. The only person who doesn't like it is my wife, who complains that she cannot use my computer since she can't read the keys (it's one of those all-black unlabeled ones).
The tactile feedback of a proper keyboard is important. Extremely important. I hate using laptops, quite simply because their keyboards suck.
Typed on my 'Das Keyboard'.
Nope (Score:2)
Input devices and displays have long been shown to work best in different positions. Nobody wants to stare down at a display all day, or stretch forward to touch their screen all day.
Touch screens are nice for certain situations, but they won't replace keyboards in general.
Obvious (Score:2)
Sure, if you hate your wrists (Score:2)
Touch screens have been around for a long time. (Score:2)
iPhone and iPad (Score:5, Insightful)
If there's anything Apple have taught us, it's that an awful lot of people don't do any real work on their computers.
For those who do, real computers with real I/O devices will remain.
Re:iPhone and iPad (Score:3)
For sure not my keyboard (Score:2)
'Cos I hate it when a can't type on my Unicomp Spacesaver keyboard. :p
How to defeat a touchscreen fanboi (Score:2)
As for the mouse, that's still not beaten by touch. Touch input doesn't scale. A mouse can select a single pixel or fly right accross the screen, have several buttons and scroll wheels are indespensible.
It concerns me there's going to be a generation of kids coming that are not going to be able to keyboard, handwrite because they will be touchscreen, game controller and voice interface users.
Re:How to defeat a touchscreen fanboi (Score:2)
I agree that writing and typing a good skills today and I really had using touchscreens and the tiny keyboards on mobile devices, but we have to adapt. We used to record history on stone or clay using hieroglyphs, I'm really glad that fad passed. I sincerely hope that a few hundred years from know our descendants will think of us as Neanderthals that had to didn't even had neural implants (or something even more amazing that I am too primitive to even dream of).
Depends on the timing... (Score:2)
That pretty much means phones, handhelds, and maybe laptops(for laptops, you run into the problem that the comfortable position for a keyboard and the comfortable position for a screen are quite different, and switching between the two will take a disruptive several seconds...)
For anything without such contention, the idea that dirt-cheap and tactilely excellent physical keyswitches are going to be replaced by touch panels just so that the world can look more futuristic seems unlikely at best. Possibly, hard key labels will be replaced, in certain applications, with little screens, for application specific keymap/shortcut changes; but that is still a mechanical keyboard.
The real question determining the future of touchscreen "keyboards", to my mind, is whether haptics and such similar trickery advance faster than do technological alternatives that simply eliminate the screen-size contention. You have been able to get for some years, for instance, glasses with displays in them. Unfortunately, current models suffer from low resolution and making you look like a giant dork. However, with easy-to-imagine incremental improvements, you could get something that just looks like an ordinary pair of glasses/sunglasses; but can paint pixels on your eyes small enough that they aren't perceptible as pixels. If that became cheap, your phone could be 100% keyboard. Same thing would apply for various hypothetical microprojectors/folding screens/wireless display panels/etc/etc.
For whatever reason, the first wave of attempts to resolve the screen/keyboard space contention issue attacked the keyboard rather than the screen; but there is no reason, in principle, why you could not instead attack the screen in favor of a larger, clickier, nicer keyboard. We'll see whose tech develops faster...
Why SWYPE won't replace the keyboard soon (Score:2)
Keyboards provide instant response, per letter, whereas SWYPE's blue trace line only gives you some vague sense of where you fat-fingered that errant letter; to boot, at the end of it all, SWYPE presents you with a teeny-tiny-spaced list of possible matches, requiring me to waste yet more time attempting to avoid fat-fingering a selection. I had hoped that this would be the great panacea it had been hyped up to be. What a waste of time.
Comment removed (Score:2)
Re:Why can't we have both? (Score:4, Funny)
I thought it was because Steve Jobs told people that's what they wanted.
Comment removed (Score:2)
keyboards (Score:2)
Keyboards... (Score:2)
Scotty: "how quaint"
True portable computing (Score:2)
The most interesting part of this is the Atrix. I can see a near future where you carry your computer around as your phone and it runs a mobile desktop on the local screen and a separate full desktop on the external screen. I still want a slider keyboard though ;-)
Left bottom side of my keyboard ... (Score:2)
so, no. touchscreens wont be able to do that. because, hands are physical stuff, and if you dont want to look at the keyboard while typing, you will have to keep on feeling what is under your hand. and that requires physicality.
No, but they will kill the non-touch screen screen (Score:2)
The screen you can't touch is about the only thing seriously threatened by touch screens. And for some cases the pointing device (mouse/trackpad/etc.)
Thanks for my daily hyperbolic tech news dose (Score:2)
Here's my pitch for tomorrow: Will raping puppies help system administrators focus better during 12-hour shifts?
Probably not. (Score:2)
virtual keyboards are an alternative (Score:3)
I have... (Score:2)
numerous keyboards. I'd like a model M for the daytime, but I'm sure my spouse is happier in the darker hours with the quiet keyboard I currently have plugged in.
My phone has a touchscreen keyboard, which I've gotten a little bit used to, but there's no way I'd program on it. I don't even like programming on a laptop keyboard.
On a real keyboard, my fingers do what my brain thinks, and there it is, on the screen. Haptics or not, I'd still have to look at my fingers without some kind of dimpled surface on the touch screen. Unless they figure out some way to trick my fingers into feeling the dimples when they aren't there.
But at that point, why bother?
