Concept: iPad Split Keyboard | Hacker News Reader

Concept: iPad Split Keyboard

srobbin.com

75 pointsMrAlmostWrong37 comments

I'd like a case which doubles as a keyboard. It would just be a thin keyboard embedded in the flap, so you could use it as a tablet or a netbook. Obviously there are problems to figure out, like keeping the keys from scratching the screen (rubberize them?) and adding some rigidity without making it too bulky, but I think it would be awesome. I've always wanted a laptop which doubles as a tablet.

Like this! http://cl.ly/Z5v

Congratulations, you re-invented the UMPC: http://www.umpc.se/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/asus-umpc-keyb...

Specifically, you re-invented DialKeys: http://images.google.com/images?q=dialkeys

In Android, you can write custom method input providers. It'll be an easy concept to realize once the Android tablets started getting released.

Maybe the Android slogan should be "there's an API for that" :)

Custom input views were added to iPhone OS 3.2, so someone could do this for iPad.

http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/UIKi...

But that means you can only do it for your own apps right not the entire OS like android?

Yeah, it’s just for your own app.

Interesting... thanks for the update.

This is a huge part of Android that, IMO, doesn't get enough press. On the iPhone, an "app" is a silo. You run it, it takes over, you go back to the home screen, it stops (modulo some limited background processing in iOS 4).

On Android, an "app" can be seamlessly integrated into the entire system. Think "extension" in classic Mac OS. My first experience with this in Android was "Rings Extended," one of the first apps in the market. It can (at your option) COMPLETELY REPLACE the ringtone selector, system-wide. Other "apps" can completely replace the home screen (OpenHome, aHome were two early examples). Other "apps" can complete replace the system-wide keyboard.

[disclaimer: I work for Google but not on Android stuff. My experience on Android is 100% based on phones my employer gave me for free.]

...and Apple had SO MUCH luck with that in the classic Mac OS, along with its recapitulation in the form of InputManagers in OS X.

Apple wants everyone to be able to take the same basic UI for granted. They still have a few more years of iteration to go before their UI paradigms solidify, and they really don't want a bunch of fucknuts spoiling their future by dragging in a bunch of WIMP shit. They want nothing to do with the adolescent themers on xda-developers, and are happy to be the Facebook to your Myspace.

They know full well that if they allowed side-loading, their active userbase would mean that there'd be lots of mainstream press coverage of shit like UI full conversions. DO NOT WANT.

Taking this one step further, the iPad could recognize how you are holding it, whether it's one hand, two hands, on the side or from the bottom, and the keyboard would auto-adjust on the fly to accommodate. The animation/motion would be the same way it rotates from landscape to portrait on the fly, just in this case, the keyboard would morph.

Apple has been granted a patent regarding the use of touch-sensitive bezels in electronic devices, primarily focused on portable devices.

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/02/03/apple-receives-patent-fo...

I only hunt-peck when I am standing up... otherwise I have no trouble setting the iPad on my lap, and typing as if it were a normal keyboard

head hunched over staring at your lap? :/ I can't see that being comfy for long.

It's not something you usually type on for a long time. It's fine for occasional use, most people find.

Why would you be hunched over? I have no problems with using mine that way.

Typing on one now, the iPad is at at angle so i am not hunched over. I wouldn't want to write a novel, but it's fine for comments. I have a netbook as well and it's about the same frustration level (being able to see the iPad's keys gives it an edge at the moment as it's dark in the room).

Certainly not as fast as the full sized keyboard (which I'm using to type this comment right now), but it'd be a great alternative orientation for when you can't lay the iPad down on a stable surface.

They could activate it with a "pinch apart" gesture going sideways on the keyboard. That way, you can do it with the thumbs you are about to type with.

Hey, let's just buy another iPad and use that as the other keyboard!

I'm actually surprised this concept isn't in the works. A nice multi-touch display for looking, with a nice multi-touch reconfigurable display for typing and other stuff would be great.

Microsoft had a video about this idea a few months ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmIgNfp-MdI

While their example use cases are pretty limited, I like the elegance this concept.

A bit like the Nintendo DS?

Except in more of a laptop form factor, but yeah. I think the DS has proven pretty well that the concept is sound.

What Id like for the iPad landscape keyboard is if the left and right half were rotated inward a little, for ergonomics.

I might be wrong, but doesn't Microsoft have a patent on the corner-screen touchpad keyboard?

Yes, I remember they prototyped (or maybe even released?) a tablet type device with circular keyboards in the corners.

Yet another reason why the ipad form factor isn't as good as a netbook.

Yes, because a netbook is so much easier to type on while holding it up with both hands...

A netbook is its own stand.

Which requires that you put it on something. I was trying to point out that even with the existing software keyboard on the iPad, it's easier for me to type standing up one handed than on a laptop or netbook, simply because of the form factor. If you have a surface to place the netbook on, then great... if you don't then you are facing the same problem the peice is trying to address, but with fewer options for solving it.

I remember when the iPad was announced, I saw the keyboard and instantly thought it would be better if it were split for thumb typing, but now that I have an iPad the standard keyboard works well enough that I forgot about the split keyboard until I saw this post. If I'm standing and typing I'm gonna be brief, but it may be worth having as an option in certain situations. I'd be more grateful to have the single quote available without a shift.

> I'd be more grateful to have the single quote available without a shift.

A quick way to get an apostrophe is to swipe up on the comma key. Here's a demonstration of it around the 2 minute, 50 sec mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVRfs4VGh9Q#t=2m50s

' Awesome ' Thanks.

Or you could just get a netbook.

Because those are so much easier to type on while standing?

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