Clicks – Physical keyboard for iPhone

skygazer · 2024-01-04T21:04:38

I both love this and am horrified. It looks like it'd turn a Pro Max into a 9 inch tall phone. Since it's a case, you'd need a new one each phone upgrade. (I used to do this with the Apple battery cases, until I came to my senses and/or magsafe.) Although, I still occasionally long for the blind accuracy of the old Blackberry keyboard.

I think I'd prefer an adjustable magsafe attached keyboard that can do either landscape or portrait, though. Sadly, I don't see ctrl, alt or arrow keys. SSH won't benefit as much.

All that said, if this were $50, I'd already have ordered it.

wannacboatmovie · 2024-01-05T04:55:30

This will fail not because it's not a good idea, but because the implementation is flawed.

Ryan Seacrest (yes the Ryan Seacrest) bankrolled a startup 10 years ago with an almost identical product. (They were sued out of existence by an already dying BlackBerry.)

I remember listening to an interview where he explained they restricted the product to smaller iPhone models because user testing showed the product didn't work well in larger models - the increased weight of the larger phones caused too much of a bending moment whilst holding the phone by the extended bottom, making it extremely uncomfortable to handle and not conducive to typing. It was therefore restricted to the iPhones 5 & 6 only.

Recall QWERTY phones of yore were literally half the size or even smaller than the models this is targeting. I recently found an old BlackBerry cleaning out a junk drawer and was shocked by how small it was. It would fit inside my current phone and remember these phones had removable, user-replaceable batteries.

Not to mention this looks much cheaper quality than Seacrest's forgotten startup produced. Perhaps it's the children's toy-inspired design asthetic.

This will fail.

dalemhurley · 2024-01-05T07:23:15

Thank you. As soon as I read their website claiming to be “the first creator keyboard for iPhone”, I was thinking “nope, there was one blackberry sued”. Hopefully they will update their website and remove the false claim.

gambiting · 2024-01-05T08:26:03

There is no financial or any other penalty for keeping the lie there, so it won't disappear.

For years Omega used to write "the first and only watch on the Moon" on their Speedmaster watches, even though people kept pointing out over and over and over again that it's just simply not true - other watches were also used on the moon, including a Bulova Accutron when the nasa-issued speedmaster popped its crystal while on the lunar surface. So it was an obvious and easily provable lie, but for years it adorned a multi-thousand dollar watch. Omega did eventually change it with the new revision of the watch, but there is no reason to believe that it was because people were complaining about it.

fsckboy · 2024-01-05T09:13:40

did it get left on the moon?

wannacboatmovie · 2024-01-05T08:22:42

Their website and marketing materials have a bit of a "Simpsons already did it" charm to them. Not to mention you will need specially designed pants to hold this roofing shingle-sized monstrosity. Maybe they can bring wearing overalls to the office into style.

obilgic · 2024-01-05T08:41:50

https://www.amazon.com/Typo2-Keyboard-for-iPhone-6/dp/B00O49...

colordrops · 2024-01-05T07:15:14

I wonder if you could make the key board overlap the lower portion of the screen, and when not in use, flip it down and around to the back of the phone. Would require some software and a clever physical mechanism that may not be easy or even possible though.

dumpHero2 · 2024-01-04T22:13:08

If it gains any traction, you'd be able to get a fairly decent Temu version in about 6 months from now for $30.

obilgic · 2024-01-05T04:07:19

Whats the verdict on temu vs aliExpress. I still find things %30 cheaper on AE while most of my orders are delivered within 6 days.

tauntz · 2024-01-05T08:49:29

I get so much Temu spam that I finally gave up and decided to check them up. I compared 3 random items that the spam in Instagram was about - exact same items were 3x - 10x cheaper on AliExpress than Temu (~0.50 on Ali, ~5.0 on Temu, ~10 on Amazon). I haven't looked further but my impression was that they just ship stuff from AliExpress with a X price multiplier?

kshahkshah · 2024-01-05T04:45:11

Out of curiosity, what types of goods do you get from those websites?

OJFord · 2024-01-05T06:36:20

Anything where you're actually ok with all the NEUVWY branded junk on Amazon but want it much cheaper in exchange for possibly slightly slower delivery and a horrible browsing experience.

obilgic · 2024-01-05T05:11:38

lots of electronic components, modules, tools, etc... Things you get on Amazon for $10-15 range is basically $2-4 on AliExpress.

If It's a big or $75+ item, usually prices are same as Amazon.

rabuse · 2024-01-05T06:49:15

Great, cheap flashlights with so many options for customization (Convoy).

blep-arsh · 2024-01-05T06:07:28

A 16" 4K USB-C OLED display (with a touch sensor even). It works exactly as advertised and looks really nice but is rather useless for me, to be honest.

steve_adams_86 · 2024-01-05T07:25:52

This sounds extremely useful to me! I’m building out a home assistant dashboard and would like a nice crisp display with touch.

Why did you get it if it’s useless for you? Not being critical at all, more so curious how it turned out to be a bad fit.

happymellon · 2024-01-05T08:31:42

I would guess it's something like this

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005670832686.html

[Edit] Ah no, it says 4k in the title but the description is 1080p.

Try this

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006407747752.html

colordrops · 2024-01-05T07:16:30

Could you share a link to this please? I could definitely use this.

levidos · 2024-01-05T08:34:19

I'd be interested as well

theflyingelvis · 2024-01-05T04:48:01

Chinese knockoffs and other junk products

cobbaut · 2024-01-05T09:18:04

> Chinese knockoffs and other junk products

As if most of the originals aren't made in the very same factory in China.

serial_dev · 2024-01-05T05:10:15

Smart home stuff, keyboards are cheap and pretty good on Ali Express.

behnamoh · 2024-01-05T05:35:18

When I wanted to build my own mech keeb, the components were available only on AE. On AMZ they were much more expensive.

steve_adams_86 · 2024-01-05T07:27:37

My experience with keyboard components on Amazon in Canada is that they’re beyond prohibitively expensive. It’s absolutely insane. I could never wrap my head around why… Who’s buying it? I suppose impulse purchases because so many of them are hard to find otherwise, or you have to wait a while for batches?

