(keitai-l) Re: input devices: laser qwerty keyboard

From: Eric Hildum <EricHildum_at_earthlink.net>
Date: 05/07/03
Message-Id: <F6A782DB-80B9-11D7-8FDC-000393850E56@earthlink.net>
Unfortunately, while electronics have gotten smaller, our fingers have 
not kept pace. The limit on keyboard key size is largely dictated by 
finger size, which will constrain keyboard size so long as we insist on 
sticking to qwerty keyboards (which were specifically designed to limit 
the data rate to the capabilities of early typewriter mechanisms). 
There are a number of different types of keyboards that have been 
designed to improve speed, but only the chorded designs will allow you 
to reduce the number of keys and thus the size of the keyboard.

Note that I am talking about full ten finger input - devices with 
chicklet keyboards (i.e., telephones, some PDAs) are very small, but 
they are not designed for more than one or two finger/thumb input.



On Tuesday, May 6, 2003, at 10:49  AM, dc wrote:

> i would guess the lights will be hidden in a housing at the end of a 
> PDA
> within one generation but keyboards seem to have stayed the same size 
> for a
> while.
>
Received on Wed May 7 21:32:21 2003