Futuristic technologies are almost ready
If you have an iPhone, you know that there are a lot of awesome things you can do with it, including built-in features and downloadable apps. You even have access to features and apps that would’ve seemed almost impossible just a few years ago. Now there is one more to add to the ever-growing list, but this one is sure to garner your attention immediately.
When typing an email or a text message on your iPhone, you can either use your thumbs on either side of the phone or you can use your pointer finger and peck at the respective letters. While some are insanely fast at their iPhone keyboards, it still can be a little tedious. How many times have you wished that you could type with the ease of a computer keyboard but on your iPhone? Now there’s actually a solution that may solve your typing problem.
Designed by Florian Kräutli, currently a student at the University of London, the Vibrative Virtual Keyboard could give you a little more space for your fingers to type, bringing us one step closer to sixth sense technologies as a reality. Essentially, the Vibrative Virtual Keyboard provides you with an invisible keyboard on the table, desk, or other flat surface your iPhone is laying on. This invisible keyboard is shaped, organized, and positioned like an ordinary keyboard; you just can’t see it. But chances are you know where everything is intuitively.
As the name suggests, the virtual keyboard is completed through the vibrations you create when you type on the invisible keyboard. The certain type of vibration will let your iPhone know, for the most part, which keys you’ve pressed, and it will show up on your phone as if you were typing on a keyboard. The demonstrative video shows someone first typing on a paper that has the appropriate keys printed out. But this is to just help you orient yourself to the width and length of the keyboard. The paper isn’t needed to actually type, as you can do that on any solid, flat surface.
Video demonstration
[pl_video type=”vimeo” id=”49780741″]
Working out the glitches
Because this is a newer idea, all the glitches haven’t been ironed out yet. It’s reported that the Vibrative Virtual Keyboard averages in accuracy at about 80% Because of that 20%, the app comes with an autocorrect feature that helps you get your intended message across.
While it may take ample practice to be able to type without the cheat sheet of the keys, eventually it would become muscle memory and it would feel close to as natural as using a physical keyboard, even if you can’t actually see the keys. Imagine what better notes you can take in meetings and workshops, all from your iPhone, instead of trying to keep up with only two of your fingers typing away. Once all the kinks have been corrected, the Vibrative Virtual Keyboard has the potential to give its users accessibility and flexibility when it comes to taking notes, texting, and emailing.
Tinu
November 20, 2012 at 9:40 am
I used to be able to type fine w/o the keys. Mostly because I came up in the days when getting extra money for being able to touch type fast was a thing. Sounds cool to me.