Cool Leaf input devices create the keyboard of the future circa 1982
By Tim Stevens 
posted March 4th 2010 9:43AM
posted March 4th 2010 9:43AM
posted March 4th 2010 9:43AM
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I WILL NEVER ABANDON MY PHYSICAL BUTTONS.
NEVER!
@Prevacator Give me physical buttons or give me death!
@NYNY physical buttons are overrated, your learned to prefer them over paper and pen and you will learn to forget about them
@Prevacator
you dont have to, the problem with these flat surface is after extensive use your fingers would hurt, because there is nothing to absorb the shocks when you key stroke,
best example The Laser Keyboard Projector or something like that
http://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Keyboard-CL850-Projection-Celluon/dp/B0010SLSOS
@fuckoff
No need to write anything out, your name says all I want to.
@8th Gamer
So - by that logic every user who has a touch screen smart phone without a physical keyboard would have "damaged" fingers. Bullshit.
@Prevacator I said the same thing in the 90s re my clicky keys keyboards. Amazing how times change, and we change with them
@8th Gamer agreed
@Prevacator
Exactly my sentiment. How the hell am I supposed to faceroll with this thing?!
@DoctarPeppar Do you write full essays and reports on your touchscreen phone? I doubt it.
Go sit and your desk and pound it with your fingertips for several hours. Then do it tomorrow, then the next day, and so on.
Then tell us how you feel.
@DoctarPeppar
it is impossible to type for extended periods without fingers getting all sored. touchscreen phones work because u dont type that much.
those laser projected kb flopped big time because people were using them to type memos, notes, essays. impossible to type on those for a long time.
@Prevacator I AGREE!!! I like my big split keyboard!!!
@Gnaget
Oh they were the days, clicky keyboards. I had a honeywell for years.
@Gnaget I'll never buy a keyboard that isn't mechanical. The tactile feedback of a keyboard is arguably its most important feature.
@Prevacator : Well, give it a few month and this will be the standard keyboard in every police station in the USA. Well at least in every forensics department. And by that I mean on every CSI show on TV.
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
@Prevacator
When I moved over to the new Apple keyboards with the very shallow keys it took couple of days to adjust. I had to teach my brain to use less pressure when typing. The same thing happened when I got my iPhone, I had to use even less pressure. But once you get it, it's far easier than physical keys. When I am forced to use old-fashioned phones and keyboards I can't believe how clunky they feel.
I can touch-type very fast on my phone without having to look at the screen. Your brain remembers the movement of your fingers, not what you are touching, it is a myth that physical feedback is necessary.
@Lord Vader
Good....let the hate flow through you....
@Downpour: You can touch-type on your iPhone? How do you keep your fingers on the home row? You must have really, really tiny hands.
@Downpour
Explain to me why I should have to adjust to something I don't like, when I don't have to? You can still buy mechanical keyboards, and by god I do. Using an ABS mechanical switch keyboard when not using my laptop.
@Prevacator
This just made me think that there could be a market potential for touch keyboards with inflatable/deflatable keys. Of course, the mechanics would have to be thoughtfully handled.
@Prevacator YUP i'm with you. neverrrr ever going away from buttons. i love buttons way too much
@Downpour
you can only do that because you are holding the phone. you need a point of reference to know where your fingers are. that isn't so easy on a full-sized keyboard.
@p0p0
To solve this maybe they could make the front out of a gel type substance?
@Prevacator
Unless it has haptic response and some sort of dents or grooves to guide our fingers.
Then I would definitely loose my physical board with this sexy beast.
@Prevacator Exactly, my fingers need to fing... they can't do that on a flat non-tactile surface.
@abedinthehouse Yeah, I'd be drifting all over the place with one of these. Just like I would on my piano if I couldn't actually press the keys.
It could be pretty useful for stuff like the book search kiosks at Chapters. Easy maintenance, good looks, and no one's gonna start writing essays standing in a bookstore.
@8th Gamer
Does that mean that TNG terminals had worse ergonomy than those of TOS ?
Looks like the Apple keyboard look like an ugly disgrace.
Apple suing them with their patent on flat touching surfaces in 3, 2, 1..........
@flanders
Not before it starts turning profit ...
it doesn't have pictures .. and there is no unlock screen .. they are safe ..... for now.