Scoundreller · 2024-01-05T09:27:30

There's a ton of amazon.com stuff machine-reposted on amazon.ca (plus a $$$ Fedex/UPS fee to get it to you quickly after they receive it themselves in USA).

droopyEyelids · 2024-01-05T08:26:48

I fond them to have the same prices and mostly the same items but temu often doesnt have the really nice version of a thing thats basically from a “brand” in china

Here is today’s random example: https://a.aliexpress.com/_mr2D3Y4

Couldn’t find anything like that on temu

stonegray · 2024-01-05T02:08:08

There were cases available with a slide out keyboard for the iPhone 6, it looks like they cost ~$14

girvo · 2024-01-05T03:11:09

Those used Bluetooth and were horribly thick and you had to charge their battery and so on

Cyclenerd · 2024-01-05T08:35:29

Sounds like you're going to love this one: https://www.tindie.com/products/arturo182/bb-q20-keyboard-wi...

jayd16 · 2024-01-04T21:26:03

I wonder if a magsafe secured, size agnostic version could be made. Less locked in but easier to split across pockets and possibly works for more than one model.

cush · 2024-01-04T23:56:47

> magsafe secured

This certainly must have been an option they explored. Without a case secured to the body of the phone, pushing the keyboard buttons would probably pop off the magsafe connection. There's a lot of leverage on those clicks.

pedalpete · 2024-01-04T22:17:46

This was my initial reaction, why have an entire case when it could be attached via magsafe. I wonder if it could be made to swivel/slide out of the way when not in use. Membrane keyboard could be super thin.

But also.... no, I don't think I need/want this. But a cool design exercise.

Caddickbrown · 2024-01-04T22:17:47

In theory all it would need to be is a tiny Bluetooth keyboard with a MagSafe attachment and it would be functionally the same!

cowsup · 2024-01-04T22:32:14

Bluetooth would require separate charging and a heavier design for an onboard battery. Not to mention needing to turn it off and on, or making it "smart" and only turn on when pressed, which slows down typing itself when you really need it.

FullyFunctional · 2024-01-04T22:23:26

I've been on a physical iPhone keyboard quest since I got my first (4S). I have a pile of BT keyboards and one keyboard case. Still looking for something I would actually use. Indeed, my primary use case is for SSH (via Terminus).

jbm · 2024-01-05T00:27:50

I still have my iPhone 4S keyboard that I used stubbornly for months (along with the 4s itself). Every now and then I charge it and connect it to my PC via bluetooth, but even in landscape mode it was just too small for my sausage fingers.

I don't understand how a portrait mode keyboard will be any better, but I hope to be wrong.

brianjking · 2024-01-05T05:06:18

If this somehow incorporated the RIM Trackball as well somehow I'd already have ordered it. I have some real life nostalgia for Blackberry keyboards.

steve_adams_86 · 2024-01-05T07:31:55

I used one a few years back and it felt like magic in my hands. It was surreal to think how functional and efficient old tech was, yet we totally left it behind for something objectively worse. I get why we did, but wow, those were so much nicer to type on than a cold, flat, non-tactile surface.

Despite that, modern screens have become remarkably accurate and responsive. Autocorrect is pretty good and makes up for a lot of the slop. I can often type without looking at the onscreen keyboard, and that’s impressive in and of itself (not because of me, but because of the technology). The trade off still makes sense. Things were so much worse when we first left physical keyboards behind.

But like you I do love the idea of a phone with a good physical keyboard, still.

iancmceachern · 2024-01-04T21:10:34

I hate that's its needed, but love that it exists

andjmp · 2024-01-05T02:33:06

The picture of the back of it made me think it was a keyboard separate from the case that plugs into the usb-c port with a long case that goes around it and has the buttons poke through. I could be wrong, but to do it that way makes more sense to me. The keyboard can’t be the full width of the Pro Max if it is a separate piece that works with any model so maybe not.

silisili · 2024-01-04T21:28:51

It'd be nice if the keyboard could flip backwards or slide away seamlessly.

Eric_WVGG · 2024-01-05T03:32:39

So many folks insisted that touchscreen keyboards were a fad, and everyone would come back to keyboards sooner or later.

I knew they were wrong, but I figured there would at least be a permanent market for some 5% minority who needed their chiclet keyboards. Wrong!

Honestly surprised that a device took so long to come to market… I’m not making any predictions this time.

balaji1 · 2024-01-05T06:49:12

Exactly, a fold-away/flip-away form factor that doubles as a phone-case might be better.

JadeNB · 2024-01-04T22:03:03

That sounds like re-inventing the Sidekick (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danger_Hiptop)!

xp84 · 2024-01-04T23:47:41

RIP, I miss the Sidekick so much. Probably every millennial would have given anything to have one of these in 2001, but a data plan, the hardware cost itself, and exclusivity to T-Mobile placed it firmly outside the reach of everyone I knew including myself.

mattl · 2024-01-05T03:01:35

I had one much later in 2008, it cost $1 a day for unlimited data/service on a prepaid account IIRC.

loloquwowndueo · 2024-01-04T22:53:13

And giving iPhone a physical keyboard is reinventing the blackberry. Never mind that the iPhone’s mantra from the beginning has been away from the inadaptability of physical keyboards. (Watch the 2007 keynote for reference).

schiffern · 2024-01-05T00:30:48

> Never mind that the iPhone’s official marketing line from the beginning has been...

Fixed.

It's an age-old sales tactic. "It's not a bug, it's a feature!"

ceejayoz · 2024-01-05T03:53:52

Given everyone else fairly rapidly followed along, and still are nearly 15 years later, “feature” seems accurate.

hamburglar · 2024-01-05T02:29:13

I think a lot of people would like to see the sidekick reinvented tbh

abustamam · 2024-01-05T05:36:29

I agree. My mom's first android phone was the sidekick 4g

https://www.t-mobile.com/devices/sidekick

It was a solid device, but it got sluggish pretty quickly. Not sure if it was because of my mom's usage habits or the hardware.

And my first android phone was the Motorola cliq

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Cliq

I think I went through several devices on warranty because it malfunctioned in some way.

