A FIC phone with a real keyboard - Was: OpenMoko ON the iPhone

[Dylan Semler]

On 1/19/07, Josef Wolf <jw at raven.inka.de> wrote:
>
> On Mon, Jan 15, 2007 at 04:07:40PM +0100, Torsten Röhl wrote:
> > Why -  QWERTY keypad ? we have a wide screen 2,8 inch and i
> > love the new iphone concept without qwerty keypad.  I hope that
> > the next neo1973 generation phones are also iphone like (without qwerty
> > keypad) ... i think a neo1973 next generation phone with qwerty keypad
> is
> > just another phone and not more the wonderful neo1973 linux phone.
>
> Ough!  I just can't imagine how to use emacs with this "new iphone
> concept".  While this "new concept" is a fine thing for a phone,
> I'd like to be able to do _real_ work with it. I'm a developer, so
> my main tool is emacs, but there are more tasks (e.g. email/mail)
> where a kbd would be usefull.  With a proper keyboard, we would have
> a laptop-replacement.  No way to do _real_ work with a touchscreen.
>
> Unless I can connect a _real_ keyboard (probably via usb), I don't
> need this phone.  I like the concept and the idea, but... no kbd
> implies no emacs...  No way.  Sorry.
>
> Please note that I'm not talking about integrating a mini-keyboard
> (like the original poster said).  I'm just talking about the possibility
> to connect an usb-keyboard.
>

One thing I've been considering would be an iPhone style touch sensitive
keyboard, but with a one-handed dvorak layout[1].  I feel like, perhaps with
a slightly bigger screen, one could almost practically fit one hand on the
device and be able to touch-type fluently.  This way you would be able to
hold the device in the palm of one hand and still type 30 - 50 wpm with the
other hand, even while walking down the street.  It would probably take
about a month of pretty consistent typing (and frustration) to get
comfortable with the new layout, which would be a huge barrier for many
people.  I'd be curious to see how well this worked, especially if some
adaptation of the "force feedback" technology being developed by samsong
were applied[2].


[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard#One-handed_versions
[2] http://www.tgdaily.com/2007/01/19/samsung_vibetonz

Cheers,
-- 
Dylan

Type faster.  Use Dvorak:
http://dvzine.org
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