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The subject for this week is input devices. How small can the keys be? Can the keys be virtual? Trackpad? Mouse? Rolling ball? Touch screen? Voice?
If you are reading all articles I am writing here you already know that I am a big fan of the traditional mouse and the traditional keyboard. I’ve tried all sorts of devices and in my personal experience the traditional mouse is the fastest one. As for the keyboard, I must feel the keys being pressed, so that is why very small keyboards, virtual keyboards, keyboards with short key caps and keyboards with rubber keys simply don’t work for me.
But there are some things that could be done on notebooks to enhance mouse usage. First laptops could come with a BlueTooth antenna for connecting mice (and all other sort of input devices) based on this technology. This would save one USB port (as we won’t need to install the mouse receiver anymore) and accelerate the process of putting your laptop to work (as we don’t need to waste time installing the receiver anymore).
The second enhancement that could be done, in my opinion, is some sort of retractable mouse pad, like a small dark plastic tablet that can be pulled from the side of the laptop. This would allow us to use the mouse even when we are using the notebook on our lap and also in our hotel room without having to invent a way to make the mouse to work – as you know, practically all tables in hotel rooms in America have glass top, which prevents optical mice to work.
Of course you may have your own favorite input device. On the Dream Notebook article, for example, some readers suggested a laptop with two screens and no keyboard or pointing device: the second screen could be transformed into a virtual keyboard on demand and both screens would be touch screens.
The problem with other kinds of input device, in my opinion, is speed. When I am operating a touchpad or that small red joystick in the middle of the keyboard I have to stop looking at the screen and look for the device and concentrate on it, what makes me lose precious time. Maybe it is just a matter of getting used to them, I don’t know.
Believe it or not, I type faster than I can speak, and since voice recognition isn’t yet 100% accurate, it isn’t an option for me at this moment.
Speaking of input devices, have you ever seen the Neural Impulse Actuator (NIA) from OCZ (a.k.a. “Brain Mouse”)? It is a pointing device that you can control with “the power of your thoughts” (actually reading the motion of your face muscles). Maybe one day we will be able to connect our brain directly to computers just like Johnny Mnemonic or The Matrix?
Everyone may have different preferences as far as input but pen input like MadRooster preferes has never been that popular. Look at all of the 2007 worldwide sales of UMPC's most having exactly that pen input with no keyboard; result 350k sold. I do like the ability of pen input but to me I see it as a way for ultra small PC's to eliminate the need of a mouse. I still see the need for most people for that type of device to have a built in touch type keyboard as that is just how 99% of the world uses a full desktop PC. After all these years we have not had one company make a pocket laptop that has a touch type keyboard. That is what is missing. If it had a touch type screen then no mouse or touch pad would be required.
Personally, I love a good ol' isometric joystick. I don't know why they are the input device non grata.
Well, I will also agree that I don't want voice recognition. Partly because I hate talking to computers, and partly because listening to people's phone conversations all the time is bad enough. I don't want to have to listen to their term papers, myspace drivel and emails as well. I'm also not sure how you would accomplish successful editing/formatting/special characters with voice. (without backspace and delete keys, etc)
One alternative pointing device I can think of would be kind of like a sliding stick, so it's kinda like a compromise between a tablet and a little red joystick thingy. The stick slides horizontally on 2 axes, and as such, has a physical location correlating to the cursor location on the screen. It could also serve as the left mouse button. That would be something you could do by touch, without looking down.
Actually, there are already experiments going on to connect brains to computers. I don't remember if I saw it on 60 Minutes or BBC, but I saw an article about an MS sufferer who has regained his ability to communicate by a device that allows him to use neural impulses to select letters. It's very time-consuming, but it's also just a hat with electrodes. They have moved on to attempting direct connection to neurons.
By the way, the pop-out mousepad would be very bad for lefties. And I prefer my Wacom tablet for speed to a mouse. It takes some getting used to, but you can put the pen down anywhere on the screen, without having to wait for the cursor to move. Wacoms are also good for the lap, if you have a table for the computer. I would say that an optical mouse is probably faster than the mouse that comes with the tablet. I would like a detachable keyboard on a laptop, or a bring-your-own setup with a touchscreen one for backup. I disagree with Primaz... I want a tablet screen with a very responsive and full-sized pen!! Pens are also excellent for carpal tunnel and arthritis sufferers.
Laser mice work on surfaces optical mice don't. Just get a better bluetooth mouse.
The smallest to me would be the Psion 5mx at 6.9" x 3.6" x .90" in size. Yet a jacket pocket can take up to about 7.5" so that added length would make the keyboard even better if modeled after the Psion 5mx. Also most jacket pocket can take up to 4" and that extra width would also make it even better. The max dimensions a pocket could take would be 7.5" x 4" x 1" or so
For any computer to be functional for work and not a toy you need a touch type keyboard. Making them ultra small so that you can carry them in a jacket pocket can still provide that type of keyboard if designed well. I would say that the keyboard should be like the Psion 5mx design then use a touch screen so that there would be no need for a mouse and also the number keys would either be function keys or a small set of keys horizontal so as not to wast much space and provide more space for the letter keys.
Voice, pen, is not what people want! People want a touch type keyboard for main input.