Back-typing keyboard prototype doesn't need a desk, your attitude

We've seen plenty of out-of-the-ordinary, so-called ergonomic keyboards concepts, including some that are configured so that the user types on the "back." This prototype, from Israeli startup Grippity, is especially odd looking, as it appears to be a full-sized QWERTY keyboard with gamepad buttons that's completely handheld -- "no desk needed" as the developer says. We don't have a ton of detail about the apparently patented design, other than the fact that it's not yet in production, but the makers expect it to cost about $1,000 once available. That's an expensive keyboard, but if it frees us up from the necessity of hunching over our desks for 12 hours a day, we just might give it a try. Check out two more photos of the device after the break.

[Fox Neilson @ Nov 14th 2008 1:17AM]

It appears in the pictures that you hold it on the sides... yet the qwerty layout appears to be exactly the same as you'd see on a regular keyboard. Wouldn't it make more sense to split the keyboard down the middle like an ergo keyboard, and then rotate each half 90 degrees so that the fingers are hitting the same keys that they do on a regular keyboard?

[xor24 @ Nov 14th 2008 1:22AM]

But then you couldn't claim to type on the weirdest and most expensive keyboard.

[Nas @ Nov 14th 2008 3:19AM]

If this were from china it'd be on crapgadget.

[linuxamp @ Nov 14th 2008 4:37AM]

I completely agree. The concept is very interesting but the design is poor.

[SITEiNK @ Nov 14th 2008 5:34AM]

i need a steampunk one of these on the quick.


http://ROCKandREVIEW.com/

[max @ Nov 14th 2008 10:36AM]

I feel like that's not how my brain works, regardless of which direction i'm hitting the key's from I think I would always want them in the standard qwerty layout when viewed from above, try turning your keyboard upside down and see how you like the reversed layout.

[allislost @ Nov 14th 2008 1:19AM]

Steep learning curve - Lots of geek cred

[Shinigami @ Nov 14th 2008 1:34AM]

$1000? Someone got super-greedy...

[BigD145 @ Nov 14th 2008 11:13AM]

Yeah, I'm fairly certain I could prototype a similar model for $100 and even toss in a Dvorak layout for free.

[peter @ Nov 14th 2008 1:39AM]

WOW Dude thats cool
when they come out I'm gonna buy
ten of those cool PINK pencils...

[Chris Aubeck @ Nov 14th 2008 4:01AM]

Good luck with that. I was disappointed my netbook didn't come with a yellow pencil.

[Rav @ Nov 14th 2008 1:53AM]

The problem with pink pencils is the maintenance - sharpeners, erasers, et al...
Be careful before blindly dismissing the costs.

[MisterP @ Nov 14th 2008 8:56AM]

What's a 'pencil' ?

[Harry @ Nov 14th 2008 2:03AM]

Think of all the chicks you would get with a pink pencil. Worth the upkeep, my friends. Totally.

[Valicore @ Nov 14th 2008 11:06AM]

Yeah, you'd attract a whole bunch of morbidly obese unfortunate looking chicks and be that guy in school who only seems to have girls as friends but not girlfriends.

[d840 @ Nov 14th 2008 2:04AM]

I'm waiting for a 360 controller mod to incorporate one of these...

[Richard @ Nov 18th 2008 4:39AM]

Would a chatpad not do the trick?

[ethana2 @ Nov 14th 2008 2:13AM]

I've wanted this forever.
It better have a colemak option.

[ethana2 @ Nov 14th 2008 2:15AM]

Wow, sorry, as if that'd be hardware dependent at all.
I'm really tired, it's 1:15 here.

[Dante @ Nov 14th 2008 2:24AM]

I know I will get low rank for this but.........
RIP OFF!!!

[Reader @ Nov 14th 2008 5:01AM]

If you left off the first line I would have plus'd you since I agree, but since I'm a good man I never deny a masochist their wish.

[who? @ Nov 14th 2008 2:50AM]

Every company except Apple sucks. Unless Apple makes this it's stupid. iPhone touchscreen keyboard FTW!

[there. at least I'll deserve the low rank now.]

[allislost @ Nov 14th 2008 4:33AM]

hmm... you're not trying hard enough but I'll click on that little red square just to put a smile on your face.

[Patriks7 @ Nov 14th 2008 5:57AM]

Why? Just highrank him so he can go cry to mommy..

[mmc205 @ Nov 14th 2008 2:59AM]

grest info!!!

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Nov 14th 2008 3:17AM]

i don't get it. Why would you need this. Does it really give that much of a difference form anything else. At first though i did think it was the insides of the Xbox 360 game pad.