Anyway, I just mention this because smartphones with keyboards are not new inventions, but fewer are being manufactured. I don't think I would get a smartphone with a keyboard, but I'd love to see more innovation in this space. I'm kinda tired of the whole "more, better cameras" and "more processing power" pattern we've been seeing.

callalex · 2024-01-05T02:00:17

Wow I guess it’s been long enough. The mid aughts explored this whole world extensively and it all sucked which is why we ended up where we are. Although watching video content wasn’t a thing the last time around so maybe there is room for improvement now…

chihuahua · 2024-01-05T02:59:49

Back then, I had a phone that had 2 separate slide-out keyboards: one for the digits, and one full qwerty. I didn't buy this monstrosity; my employer gave it to me for testing the app we were working on. Absolute madness, but also admirable that someone manufactured it.

slowhadoken · 2024-01-05T01:47:38

Same. I haven’t been filled with this much mixed emotion since slanket.

mgh2 · 2024-01-05T00:40:54

Video intro is too long, without much substance.

tomasreimers · 2024-01-04T21:12:47

Would seriously consider buying this if it were a case with a back-sliding landscape keyboard. Something like:

https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/fd8703ad0b0ec545ac98701c39...

lopis · 2024-01-05T09:00:36

I thought it would be this as well. I dearly miss my 2013 Xperia Mini Pro. But this? Looking at this product gives me wrist pain. The iPhone is about 250g. How can you comfortably hold it from the tip?

cududa · 2024-01-04T22:05:03

The Palm Pre was my dream phone

xt00 · 2024-01-05T01:55:25

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=M64U0XyLA-o&feat... Palm Pre in 2009 had a magnetic charging / mount thing super similar to what the iPhone only finally got a couple of years ago.. Palm Pre also had the nice card-based UI for killing apps while multitasking -- again something basically iOS only finally got after many years of annoying versions that all sucked compared to the card based mode they use now. webOS used webapps -- which at the time were not great.. but now tons of apps are effectively just webapps. So yea, Palm Pre was uber ahead of its time...

steve_adams_86 · 2024-01-05T07:35:01

So ahead of its time! It was actually pretty nice to work with as a developer, too. They did some great work making webOS a viable platform. It’s a real shame it didn’t thrive in my opinion; it got a lot of things right.

al_borland · 2024-01-05T01:35:18

I’m still upset with Leo Apotheker for killing WebOS at HP. It was our only real shot at a real 3rd platform that could have some legs. It’s hard to comprehend how much damage he was able to do in only 10 months as CEO.

hypercube33 · 2024-01-05T04:44:09

It's wild how well palm worked with gesture and stylus input and ...the games were super fun I think because of directional physical buttons on the devices and you know, no pay to play games

stevekemp · 2024-01-05T07:28:48

You just made me check if I still have my rooting-instructions on my website, from back in the day when I wanted a reference.

Turns out I do:

https://steve.fi/docs/pre/

It was a great phone, although I see on that page I said "not great, not terrible".

lazzurs · 2024-01-04T22:51:43

+1

I can’t get over how long it took Apple to adopt the same charging mechanism. It’s depressing how good the Pre phones were and how long it’s taken to get anywhere near close to as good.

JimDabell · 2024-01-05T01:25:15

> I can’t get over how long it took Apple to adopt the same charging mechanism.

I knew somebody with a Pre and he had to have it replaced two or three times because the charging mechanism kept breaking. It’s fairly common that somebody else will do something “first” but Apple will wait until the technology is mature enough to be reliable.

skyyler · 2024-01-05T00:54:14

Still waiting for multi-tasking that works as well as it did on the Pre.

Maybe one day.

cududa · 2024-01-05T00:55:51

For me, the X and the iOS version with it (can't remember which one), with the gesture swiping etc, finally was as good as (even perhaps better than) the Palm Pre

razemio · 2024-01-05T07:36:14

Same. I would have considered buying this product and the phone (!!!!) if it would have had a sliding mechanism. I miss all the pre phones. Had 1, 2 and 3. I am not joking, I was faster typing on the pre than on my keyboard since I never learned to use all my fingers to type.

Sohcahtoa82 · 2024-01-04T23:01:50

Mine was the Droid 4.

The only complaint I had about it was the MASSIVE bezels. They easily could have made the screen at least another inch bigger.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droid_4#/media/File:Motorola_D...

guyinblackshirt · 2024-01-05T02:28:40

that and the Sharp Zaurus! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_Zaurus#/media/File:Zauru...

miek · 2024-01-05T02:46:15

Ah my beloved Zaurus 5500 with the camera card. I still have many grainy photos I took with it. The slide out keyboard was fantastic, and like all devices, it too ran Doom.

philsnow · 2024-01-05T07:50:44

I still have an HTC Dream in a drawer somewhere, thinking that someday I'll repurpose it as a bluetooth keyboard for something or other.

valianteffort · 2024-01-04T21:17:34

I think the camera bumps kind of prevent this without turning the phone into a literal brick. Would have to be more like a clamshell/folio type case like with the iPads.

That said the keyboard in OP looks so unbelievably fucking stupid and impractical I can't understand how it made it to production.

devmor · 2024-01-04T21:53:20

Doesn't have to cover the entire back of the camera. Just needs to use magsafe to attach.

cududa · 2024-01-04T22:04:23

I don't think magsafe is strong enough to support the entire phone on a keyboard

happyopossum · 2024-01-04T22:19:27

MagSafe supports my 'entire phone' bouncing around in my truck, and hanging on my headboard at night - it's more than strong enough to hold a phone to a keyboard.

kridsdale1 · 2024-01-04T22:51:40

I enjoy that your unwritten implication is that your headboard is banging around at night with equal amplitude to your truck.

cweagans · 2024-01-05T01:52:58

Maybe his truck has a really nice, comfy suspension that doesn’t move much. Maybe he’s humblebragging about his truck :P

dylan604 · 2024-01-05T00:00:10

humblebragging at its finest me thinks

cududa · 2024-01-04T22:34:34

Fair and good point!

al_borland · 2024-01-05T01:38:40

I use the MagSafe Apple wallet and often turn is sideways to give myself something to hold while I watch videos in landscape. A keyboard would work in much the same way, in terms of what it needs to support and where it’s being held.

