Re: Ideal keyboard design and configuration
 

This is going to be my new signature from now on! :D:D

Oh, the power of taking things out of context ;)

Re: Ideal keyboard design and configuration
 

you would have a point, provided that the "sticks" which attach the kbd to the rest of the phone could be strong / long enough to guaranty stability even when the kbd is fully extended
not really an option here, is it?
if you can't provide stability by anchoring the kbd deeply in the rest of the device you either have to live w/ a shaky construct or limit the distance it slides out
:o

even on the N900 (knows gawd it is thick enough :rolleyes:) the kbd only extends about 40%
[edit]and the camera is in the kbd part, thus it would have been much easier to allow for more slide; why did they go from the confy N810 4+ rows w/ "D-Pad" to the cramped (let's be honest...) N900 3 rows kbd?!?[/edit]

optical construct?
looked into quite a few bluetooth kbd add-ons (mostly for iCrap) for the N9 and they either

• require the kbd to slide out completely (main camera is very close to the edge)
• limit the slide out and simply have a hole

& most of them are rather clunky :eek:

Re: Ideal keyboard design and configuration
 

In a another comment I reminded about the same fact; the keyboard cannot slide out more than 70%... If you drop the phone, the strain would be really powerful and might break the sliding rails or the "sticks". Or perhaps the fixing between the phone and the OH would open; could it be made intentionally "weak": the OH would become loose if the phone+OH is dropped. But would the strain on the interfacing connector then be too powerful? Anyway, according to the photo in my previous comment, Samsung made a Qwerty which slides out about 70%.

Re: Ideal keyboard design and configuration
 

70%? :confused:
if you want 70% i would go for a E7 / N950 like construct. no idea how strong / durable / shock resistant it is, however :eek:

dropping... how about one of those band, like they come for pens or badges attached to the kbd Other Half and you can have around your neck?!? :D

Re: Ideal keyboard design and configuration
 

read somewhere today (Jolla twit i think) that the attachment would be like the back cower attachment on the N900, thus plastics "hooks" that click into the main part
strong enough to keep in position, but if the Other Half is too heavy, the hooks will very likely break rather then "unclick" in case of drop / forceful removal :(

Re: Ideal keyboard design and configuration
 

Did the train move or the platform?

Is the keyboard attached to the phone or the other way around?

People keep talking about "the N900 keyboard sliding by 40%", but in fact it is the part with the keyboard that is the base and it is the display that slides out.

It does not matter if the OH is "too heavy", if you hold the whole assembly by the OH. Then it becomes the matter of how heavy the phone is instead.

Having a sliding keyboard on plastic clips like the N900 back cover is a serious concern IMO. It may even be a showstopper, unless they (we?) find a way to bolt it to the main chassis.

Re: Ideal keyboard design and configuration
 

Thanks for letting me know. Looks like JollaUsers, edited out the other half's, top & bottom parts of the picture!
Here is the full pic, if anybody is interested!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BVP8L32CMAE3mez.png

Then, I would love the keyboard to be "shell" friendly!
Admins would love to have the | (pipe), and > , < (redirection) symbols as a physical key!

If we are running out of keys for characters, we can also have 2 special "modifier" keys, behind the keyboard You know, the place where our index finger would be, when we are thumb typing!
The best example would the L1 & R1 buttons on PS3/PS4 controllers
http://cdn.gidn.net/images/stock/con..._diagram_2.jpg,
With that we should be able to add around 80 more characters!:D

Re: Ideal keyboard design and configuration
 

I love this idea! Which modifiers would you put on the back?

The Xperia Play had this!
http://www.digitaltrends.com/wp-cont...-play-back.jpg

Re: Ideal keyboard design and configuration
 

Well... R and L!! Just kidding, it could be Fn and Ctrl, like in the N900, but if they are done like shoulder buttons.... OMG, the gaming goodness! This would be a dream, really.

Offtopic: gaming

I have actually been thinking about a gamepad possibility lately, and one of the "problems" is the design, specifically how to implement shoulder buttons (and some kind of analog input, now that we mention it) inside an OH. What shape would the buttons have? Do they pivot? Where? How long should the button press go? Taking ideas from Xperia Play...

Now, continuing this line of thought: as I understand from what I've read about how the trackball and the hall sensors work, these trackballs are analog, or at least have different steps so a "semi-analog" (ok, "digital progressive") movement could be extracted (like when d-pads are mapped to either neutral position or max values of a virtual analog joystick). The Jolla is rather big, so the question is now, if there are shoulder buttons, could there also be 2 trackballs in order for this to be an all-around keyboard and light gaming OH? Incidentally, this would also solve any right- or left-handed issues we would have.

Edit: Ok, seems it took too long to write, and you yourself beat me to the Xperia Play reference. Which is in fact nice :D

Re: Ideal keyboard design and configuration
 

And just a small opinion/addition/suggestion: if the sliding mechanism is durable enough, personally I wouldn't mind if the keyboard covers the camera. This means the lens CAN be protected, unlike with the currently known OHs, and although you have to open the keyboard when you take a picture, this also means possibilities of keyboard shortcuts for camera settings and operation like we have in N900+CSSU. I know, this can also be done with a hole in the keyboard, but I want to point out that not everything about having an open keyboard during camera operation is bad, and it would make the general design (and specially the key layout) much simpler.