Speaking of Xbox 360 I've just been excepted to download the NXE.

[bo @ Nov 14th 2008 3:21AM]

no one cares

[john @ Nov 14th 2008 10:33AM]

You've been "excepted"?
You wont be allowed to download it? Rejected from downloading it?
Why do you feel the need to announce that?

[Nick @ Nov 14th 2008 11:00AM]

If you've been excepted to download it, it means that EVERYONE BUT YOU is gonna get it.
If you've been accepted to download it, it means you're more than likely going to do so RIGHT NOW.
Just cause they sound the same don't mean they is are be the same.

[Jacob @ Nov 14th 2008 3:26AM]

A - I got my chick (see the wedding ring) without the need of the pink pencil. I use mainly the blue. that's why it is the only not amputated by a sharpener, ready to appear in front of the world (or the 10 viewers of this site..)

B - The 1000$ price tag is for the first batch of hand-made units of the media center keyboard product. final production version would cost around 150$, just like the Dinovo mini, but a lot cooler.

C - To show that we are not greedy, and that this is a plug and type keyboard (no learning curve), if we decide to make the 1000 units batch, the first 5 commenters (fox, xor24, allislost, shinigami and peter) will get it for free.

[zomg0t @ Nov 14th 2008 3:43AM]

If this is legitimate, then I sure am glad there weren't any attempted "first" posts.

[allislost @ Nov 14th 2008 4:40AM]

Ok, but when you make that keyboard magically appear on my desk, make sure it comes with a least a couple of pink pencils.

[John Abraham @ Nov 14th 2008 7:06AM]

That's not a wedding ring -- wrong figure, wrong hand.

[Kool2bchilln @ Nov 14th 2008 4:53PM]

you've got your "chick"? i bet if you even had one and she did happen to hand you that ring she would be both insulted an insulting towards you by the way you wear it and how you refer to her. You deserve a nice kick in the balls.

[linuxamp @ Nov 14th 2008 4:41AM]

Imagine how much faster you could potentially type on your UMPC or PDA if it had a keyboard on the back. This idea has a lot of potential but needs refinement. Possibly different key layout.

[Dan @ Nov 14th 2008 4:48AM]

Yeah, gotta find me one of those transparent PDAs to put a keyboard on the back of . lmfao

[Rav @ Nov 14th 2008 5:02AM]

Maybe they should stop trying to re-invent the wheel, and start making solid well-built stuff we want to buy during a financial downturn...

[Unique Gift Ideas @ Nov 14th 2008 11:57AM]

Not saying that this keyboard is a progressive step forward, but c'mon dude, innovation in the marketplace is a key element for a turn around in times of economic recession. Not goofy keyboards, but just sayin'...

[Gary Friedman @ Nov 14th 2008 5:36AM]

Old news! The "no desk needed" was the originally the claim of a one-handed typing device:

www.dataegg.org

[Mux @ Nov 14th 2008 6:25AM]

Ehm, the AlphaGrip has been doing this for years!

http://www.alphagrips.com/

[Kool2bchilln @ Nov 14th 2008 5:01PM]

no, actually this is much different. This one makes you learn forwards AND backwards. Very useful for life's daily tasks like... um...

[za7ch84 @ Nov 14th 2008 8:42AM]

Is the hand model wearing a robe?

[Valicore @ Nov 14th 2008 11:23AM]

I think he very well might be! Or a really, um, eccentric sweater.

[Pete @ Nov 14th 2008 8:55AM]

Why is it backwards QWERTY?

it would be easier to learn a more efficient keyboard layout (with larger buttons for vowels etc) instead of re-learning qwerty backwards and using different fingers.

[wattz @ Nov 14th 2008 9:01AM]

hey it's goatse with a keyboard!

[Horse @ Nov 14th 2008 10:42AM]

Ditto on the alphagrip, this is waaay old news... now if only the alphagrip had bluetooth :(

[Shahar Goldin @ Nov 14th 2008 4:59PM]

I have an alphagrip and will attest that it would be much nicer if it had bluetooth :-(

[Marcelo @ Nov 14th 2008 10:48AM]

Still you need a desk, at least that's what the pic shows. Or else what is gonna hold the pink wood stick for you?

[Mike Pearce @ Nov 14th 2008 10:58AM]

I CAN CLEARLY SEE A DESK! LIES! LIES AND FILTH!

[highjumpman @ Nov 15th 2008 2:27AM]

Now, if it had a display on the front (back??) and called itself handheld ... I still wouldn't buy it! It looks like a chatpad for some game console, and a 1000$ is way too much for that kind of thing...