ClassyJacket · 2024-01-04T22:47:26

Supporting the entire phone is the entire point of Magsafe, what else would you even use it for?

dylan604 · 2024-01-05T00:01:50

lightly holding the charger in place well enough to maintain contact yet easily removed if the cable is pulled without damaging cable or device. anything after that is bonus and outside the scope of magsafe's use. the magnets on my desktop multi-device charger do not meet that requirement as they are significantly stronger than Magsafe connections.

johnwalkr · 2024-01-05T00:39:48

It works great to support the entire weight of the phone on your desk or a dashboard, even when driving a fast car or riding a bike (unless you crash of course). But it's 1-2 orders of magnitude less force than required to resist pulling it out of your pocket.

valianteffort · 2024-01-04T22:38:45

That wouldn't be very comfortable at all

drudoo · 2024-01-04T21:39:21

I had this as a case for the iPhone 4 (or 5S, can’t remember). Was amazing but very bulky.

richardw · 2024-01-05T04:21:24

I got an HTC TyTN once. I hated that phone so much. Keyboard slipped out, which I guess worked. It was the phone that made me religiously stick with Apple all this time.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_TyTN

Before that I had a Palm 5 PDA, which I loved. So interesting that you can add features and connectivity and still make the thing suck.

Toutouxc · 2024-01-05T07:02:42

That is interesting, I had a TyTN II and miss it to this day. The keyboard was pure bliss, the software was all there (browsing, messaging, photos, calendar, cool games - everything I now use my iPhone for). It had a nice chunk to it and made a cute sound when you slid the keyboard out. You could even run Android on it thanks to some nice people on XDA.

timvdalen · 2024-01-05T08:15:14

I miss my HTC phones

hanniabu · 2024-01-04T22:49:15

I always loved the LG env2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_enV2_%28VX9100%29

worthless-trash · 2024-01-05T01:27:48

How should they work around covering the camera ?

SushiHippie · 2024-01-04T21:20:04

This made me realise how much I'd love a physical keyboard on my phone.

But not like this, this is too long and I don't think one will have a pleasant typing experience with this.

I thought about this one for a few minutes, but I can't think of a good way to integrate a keyboard in a smartphone case, that will give you the experience of a blackberry or similar.

The slide-out ones that you could use in horizontal orientation are probably the best way I know of, but I wish something similar could be feasible in vertical orientation.

EDIT: I just realised that the coolest way would be, if the phone display is only as large as the current phones minus the keyboard, and then a physical keyboard beneath it. The phone would be physically as large as the phones today and you would have a superior typing experience. Only problem would be watching videos or images which are all either 16:9 or 21:9 (or vice versa). And I'd personally trade the screen size for a physical keyboard

oslem · 2024-01-04T21:38:00

Sounds to me that you just described the format of a BlackBerry!

I could almost envision a clip-on (or magnetic?) keyboard that sits on top of your screen when you need it. Perhaps it could be taken off and stored on the back of your phone, much like a MagSafe battery on an iPhone.

stemlord · 2024-01-04T22:05:05

I like the magnetically attachable kb idea A LOT. Could also attach to the back of the phone when not in use to not live as a separate part. Seems like it'd be a pain in the ass to spend multiple seconds mounting the kb every time you need to type but I would actually keep it mounted and take it off when watching videos only. So it'd remain there for 95% of the tkme.

JBiserkov · 2024-01-05T04:36:18

Check out the Sony Ericsson P910that had not 1, but 2 keyboards that could be detached. https://gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_p910-pictures-846.php

SushiHippie · 2024-01-05T09:11:47

Woah, this looks so cool!

SushiHippie · 2024-01-04T21:53:37

That could work too. A keyboard that you put on top of the screen, the only thing that would need to happen is that the operating system detects this and moves the content to the top, the same way as the software keyboard.

Similar to what @walterbell suggested https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38872674

andiareso · 2024-01-04T22:08:22

This existed before a lawsuit https://www.theverge.com/2014/1/20/5325272/typo-keyboard-rev...

SushiHippie · 2024-01-05T09:15:43

This looks awesome, and they even mentioned that they were faster on the physicial keyboard. Although this design also has the problem with balance, but very likely not as much as TFA. I guess this design can't really work today as there is no home key on phones anymore, which they covered with the keyboard so it is not as long as the case in TFA.

zoom6628 · 2024-01-05T02:46:03

You are describing the BlackBerry passport. Other replies have some great ideas about magnetic keyboard. I was thinking why not Samsung Flip that splits the screen surface and uses rotating hinge so one side of the slab is screen or rotate for keyboard. That would be my ideal mobile. Success would come down to the strength and reliability of the hinge but this should be doable at a small increment in price.

SushiHippie · 2024-01-05T09:22:13

That's a really smart idea, though probably not feasible if you want to have a borderless touchscreen when not using the physical keyboard.

walterbell · 2024-01-04T21:43:51

> the coolest way would be, if the phone display is only as large as the current phones minus the keyboard, and then a physical keyboard beneath it. The phone would be physically as large as the phones today and you would have a superior typing experience.

iOS Reachability, but pinned to top of display?

https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/use-reachability-iph1...

xp84 · 2024-01-05T00:05:28

Kind of, though in my testing Reachability seems to just hide the bottom anyway rather than having the app resize.

With things like this I just keep thinking about how much more potential we would have for innovation if handheld computers allowed the same kind of extensibility that all computers did 25 years ago. Today, only Apple, Google, or the OEM of an Android phone could enable such a behavior by explicitly providing an API for it (and explicitly blessing the software that uses it), so it just won't happen.

SushiHippie · 2024-01-04T21:51:56

Yes, and then there could be a keyboard flips around to the black part

lukeschlather · 2024-01-05T06:04:30

I have a BlackBerry KeyTwo, which is basically that. It's great. If I could buy a new one with the latest Android I would do it in a heartbeat, the hardware is great and I'm sad you can't buy them anymore.

SushiHippie · 2024-01-05T09:24:32

Why have I never heard of all these touchscreen blackberries, they all look something I want. I really wish they'd still manufacture them or release android updates.