Um, no (Score:2)
Let me revise that. Not just no but hell no.
I'm at least three times as fast on a well designed mechanical keyboard than I am on a virtual keyboard, despite months of practice. I don't think virtuals will ever replace mechanical in content-heavy applications, and I'm somewhat surprised that anyone would seriously suggest it.
Like the bumble bee, what's cool about virtual keyboards, even with haptic feedback, is that they work at all. I can write fairly lengthy messages on my phone, but for serious wordsmithing nothing beats the old-style full throw keys.
Parenthetically, as virtual keyboards become more and more common, I'm going to bet that there's a whole new class of repetitive injuries waiting to appear.
I think SWYPE can be faster than the keyboard (Score:2, Flamebait)
Make a real keyboard screen (Score:2)
Not while people know how to type (Score:3)
Ever tried to type on an on screen keyboard?
Its bad enough having to use one for your username and password...
Yes, mostly (Score:5, Insightful)
For all the users who don't type much (that is for about 95% of all users) the touchscreen will replace the keyboard, no doubt. Devices without keyboards have less buttons (good), you can press, drag and touch where you're looking (good), there are no moving parts (good), the devices are much easier to clean (good) and the devices look better (good). For the typical user a real keyboard is ugly, complex and hard to use. Most people just forget all the effort they had to invest to learn to use it.
Those who type much and fast will still use keyboards. They're a minority, but a loud one.
Next question please.
Who mods this crud up? (Score:4, Insightful)
Try 0.95%.
The average user types quite a bit. This is why QWERTY keybards came about on phones and why the BB/Nokia E71's are so popular with users who do a lot of emailing and messaging.
On computers it's even worse. Just typing out this comment would be painful, if not impossible. Touchscreens are slower, more inefficient and error prone than keyboards and this is readily evident to the average user.
Quick explain.
Thought not. Just because Steve says it's better does not make it so.
Physical buttons provide many advantages over on screen buttons. they are tactile, responsive, don't move and their function never changes. The last one is important, on my PC the Delete button does what it needs to, the F1 key too. On my Android phone the back button always takes me back to the last application/page I used and terminates the application as opposed to backgrounding it (which is what the home button does). Believe it or not, but such simple things are not beyond the capacity of the average user to figure out on their own.
Ye gads,
Where did you learn to type, The ministry of silly computing habits.
All typing tutors and instruction I have received tells me you're meant look at the screen (output) not where your hands are. This does make typing faster and allows you to pick up on those annoying typo's so much earlier.
Typing at 30 WPM+, moving keys are not a feature anyone will find useful.
Because mechanical KB's are breaking left, right and centre. NOT.
My keyboard has to be the most reliable one of things in my house. I have a 20 yr old KB's that are still in perfect working order (albeit not AT ports on my gaming rig). My last KB died after 9 years of service, a victim of a poorly placed Jacks and Coke.
Moving parts != unreliable. On the other hand software frequently breaks due to bad code.
A physical keyboard is much easier to use, faster, more ergonomic, more responsive and a lot more accurate. Considerably less stress on the users wrists and not having to look at the keyboard to find a key makes typing much faster.
Where do you get your idea's about HCI and HMI from?
Take out the hand... (Score:3)
This all reminds me of that silly bit from Starship Troopers where Drill Seargant Clancy responded to "but it's a push button world now" buy disabling the recruit's ability to push buttons.
Dislike having my fingers obstruct my view (Score:3)
Re:No. (Score:2)
The "tactile feedback" was the very first thing that came to my mind when I saw the headline. Touch screens have their place (cell phones as an example), but I just don't see keyboards going anywhere soon for anybody that uses their computer 8 hours a day.
Re:No. (Score:2)
You kids and your tactile feedback on modern keyboards. You just don't know what that is.
I used to program minis using a KSR-33 teletype keyboard (either direct connect or via punched tape). Talk about feedback. Each key press was about 1/2 inch, had a good smooth travel almost to the bottom where it triggered the hardware, and then you got to hear a resounding TWHAP as the printing mechanism displayed your letter on the paper.
I can type faster in bursts on a modern keyboard, but because I want to type faster I make more mistakes. The good old KSR would force you into an even rhythm because the next key wouldn't move until the mechanism had cleared from the last. The goal was not to be 1000 wpm, it was to keep the system active. You could actually think about the next letter before you had to type it. And sometimes plan two or three letters ahead. (See, just typing 'ahead' I had to try three times to keep from saying 'ahrde'). And if you were in the process of making a mistake on a KSR, you actually had time to stop your finger from pressing the key all the way!
Of course, having to count how many tape punches to backspace over and NULL out was a pain, but you could still impress the chicks with twenty feet of tape as the result of a late night programming session. They didn't have to know that 2/3 of it was NULL, it was the length that mattered. (Ok, I lied. I never impressed the chicks.)
Re:No. People still type. (Score:2)
Re:It's easier (Score:2)
You could do that with the Optimus Maximus [artlebedev.com], while keeping the physical properties that make keyboard better than touchscreens for prolonged typing..
Re:What? (Score:2)
Apps changing the layout of my keyboard on the fly? Ugh. do not want.
It's bad enough when they disable standard window decorations and don't switch with ALT-TAB. (this, on Windows)
Re:No. (Score:2)
That's all well and good when you are typing English or another natural language. But where's auto-correct going to be when you type 0x000000E instead of 0x0000002? Where ever it is, it won't be helping you.