Advertisement
Engadget
Why you can trust us

Engadget has been testing and reviewing consumer tech since 2004. Our stories may include affiliate links; if you buy something through a link, we may earn a commission. Read more about how we evaluate products.

Google files patent application for touch-based, full-finger keyboard layout

Tapping on glass... it's not the future -- it's the present. Except software-based touch typing solutions haven't really extended beyond the cramped confines of mobile phones and tablets. But what if there were a touch type experience that mapped to the full extent of your digital reach? Something more akin to a typical two-handed physical keyboard? Well, that's just what Google's proposing in a patent application that's surfaced today. Filed back in September of 2011, the USPTO doc outlines a method for displaying "geometric shapes on a touch-screen display... [that correspond] to a respective finger of a user" and allow for text entry via a "sliding movement." So in layman's terms, if this ever comes to pass, you'd be able to type on glass with all ten fingers by, presumably, flicking upwards. Not sure how we feel about that just yet -- it certainly would require some extra screen real estate. Maybe even something as accommodating as this, but Nexus-flavored.