TylerE · 2024-01-04T21:35:13

I had an android phone with a physical keyboard. It was terrible. To avoid bloating the thing to a full on tablet the keys are so small it's practically impossible to not hit a whole cluster of keys, at least with my large-but-not-freakishly so hands. (e.g. average for a 6'ish adult male). To top it off the feel was horribly as the keys have about 0.1mm of travel.

roywashere · 2024-01-04T22:09:41

I had the T-mobile G1 with the slide out keyboard. Loved it!!

Osiris · 2024-01-04T23:21:41

I thought it was the G2? I had the one with the z-fold keyboard that slid out on the long edge (landscape). I loved that keyboard. I could crank out long emails error free, unlike every other touch screen keyboard, like the one I’m using right now.

jldugger · 2024-01-05T00:13:13

G1 was the original Tmo android phone with a slide out keyboard. G2 was the HTC Desire Z with the amazing z-hinge keyboard.

JoshTriplett · 2024-01-04T22:59:20

I had an N900, and the keyboard was reasonably good to type on. The keys were shaped in a way that made it easy to hit only the key you wanted, without hitting adjacent keys.

bee_rider · 2024-01-04T23:26:58

The slide out horizontal form factor is so obviously superior, I’m scratching my head wondering why people are so nostalgic for blackberry keyboards.

Toutouxc · 2024-01-05T07:10:56

I had a few slide out phones and a few BlackBerry-style phones (not BB but Nokia) and I had zero issues with either. You could type a novel on any of them.

(I’m typing this on an iPad Mini and it’s really sad how terrible the experience is compared to those tiny phones with tiny keyboards that actually worked)

xuhu · 2024-01-05T02:16:52

Vertical keyboard allows using the phone with one hand.

TylerE · 2024-01-05T03:27:43

Also landscape results in either lots of wasted screen space or hard to read text. FOr text you want tall and narrow(ish), not ultra wide.

Cthulhu_ · 2024-01-04T21:54:53

I think a sideways one would be most ergonomic, like a Backbone (https://playbackbone.com/products/backbone-one/) but with keyboard keys. Actually iOS supports a split style keyboard as well: https://www.lifewire.com/thmb/gSGW1OzKc1r6QWfVYO7g0rdfXuw=/1...

tinytuna · 2024-01-04T22:00:33

The new iPad pro’s don’t have that feature sadly

pb7 · 2024-01-04T21:47:39

>you would have a superior typing experience

Would you? I don’t think so. All to permanently lose 30%+ of your usual screen space on a device that you likely use to consume 90% of the time and input 10% of the time.

dannyw · 2024-01-04T22:37:02

Different people use devices in different ways.

My phone is 80% emails, Slack, iMessage, Discord; 15% Google Maps, Uber, or Safari, and 5% YouTube.

To each their own, but I realised content consumption is a seriously net negative on my happiness, productivity, and satisfaction with life, so I stopped.

SushiHippie · 2024-01-04T21:57:16

I don't consume anything on my phone that would require that much vertical space, except occasionally a video someone sent me. And the touch keyboard bugs me so much that I really wouldn't care about losing ~1/3 of the screen.

city41 · 2024-01-05T04:40:30

I find it wild they've been mainstream now for 16 years and I still just absolutely hate them. I would gladly sacrifice screen for a good physical keyboard.

carlosjobim · 2024-01-04T22:13:26

You described the BlackBerry Priv.

SushiHippie · 2024-01-05T09:19:47

:o a slide-out keyboard in vertical orientation in 2015, I wish I had that phone

thom · 2024-01-04T22:56:57

It’s incredibly rare that I can type even a single sentence correctly on the iPhone. In that one it came out ‘in’ and not ‘on’ for example. In that one I typed sample not example. I got that last one right! I see the arguments from both sides but it’s a real shame the design space of smartphones has become so conservative. Such intensely personal devices deserve to be more varied. If I thought I could build some sort of cyberdeck with a 5G radio and reliable Bluetooth for a headset I think I might get a kick out of that. And then I’d probably go back to the iPhone because it works better and has better battery life. “Probanly”.

4death4 · 2024-01-05T03:09:35

This was true for me until the latest iOS release. The new autocorrect is markedly better. It used to be that at least 30% of words (not even sentences!) were misspelled. Now it's pretty rare. I think the auto-correct on the iPhone is even better than how I type on a laptop keyboard. Pretty crazy!

lynndotpy · 2024-01-05T06:06:33

This was true for me until the latest iOS release, but then it got worse for me. The inline predictions were especially problematic, but they added a toggle in the settings for it.

I think this puts me in the market for a keyboard like this

msoad · 2024-01-05T09:09:54

Sometimes I feel hacker news audience either have a very unique use case with their software/hardware or they are living in an alternative universe. The latest iOS keyboard is absolutely better than anything I've tried. I am sometimes shocked that it could autocorrect what I initially typed because it was so far off! And I have big fingers!

jrmg · 2024-01-04T23:53:25

You may know this and not like it, or find it doesn’t work for you, but on the off chance you don’t: just keep going. Autocorrect will often step in and correct things one or two words later when it works out that letters near where you tapped make a more plausible sentence than the ones you actually tapped.

rtpg · 2024-01-05T02:51:32

I think iOS changed its behavior like this in the past year or two and it's so frustrating after years of per-word autocorrect. Like having the text flow around randomly while typing out your sentence, seeing the text be _entirely wrong_, and just having to pray that the text will end up right at the end of the action.

I don't know what is better here but honestly per-word predictions were way better for my usecases.

thom · 2024-01-05T00:13:44

Yeah, I mean with autocorrect. Without that I don't think I could type a single word tbh. The AI they rolled out in the last year or so has been noticeably better too, but still my thumbs are clearly not in the normal human range.

richard___ · 2024-01-05T04:32:14

Yeah, you're the only one. It's easy to type on iphones bud

thom · 2024-01-05T04:52:03

Shame there's not always something worth typing though.

rcarmo · 2024-01-05T09:14:37

Mixed feelings. I was a heavy BlackBerry user (and a PM for it at a local telco) for years, and then when I got an iPhone 3G I found I could type _faster_ on it, to the point where a visiting Apple rep commented on how quick I was at it (way before current autocorrect).

