Will touch screens kill the keyboard?

[webwit]

Two decades ago a guy told me that computers would never make it in media because the graphics were pixelated and not realistic. Also Internet was a fad, because at those speeds it was useless for serious things. Some people here remind me of that.

[db_Iodine]

Yeah, well, in two decades I'd like to be the old geezer who still refuses to let go of his old school keyboards.

[Mrinterface]

Two decades ago a guy told me that computers would never make it in media because the graphics were pixelated and not realistic. Also Internet was a fad, because at those speeds it was useless for serious things. Some people here remind me of that.

What about a cellphone? I can still remember the day I had a nokia and I was mobile : everybody just said that they would not need such a device. Yeah right....

[webwit]

[pita]

It is a hard question. In the professional field that need a lot of typing done , physical keyboard is certainly hard to replace. In the general consumer space, however, touch keyboard may pack in enough gimmicks to have this cool factor that people would be willing to overlook the downside of not having physical keys.


The mobile phone and tablets are totally different stories though

P.s. Painfully replyinig this thread on an iPad.

[pita]

What about a cellphone? I can still remember the day I had a nokia and I was mobile : everybody just said that they would not need such a device. Yeah right....

There is certainly still no NEED for cellphone, even in today's world (not until the landline and payphones are gone anyway). That is not saying I don't like mobile devices, but I am simply one of those who got hijacked by the technologies. So deep into it that I keep on believing I need all those things to live my daily life, when the truth is otherwise.

[sixty]

I don't remember seeing any payphone for at least a year.

[Findecanor]

The cell phone bastards are making it harder and harder.

Over here, pay phones were first coin-operated. Then they require you to use a card, that you bought in advance. Now, the last ones are being dismantled, because "everyone has got a cell phone anyway".
There are new parking plots in the capital where you can pay only through SMS.
The postal "service" has one type of shipping that gives you a SMS before the package is to be delivered. That's nice, only that it requires a cell phone to send the SMS to, or the package will not be picked up.
There are web sites with classified ads, where you can buy an ad only by paying through SMS.

[NewGuy]

Let's face it, the keyboard is already dead:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrUmRHbtc68

[webwit]

One finger typing is gonna be a hit in 2011.

[pita]

One finger typing is gonna be a hit in 2011.

Dang,
must
beat
the
monkey..

[JBert]

I don't think the keyboard will be killed by the touch screens we see today, but something along those lines sure will.

If you think about it, touch screens do allow to combine mouse and keyboard and thus saves on one more clunky device when all you want to do is switch focus from one application to another or click button X, then go back to typing.

All we need is some kind of feedback whether the screen is in typing mode, and if it is, where the key "zones" are located (remember, virtual keys can be any size you want, wherever you want).

The next thing we need is to have a more sensitive screen to measure the impact of the fingers hitting the screen. If you got that down, you can finally get a sense of whether the user was actually tapping a key or just resting his fingers which current generation screens lack (or which they have to guess at, seeing how we're starting to have multi-input screens). And once you think about it, having a measurement of impact force might actually be a far better approach than the current input methods where you must always slam a switch to make a contact. Think about a virtual keyboard where one could choose to trigger on 60cN impact force (about as hard as a buckling spring) or just a nimble 35cN to emulate a Cherry brown! Want tactical feedback? See the first haptic protypes happening right now.

All in all, something sized like an A4 notepad with a virtual keyboard interface might be closer than you think - and once it hits decent prices, the keyboard might well be doomed just like fountain pens and typewriters are today.

[godly_music]

Keyboards will always be with us because touchscreens are worthless for the fast (or serious, or both) typist. You get no proper tactile response and your fingertips don't tell you where one key ends and another begins. They're just a crutch for mobile devices. The problem that you're tapping on a flat, featureless surface won't magically go away.

[JBert]

Yeah, just like every car needs to have someone walking in front of it while waving a flag to warn any pedestrians from the incoming danger.

[Dogi]

I don't think keyboards will be completely replaced until we get holographic computers. Then we'll just have holographic keyboards. With customizable switches by pressing a button.

[sixty]

I don't think keyboards will be completely replaced until we get holographic computers. Then we'll just have holographic keyboards. With customizable switches by pressing a button.

That will still provide no feedback though.

[Dogi]

They will when you tell the nanomachines to give force feedback

[keyboardlover]

When we're all robots, this is how we'll get tactile feedback:

[rockccf]

Not probably.
Programmers will still need keyboard to code i guess.

[Sugoi]

May be possible. However, I don't see that happen any time soon. Our "old-school" keyboards will be around for a while.

[Flongo]

Like many others here I don't see this happening any time soon. I've used several touch screen devices and while they may be nice for some things.... Well let's just say it feels like my insides are screaming every time I try to type something. For menu navigation and the like I feel like I see the point of the device.. But for typing a keyboard is really needed in my world and I don't see that changing.

[hoggy]

Innovation is a good thing, but I think it should happen closer to the user - perhaps even from the user themselves. The more we can get users to think about how they interact with computers the better.

There are plenty of complementary technologies that make typing and mousing less of a pain (predictive text - on a PC not phone, macros, text expansion, dwell clicking, automatically positioning of the mouse over default buttons, etc) but their take up rate is disappointing.

[webwit]

It has begun..
http://www.cultofmac.com/how-apple-made ... -keyboards

[7bit]

It has begun..
http://www.cultofmac.com/how-apple-made ... -keyboards

Articles in a forum where they not even follow basic readability guidelines, don't count!

Also, except on a reduced size device, it makes no sense to have to type on the screen.

Do one thing and do it well!

Seeing all that mechanical keyboard enthusiasm emerging, I doubt that we will not have new mechanical keyboards in 20 to 30 years.

[runeazn]

it wont, cuz who wants to use a touch screen with no response dearer than a mech keyb

and also if you wanna sit relaxed in a chair you dont want to hold or lay the touchscreen to type it.

tl;dr keyboards are more ergonomic.

[7bit]

it wont, cuz who wants to use a touch screen with no response dearer than a mech keyb

and also if you wanna sit relaxed in a chair you dont want to hold or lay the touchscreen to type it.

tl;dr keyboards are more ergonomic.

ACK!

ps: RollerMice are teh future!

[runeazn]

but massa producing of dathands :drool:

[7bit]

but massa producing of dathands :drool:

The Data Hand might be a fast tool for typing, but a real keyboard looks much better and moving the Hands only a tiny bit might also not so good for the health...

[runeazn]

not if you play a sport

but yeah true.

[nathanscribe]

Brain scanning? Everything will end up like Finnegan's Wake.