@nicholiservia
Agreed. People just need to feel the keys as they type and this kind of device will always feel uncomfortable to use. It's a gimmick.
too cool for me
its sexy as hell though!!! and im sure a bit of haptic feedback could be added to make the experience nicer. There is a lot to be said for actual buttons though!! i have ditched my touchscreen smartphone for a candybar dumbphone and i can now txt without looking again :)
@petay: YES, somebody actually said it. Sorry, touchscreen lovers, your sci-fi dreams will never get the job done in the real world :)
@psycros Unless someone somewhere finally makes an OS designed entirely for handwriting. :/
@psycros
I think everyone has been saying it for a long time. Touchscreen's feel is not as good as keyboards. That isn't a newly exposed revelation. See almost every article on this site's comments in regard to the topic.
@The Madman handwriting...ugh. I said goodbye to handwriting a long time ago, which is a good thing for anyone that has to read anything I write. Besides, I can type much faster than I can write things out.
I type better on my iPhone under the dinner table than I ever have with a physical keyboard of any type. They keys and buttons disorient me. Photographic memory is my best friend.
@Soothesayer
liar.
@Soothesayer
I think you are a rare individual. I type fast on the iPhone but if I had to do it without looking it would be a disaster. Let's see
okay I am typing with myceyes xlosed.
Hmmmm, not as bad as I thought it would. I'm scared.
@Cy Starkman See. It's really not all that hard. I'm watching CNN and typing this and drinking coffee. Every 5 or 6 words I will glance just to check for an error but it's really just second nature. I hate buttons... Like my TV remote is like looking at a formula for the meaning of life. It "feels" confusing, lol. That's obviously over blown, just putting it in perspective.
@Soothesayer your experience totally astounds me. i mean, i don't even know where to start a debate. or whether at all ;). tactile feedback is simply irreplaceable. every tool in the world worth its salt has proper buttonses! ;)
phones, cameras, guns, kitchenware. gosh, even a car needs a proper wheelo, but you'd rather drive it with arrow-up/down on a glassy screen, i imagine.
i got a "media pad" on my lycosa keyboard, made of non-physical touch "buttons", and every time i'm to press them, i feel like i'd rather smash the whole thing with a spiked mace :)), for i:
- never know where exactly the hell these buttons are (gotta look & look closely - instead of just feeling them)
- never know whether i actually DID hit them or not and WHICH one of them
- end up hitting them repeatedly
- end up reaching for my spiked mace
(- end up not finding it, coz it too is virtual. zmg! .])
@rzl Ha, yeah. Like some things I see as obvious like your car example. Although just a smooth surface that I could glide my hand over from right to left or just do the whole wax on wax off move would be awesome! Hahaha
@Soothesayer noooo, you're destroying me with this :))
you need to freakin rodeo the wheel man, rip the handbrake and generally move like a mad man when racing! waxing! oh my gosh ;)
ok, on a more serious note, you can't take this from me: a touchscreen is silly even if just because of the fact, that you cannot rest your fingers reasonably well on it. for if you do, you unleash mayhem. i'll give you there can be a clever sw beneath it though, so let's say you don't unleash nothing - then comes my PITA issue #2 - you have to move your fingers UP before typing anything again. and by up i mean well off it, no smooth classy skimming (and gliding!) over a generally pleasing surface of a nice warm piece of hardware. call me a lazy epicure ;).
@rzl All these issues can be solved by thinking outside the box. Or better yet, the box isn't there at all. But this is all my opinion. What's right for me may not be right for anyone else, haha.
@Soothesayer outside of which box? how do boxes or a disappearance of them help you with a clumsy keyboard? hope it's not something along the smug lines of "don't rest your fingers, sissy" .)
but sure, to each his own.
So....how is this keyboard a good thing? Has anyone ever tried typing on a touchscreen? This'll feel the same. I don't think anyone wants to give up their touch-typing skills, and to touch type you have to have physical buttons...
@Gamecheater
i agree it would be very different, but more than buttons, i think what you really need is a physical clue to where home row is. a flat piece of glass requires you to look at it. if that recent patent for ridges that can raise and lower ever comes to fruition, i'll be willing to give it a try.
I would love this in my kitchen.