I have a feeling that Apple dropped the ball with the more modern keyboard implementations, but I can still type (and swipe) with good enough speed and accuracy to not really miss a physical keyboard.

bjoli · 2024-01-05T09:18:51

I usually attach a 60% keyboard to my phone every time i have to write longer things. I carry it with me everywhere.

I despise having to write on a small touch keyboard, but I am pretty sure this would not solve any of my issues

paxys · 2024-01-05T02:55:54

I doubt this thing will get anywhere, but this discussion thread is making me nostalgic about the wild times of smartphone design in the late 2000s/early 2010s. Motorola Droid. HTC Touch. Palm Pre. Nokia N900/N95/N97 and their other crazy form factors. All the different Blackberrys.

Phones were sliding, folding, twisting. Then at some point everyone decided that a glass rectangle was the only way to go and that was it.

kirse · 2024-01-05T05:17:04

I feel ya, I used to have one of these:

https://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_m600-pictures-1425.ph...

And these:

https://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_6820-pictures-565.php

Had the N900 and N95 as well. Back then it was easy to have a cool/unique phone because carriers weren't on top of their hardware lineups. Now everything is a boring rounded-corners slate. Even Sony gave up with the squared-edges on their Xperia lineup. I'm optimistic that rollable screens will bring back some real innovation beyond just clam-shells.

twism · 2024-01-05T02:58:26

Success of the iPhone

TheArcane · 2024-01-05T04:25:53

there was so much.. variety, and every time I upgraded a phone it was also a changed human-machine interaction with the hardware. Oh exciting times!

dqv · 2024-01-04T20:57:04

It was supposed to be a joke! Not inspiration! https://i.redd.it/g8o4nu49rfz51.jpg

I like having a physical keyboard, but not like this... it makes the phone too long. A slide out is preferred. I'm just going to stick with a regular bluetooth keyboard.

RHSeeger · 2024-01-04T21:03:31

I would love to a Droid 2 style keyboard for my phone

http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/wireless/detail-page/mo...

roughly · 2024-01-04T21:16:31

Man, the droid is still my favorite mobile device I’ve ever owned. Such a great form factor, and felt super cyberpunk - especially the droid 1 in the early days of smart phones. Shame Jony Ive won the design war, it’s all been flat black rectangles since then.

RajT88 · 2024-01-04T21:09:17

The Astro Slide is exactly this.

Although - good luck getting one. And once you have one, it's just OK. Missing some fit and finish both in hardware and software.

xnzakg · 2024-01-05T01:01:11

Having used a Gemini PDA from the same company (Planet Computers), that sure looks much more usable. The Gemini has a keyboard that closes onto the display, which on one hand does protect both the keyboard and the screen when closed, but makes for a really awkward experience when you need to use an app that only works in portrait mode. Was really quite nice for bringing around for coding or connecting over ssh. Can't complain too much about the hardware but the software could have used some more polish. The option to boot Debian was neat but felt like a proof of concept, stuck at an old version (though seems like some people managed to get it to update[0].

A phone later I ended up getting a Samsung foldable (currently typing this on a Z Fold 3) and while I prefer physical keyboards, a split keyboard on the inner screen works pretty well in my experience.

0: https://consummatetinkerer.net/upgrading-debian-on-a-gemini-...

rrix2 · 2024-01-04T22:13:49

I dropped mine less than a foot and the display broke entirely, six months ago, and they never shipped the "protection pack" with extra screen protectors and a hard shell case. Their support has yet to reply, much less quote an RMA. :(

RajT88 · 2024-01-04T22:45:23

I am in a similar boat. That thing is relatively fragile, with no options for cases/screen protectors.

I think the company is well on the way to going belly up. Too bad too, their devices all had promise, they just needed to have more iterations to get better. They were too small clearly to even produce a new iteration, they were all-in on new designs from the Gemini / Cosmo / Astro Slide and now on to ARM Linux computers.

stuaxo · 2024-01-05T02:09:30

I have one, but I'm pretty clumsy, and there is no Linux for it (will probably happen one day).

If I drop this it will die and fat chance getting it fixed.

If Linux arrives I'll use it as a mini deck-thing, Android itself is absolutely shite to use with a keyboard.

Sohcahtoa82 · 2024-01-04T23:03:59

I had the Droid 1 and then the Droid 4. I loved the D4's keyboard since it had a dedicated number row.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droid_4#/media/File:Motorola_D...

LegitShady · 2024-01-04T21:12:29

Brings back fond memories of htc phones of yore

prestonlibby · 2024-01-05T02:04:49

I still have a HTC One M8 in use for Android bug bounty hunting, used it as my daily driver until 2020 thanks for LineageOS folks never letting it die. Those things were horrible to repair (sadly how many phones aren't these days) but amazing little devices. I still miss having a phone that size to be able to use comfortably in one hand.

nerdponx · 2024-01-04T22:39:24

Bring back the Sidekick!

Vicinity9635 · 2024-01-05T00:41:13

>whoa there, pardner!

>Your request has been blocked due to a network policy.

>Try logging in or creating an account here to get back to browsing.

>If you're running a script or application, please register or sign in with your developer credentials here. Additionally make sure your User-Agent is not empty and is something unique and descriptive and try again. if you're supplying an alternate User-Agent string, try changing back to default as that can sometimes result in a block.

>You can read Reddit's Terms of Service here.

>if you think that we've incorrectly blocked you or you would like to discuss easier ways to get the data you want, please file a ticket here.

>when contacting us, please include your ip address which is: [REDACTED] and reddit account

lol, reddit is even more useless now

iddan · 2024-01-04T21:00:01

Slide out, now that’s a 2000s throw back!

dqv · 2024-01-04T21:05:01

I want to throw it back even further to a Sidekick honestly. I never got to experience having one and I'd love a modern phone that flips open like the Sidekick does.

MetaWhirledPeas · 2024-01-04T21:28:47

I liked my Sidekick, and the keyboard was pretty good. But honestly I've been pretty happy with how software keyboards have evolved, and I'm pretty sure physical buttons would just slow me down at this point.

However, one thing I'll continue missing from the Sidekick are the gaming controls. It had a horrible d-pad and buttons but at least it had them. They've been forced out of smartphones in the name of shaving off bezels and making the aspect ratio taller (eww). Give me a phone with a tiny d-pad and buttons please

abathur · 2024-01-04T21:15:24

Same, though I did have a Sidekick (2008).

