Every few months it seems someone comes out with a new kind of keyboard to make our lives easier. Whether it’s an improved traditional keyboard or a virtual keyboard, they are all pretty much the same to me. Simply put, we like using keyboards, but they definitely make our mobile devices cumbersome and clumsy.
I have too many keyboards to count, and when I bought my Surface Pro 3 last month, I couldn’t believe I found myself buying yet another keyboard (as a separate item). In a perfect world, we’d be able to use our iPad keyboard on a Surface, but as of now, that’s just a dream.
It seems to me our lives would be so much better if we could just ditch all the traditional, virtual and touchscreen keyboards for good. How about if we just air-write instead?
It’s not a new concept. I wrote about an innovative air-writing gesture controlled wristband back in 2013. I think I’d really like to air-write all my blog posts, emails and social media updates. It would be kinda like playing air-guitar, right?
The problem with air-gestured devices in the past seems to be that they need some sort of touch-feedback or visual cue in order for the orientation to feel correct for the user.
The team over at AirType is working feverishly to solve all these problems for us and bring us an effective, useful air-writing gesture controlled keyboard.
Although I’m not convinced this is the answer, I’m inspired by the idea. Even though this idea obviously needs some refining, it could be a sign of what’s to come in the world of keyboards.
According to the AirType team, “We are currently developing a keyboardless keyboard, because the typing experience on mobile devices is terrible.” I have to agree with them on that.
With their design, you’d basically wear a small strap on each hand. Those straps would take your finger movements and convert them to text via your wireless connection. I’m looking forward to following the progress on this project, and I’m excited to see the end result.
Someday my grandchild will probably say to me, “Grandma, show me that old fashioned thing you used back in the old days to type. I think it was called a keyboard.” When that day comes, I’ll remember this article and smile.
Source: Visual News
Photo credit: Airtype
YouTube: Air Type – keyboard without keyboard
