This is the Optimus Tactus keyboard concept. It is awesome.
The idea is that this keyboard has no keys, just a touch sensitive screen. This means that the keyboard is fully customizable. Not only can you load up keyboards for all sorts of rare languages, you can also have completely personalized shortcuts right on your keyboard.
The other great thing, is when you don’t need to use it as a keyboard it can also double up a display. Nice!
Would you rock this badboy? I would!
Eric Dye says
Crazy!
I’m not sure if it would feel weird or not, but I love the idea of implementing a control surface like this, a huge potential here!
James Brooks says
OH yehs!
BenJPickett says
Love the concept but I think it would suffer from the same pitfall that will keep tablets from completely infiltrating the Laptop market for another few years at least; people like the classic keys. It’s the thing that has kept me from budgeting a tablet in. There just isn’t anything that replaces the mental feeling and physical engagement of pressing a key. I think if that were something that were replaceable it would have happened already and what is already out there would be more readily available and expanded on. The concepts are nice and interesting but the key pressing has been ingrained into human nature for more than 100 years through means of Morse code and type-writers. And now into a keyboard that has been in use since the earliest home computers. While our generation may appreciate and embrace the new tech we will feel (at least I will) absent and incomplete without the resistance of keys. I think it’s the new generations that will make it stick. Those toddlers who first snag an iPhone or Droid from their parents and adapt to the touch beauty before they adapt to resistive and mechanical beast that we have come to know and love so well.
James Brooks says
I think you have a point here. I bought a wireless keyboard when I got my iPad!
Ben Lind says
Absolutely agreed! I was going to post almost that exact comment after reading the article.
The only reason I don’t like these kind of keyboards is that you can’t tell where your fingers are relative to the keys. I always line myself up with the little “bubble” on the ‘f’ and ‘j’ keys, and I find that extremely useful for late nights when all the lights are out and I can’t see the keyboard. Then again, the keyboard will be on-screen and will automatically be lit, so the problem’s not being unable to see it. I guess the problem for me is that I HAVE to look at the keyboard now before I start typing, which I don’t like. 🙂
But I also agree that if we retrain ourselves to accept no-response typing, the future might be bright for these keyboard. Time will tell, eh?
James Brooks says
It’s true, I do like to be able to continue typing and look away from my keyboard. #WorkflowWIN
Eric J says
I would not rock this as i could not touch type on it 😉
James Brooks says
Snap! I never thought about that – what a great point.