I've never stopped missing it. Every time I start trying to ~swipe some technical term that the keyboard won't get unless I've added it previously. Every time I type 'n' instead of a space. And more.

I was perusing the patents a few weeks ago and noting that some of them are coming up (but some were a few years out).

dylan604 · 2024-01-04T21:22:34

the slide out could work if nothing more than to just balance the protrusion from the camera housing.

gotbeans · 2024-01-04T22:25:38

No one here realizes the sheer thumb strength of the guy in the pic.

afandian · 2024-01-04T20:53:37

I recently bought Samsung Galaxy add on keyboard, on a whim, to see if it would work with my iPhone. It sits over the screen where the onscreen keyboard is situated. On eBay it said “Bluetooth” but had no obvious signs of charging. Didn’t work with the iPhone. Next hypothesis was something clever with NFC.

Nope. Zero electronics. The reverse of the PCB has pads that fit over regions on the screen. On the front of the PCB, tactile dome switches short each pad through to a plane, presumably capacitively coupled to the hand.

(Edited for detail)

Why won’t anyone do this for iPhones? (Patents or market?)

I_Am_Nous · 2024-01-04T21:03:34

So it's basically a membrane keyboard with plungers hitting the "contacts" which are the keys on the touchscreen?

My first concern would be tolerances - enough press to feel good, but not so far that you have to press too hard. Too short and you might accidentally press keys you didn't mean to.

afandian · 2024-01-04T21:07:10

These are standard tactile dome switches. And the PCB pads are static.

B0073D · 2024-01-05T01:30:26

I recall an old Ericsson phone that did this?

zamadatix · 2024-01-04T21:27:21

Do you have a model/name/link of this? I'm having a hard time following the description but it sounds like it sits on top of part of the screen? What happens when you fullscreen a video or otherwise don't have the keyboard up?

osamagirl69 · 2024-01-04T21:36:34

Seems to be this https://wonderfulengineering.com/samsung-unveils-a-qwerty-ke...

afandian · 2024-01-04T21:37:54

This, or similar. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mjwAqDS6EcU

It clips on the front of the phone. Has a small magnet that presumably triggers the onscreen keyboard to show and resize the visible screen.

sleepybrett · 2024-01-04T21:03:14

My guess is 'you didn't look hard enough' or 'there were some but noone bothered to buy them and everyone stopped making them'. I was an avid sidekicker until the iphone2. I might have (lo 15 years ago) been interested in a slide out horizontal keyboard case for the iphone. Never happened, adapted and now with 'slide' keyboards never going back to chicklets.

afandian · 2024-01-04T21:21:27

I’ve seen various phone keyboards over the years but never recalled one that used capacitance.

chedabob · 2024-01-04T22:23:34

I'd be surprised if Sony Ericsson didn't have a patent on it, because that was exactly how the numeric keypad worked on their early smartphones. They were resistive displays though, so they just required something hard on the back to register a touch.

Tepix · 2024-01-04T23:46:43

It's a pity that the Textblade never went into real mass production. It was a very cool concept to have a tiny mobile keyboard with multitouch keys.

Article back in 2019: https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/04/10/the-textblade-key...

rgarrett88 · 2024-01-05T01:39:34

I use an (awkwardly) pocketable keyboard as my daily driver. It's cool to be able to do real tasks but also not really a big enough value add to always keep with me.

https://www.amazon.com/MoKo-Ultra-Thin-Rechargeable-Compatib...

quasarj · 2024-01-05T06:01:45

Wow, that thing looks amazing! How disappointing :(

boomskats · 2024-01-04T21:10:21

For anyone interested in something closer to the feel of the original Bold keyboard, the Fairberry[0] uses the keyboard from the BB Q10, which is excellent and can be had for about $5 a piece. They can look pretty decent[1][2] and are more easily removed.

If anyone wants one PM me, I'll mail you a couple. I've got like 30 of them.

[0]: https://github.com/Dakkaron/Fairberry [1]: https://imgur.com/a/wYub8JD [2]: https://imgur.com/a/DLhlY7m

Lorin · 2024-01-05T05:46:55

How exactly is one supposed to PM, Twitter? Very interested as I deeply miss the Q10/KeyOne/Key2 experience.

jaustin · 2024-01-05T00:35:54

I've been messing around with Q10 keyboards, MCUs and cases but not got to anything as good as a Fairberry - I'd love one or two if you have spares! Couldn't see details for private messaging you, but my profile has enough to email me on :) How is the software support? I'm using Blackberry Keyboard on my Key 2 and it's pretty good, does that work okay with Fairberry?

madethisaccount · 2024-01-04T23:46:18

Looks pretty interesting! I'd like to purchase one to repurpose my old Nokia. Do you have dimensions by any chance? Couldn't find any PM Info from your account

vqbd · 2024-01-04T21:28:17

Would it work on an iphone if the USB is adapted? I'm curious on getting one of these to work.

boomskats · 2024-01-04T21:56:55

I've not tried it, but if you check out the mainboard Readme [0] it mentions the possibility of a lightning port connector. I assume OTG is how the product OP linked to works too.

[0]: https://github.com/Dakkaron/Fairberry/blob/main/Documentatio...

vqbd · 2024-01-04T22:32:39

Neat. I couldn't find PM info for you but Id like to get one to adapt it.

dustmote-cowboy · 2024-01-04T22:24:07

this looks great! would be interested in snagging a keyboard

kardianos · 2024-01-04T21:11:48

Phones with physical keyboards: https://www.unihertz.com/collections/titan-series

Unihertz Titans

askvictor · 2024-01-05T00:23:54

I love that Unihertz exists. As well as the physical keyboard series, there's the Jelly tiny-phone, and a phone with a built-in UHF walkie-talkie. Niche markets, but it's good that someone is thinking different.

2shortplanks · 2024-01-05T08:36:04

Before I put down cash I have basic questions, like “how do I type a square bracket?” and “how do I type a backtick?”

The on-screen keyboard is pretty good, but makes coding and typing markdown hard. Will this solve this?

