Eleksen's double-sided fabric keyboard

We must've brushed right past this thing while we were drooling all over those new phones at 3GSM, but Eleksen recently introduced a new fabric keyboard, and this one has a bit of a twist to it. Along with being rather diminutive, the QWERTY keyboard can be flipped over on the fly to use specific function keys on the opposite side, such as media controls and a numeric keypad. That's pretty much the whole story here, no word yet on price or availability, but we're looking forward to taking this one for a spin (literally) whenever it does show up on the market.

[Via TRFJ]

[Richard Lai @ Feb 28th 2007 6:57PM]

Inflate it and now you have a neck cushion as well.

[BatteryAcid @ Feb 28th 2007 6:58PM]

I would think that hitting one key would also hit the key opposite it. Why not just use a caps lock like feature?

[John @ Feb 28th 2007 7:01PM]

As long as there's a way to disable one side at a time. If it's fabric, you don't want to be hitting keys, pressing buttons on both sides at the same time..

[Hunt @ Feb 28th 2007 7:28PM]

Actually, this was at the CES.

Had my site not been hacked to oblivion, I would've posted an article about it...

http://www.inputreview.com/

... sob...

[Nick @ Feb 28th 2007 7:28PM]

come on battery and john. of course the designers thought of the "problem" you bring up. probably within 4.5 seconds of coming up with the concept in the first place.

[kuzu-b @ Feb 28th 2007 7:41PM]

It's not very hard, a simple sensor in the side can tell the keyboard which side is facing up and disable the keys on the opposite side.

[StevO @ Feb 28th 2007 7:54PM]

DDR pads frustrate me enough, so just how precise will this thing be? Will it shift like mad crazy when typing or gaming? (Cause i really hate readjusting the keyboard all the time)

[Richard Lai @ Feb 28th 2007 8:14PM]

Joking aside, the fabric calculators have been around for a little while and they never took off; they are just toys for kids really. Good luck to this company!

[kamandriat @ Feb 28th 2007 9:22PM]

i would get confused, you wouldnt feel the depressions like a normal keyboard, id get lost playing or typing

[Andrew Hillman, Andrew Hillman @ Feb 28th 2007 10:13PM]

Can you wash this?

Andrew Hillman

[Made in DNA @ Mar 1st 2007 1:25AM]

I think my biggest problem would be the spacing between the keys. Look at your own kb and then look at how far the QWERTY keys are from each other on this new kb. Not good. I am also concerned with cushioning.