Finger Friendly keypad
 

Hi guys.

I'm trying to work out new finger friendly keypad.
One finger to be more accurate. So, i recommend to test it on portrait mode. (I've got an better idea for landscape mode anyway)

Inspired of how our finger actually works and angle of his natural movement the layout has been determined itself.
You can easily swipe each keypad row following natural angle as well. My goal was to achieve bigger keys on relatively smaller area.
And remove function keys. Keep in mind this is just some quick prototype of the idea. I had to find some solution for Flaemo and build in a keypad since FlashLauncher crashing using HW . Also for other devices without HW keyboard. However would be nice if somebody could pick up this idea and create native keypad like that. The solution is Open Source :)

Here you go:

http://www.flaemo.com/keypad/
if you want to play on your N900

go directly to swf file:
http://www.flaemo.com/keypad/index.swf

Let me know your thoughts. Do you like it or not, where you see possibilities to improve it. (In last moment I've added support for left Handed as well :)

For example for me... I get use to the normal keyboard layout and faced eye-finger coordination issue. Now is harder to read the letters if they are skewed. But after couple of minutes playing around getting better.

Edit:
Improvements
Back button goes to the 2nd row. This way I could increase size of the buttons and tweak the angle.
press and hold Shift - become caps lock
press and hold Back - become clear all
Expandable keys?

here is an screen grab of original mock-up
http://www.flaemo.com/keypad/keypad.png

Re: [Pool] Finger Friendly keypad
 

That is pretty nifty.

Don't know if it's against the whole initial purpose, but maybe having a button next to 'OK' to change entire sets (i.e. qwerty to symbols, and back) would be a bit easier, instead of flicking through each row to find what you need (if you're not familiar with the layout or lucky).

Sorry about the rocky first encounter several months ago. I've grown.

Re: [Pool] Finger Friendly keypad
 

I think it has potential - obviously in portrait mode more than in landscape.

The only thing is that not much on the N900 actually works in portrait mode!

For example I wish conversations would work in portrait, because it's when writing text messages that it's really useful to be able to do it one handed.

I think the most relevant test for your system would be to compare it with T9 input, as I reckon T9 might be quicker than one-finger qwerty typing.

Definitely worth pursuing your idea though.

Re: Finger Friendly keypad
 

There is a mess with sets at the moment anyway. It was just to present functionality itself. But I thought would be nice to flick one row for example when you need enter the numbers only. But ability to change whole set at once... I agree with you. But just trying to avoid adding more function buttons. What if you could swap whole set by dragging 2nd ring next to OK button?

Re: Finger Friendly keypad
 

Anybody else? 2:1 showing me that this is useless for 30% of people :)

Re: Finger Friendly keypad
 

Looks cool, it would even be useful in landscape mode if you provide half the row on left side i.e. qwert, and yuiop on the other side. I think I've seen this setup on a Win XP tablet computer ;)

Lets hope someone build a native virtual keyboard like this ;)

Re: Finger Friendly keypad
 

Too many gestures can begin to make it hard to type. You only want to have gestures in this case going side-to-side, or else it becomes too easy to mistakenly move something.

Dragging the OK row up could be an option. (Heck, maybe just have a single function button next to OK, but different gestures for different functions.) But then again, it might be a bit cumbersome to figure out.

Re: Finger Friendly keypad
 

I've change the landscape mode now. Is that what you meant?

More I'm playing with this more I agree with you. I will change that (and in fact simplify the code) by swapping whole set of rows no matter witch row you touching. There is some function to avoid spinning it by mistake. Always measure the angle. Until reach 5 degrees will never start spinning if will not reach more than 10 degrees will never change the set but will back to original position.

Re: Finger Friendly keypad
 

Yeah, but maybe a bit more like a quarter of a circle? So that W is more towards the left edge of the screen but Y is more towards the bottom of the screen?

Re: Finger Friendly keypad
 

Really? When you holding device in one hand I agree with you.
But if in Landscape mode I guess you hold it in 2 hands and the way how I am holding it will determine the angle and arc. Are your fingers really sticking out from the coroners of device like 45 degrees? :confused:

There is another one problem in MicroB you need to use interactive mode so... in this case I had to leave those areas empty.

And there is another one issue:
When you would like to make an symmetrical solution is just impossible regarding to the layout of normal keyboard.

Those parts you can make symmetrical.

left hand__________right hand

q_w_e_r_t_y_____ u_i_o_p_[_]_
_a_s_d_f_g_______ j_k_l_;_'__
__z_x_c_v_________ m_,_._/__

but

___________ h
___________b_n
remains