Also, this seems to be missing cursor keys. How do I move back and forward precisely? If the onscreen keyboard is hidden, I can’t even long press on space to move the cursor.

drakonka · 2024-01-04T21:25:04

What I want is a physical smartphone keyboard with nine keys. The one with three letters per key. I've never been faster and more accurate at typing on my phone than when these were a thing. I have pretty small hands, but even for me those full-size mini-keyboards are too imprecise to make them much better than a touch keyboard.

porsager · 2024-01-04T21:59:33

It doesn't even need to be physical - You should definitely give Type Nine a try ( https://typenineapp.com ) - (disclaimer - I'm the author). There are some promo codes below so you can try it out:

I've used this since 2014 when I made the first version, and I have yet to meet anyone typing faster with the stock iPhone qwerty keyboard.

7AMYNPKN63KY EMMHTLRA9399 Y4TPAXMJFHLL 4F3Y4JJ3RHME YREJF6L4TYE7 KWM9LRRXJEXW Y6JJRM99NYLM KRJXYPLE666L 43Y3EANXXW9F 9H99XY3FTT7L

cpeterso · 2024-01-05T00:08:49

Type Nine looks awesome! I just bought it. I've become increasingly frustrated with the default iPhone keyboard and looking for something more reliable and deterministic.

Your onboarding tutorial was excellent. Much more thorough and polished than I expected. One issue: I advanced through all the tutorial screens until the end of the "manual" tutorial, but it wasn't obvious that was the end because there was no "next tutorial" or "quit tutorial" button after watching the "see how" animation.

Feature request: include emojis in the suggestions like the iOS keyboard does: when you type "heart", it offers a suggestion to replace the word "heart" with the heart emoji.

I see there's a T9 keyboard app (RetroBoard) for the Apple Watch. Have you looked into supporting Type Nine on Apple Watch?

porsager · 2024-01-05T07:30:31

Thanks a lot! That's some good feedback. (you wrote in the app support chat too right?)

Wrt. Apple Watch, there is unfortunately no support for custom input support, so it has to be a weird hack where you type in one app and copy paste to another or such shenanigans. At least it was the last time I checked.

cpeterso · 2024-01-05T01:27:17

Also, the suggestions seem to be confused by contractions when swiping, defaulting to "didnt" or "doesnt" even when the list of suggestions includes "didn't" or "doesn't".

The lists of suggestions also include a lot of non-English or nonsense words (like “diwn” and “dizoo”), even though I'm using an English dictionary.

The punctuation screen doesn’t include some punctuation available on the Apple keyboard like (parentheses). It would be nice if there was a second screen for less-common punctuation like how the emoji screen works.

porsager · 2024-01-05T07:43:53

Oh - Just checked, you're right these words are reversed in the default dictionary. They'll be right there in front the first time you use them thought, and I'll look into seeing if I can find a good rule for improving the preference by default.

The dictionaries are compiled from large known corpuses, wikipedia and movie subtitles, to ensure most words are available, but it does also mean that some weird words sneak in. That shouldn't matter much since it's very quick to adjust to your usage, and due to the usage sorting the weird words should never come first.

About the punctuation you just need to scroll the symbols window to get to the rest ;)

spiderice · 2024-01-04T22:43:38

Looks awesome! I've missed t9 typing ever since I got my first smart phone. I just bought your keyboard.

Question: When I try to type the word "a" (by pressing the ABC key then space) it defaults to "c". Will it relearn that I actually want to type "a" if I correct it enough? No idea why it's defaulting to "c".

xp84 · 2024-01-05T00:12:46

Thanks! Insta-bought this. Really anything that can spare me the hell of Apple's keyboard that is possessed by Satan when I attempt to try swiping on it. No amount of resetting keyboard settings or anything else can stop it from turning a swipe of "you" into "your" literally every single time.

drakonka · 2024-01-04T22:34:13

This looks great! I'd try it for sure if I was on iPhone. Do you have any plans to release this for Android as well at some point?

dabluecaboose · 2024-01-04T22:44:34

Sounds like what you're looking for is the Qin F22 Pro[1]

It's got a cult following among dumbphone and dumb-er-phone enthusiasts (think Lightphone, Punkt, etc) and has personally tempted me, but I'm put off by it being a Xiaomi product and haven't been able to decide if that hardware is safe enough for me to consider using after a ROM swap.

[1] https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804386537909.html?gateway...

huytersd · 2024-01-04T21:27:32

I don’t believe you. There’s no way you type faster with up to three taps needed per letter. What a disgusting monstrosity those things were.

Mogzol · 2024-01-04T21:33:40

You don't need three taps per letter, they had T9 [1], you only had to hit the key with the letter you wanted once, it predicted which letter you actually wanted, and worked surprisingly well. Once you got used to it you could type messages very quickly.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T9_(predictive_text)

freedomben · 2024-01-04T22:00:15

Yes exactly. Also three taps per letter was worst case scenario. 1/3 of the letters were only one tap, and 1/3 were two taps.

addandsubtract · 2024-01-05T01:29:33

Ackshully, worse case is four taps for S or Z

SketchySeaBeast · 2024-01-04T21:31:20

You didn't tap three time. You type out a few button that contained the letters for the first few letters of the word and then jabbed the "next" button until it gave you the right word. You could do a very long word with just a few keypresses.

yungporko · 2024-01-04T21:38:57

i'd say predictive text/t9 was way faster than any other phone input method ever for texting. nothing else comes close imo, not even blackberry keyboards (unless you need more fine control over capitalisation and punctuation and stuff e.g work emails)

adamomada · 2024-01-05T02:53:52

I've used them all and THE fastest and most accurate entry on mobile by far was the psuedo-t9 keyboard on the Blackberry 7130. It was so good that it was frustrating to use the full keyboard on later Blackberry models.

I wonder how many people actually experienced this keyboard in the world, perhaps only in the thousands?*

Seems they had a name for it, SureType:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_BlackBerry_products#Fi...

edit: ah I see it was used on other more popular models, too. Blackberry Pearl users should chime in!

throwaway284534 · 2024-01-04T21:34:31

Lookup a stenographer’s keyboard. There is a learning curve but a chorded keyboard can exceed typical typing speeds. I imagine a T9 isn’t too different in this regard.

（评论） (comments)

（评论）
(comments)