Live data from Hacker News

Clicks – Physical keyboard for iPhone

clicks.tech

261–270 of 565 posts

Re: Clicks – Physical keyboard for iPhone

#261
It's fascinating how phones have come full circle. One of my first cell phones had a full QWERTY keyboard with physical keys that was exposed when you slid the top face of the phone sideways. Many phones in that era had similar full keyboards.

The fact that the iPod touch, iPhone, iPads, and other surface devices didn't need physical keys was seen as more modern and desirable at the time. Now it looks like people are circling back around and wanting physical keys again.

History moves in a helix I guess.

Re: Clicks – Physical keyboard for iPhone

#262

I'm kinda surprised that no-one has mentioned that languages other than English exist. Virtual keyboards, while a bit clunky, allow to easily switch input languages, and most of the world for whom English isn't their native language use this feature very very often. Physical keyboards for laptops solve this issue by having different keyboard layouts for different languages (and are usually geared towards that languag…

Not an issue if all if you know how to touch type and aren't reliant on the labels for the keys.

I'm typing this very message on a keyboard that has no labels at all, it's all muscle memory.

Re: Clicks – Physical keyboard for iPhone

#263

I can type like 45 WPM on my phone keyboard right now. I'm definitely faster on a full size keyboard, but I'm not sure if I would be faster on this small keyboard. I know a lot of people wanted keyboard like this when the iPhone first came out, but now with a lot of practice using mobile keyboards, I'm not sure it's needed. One of the main arguments for hardware keyboards was you could type without looking. I don't r…

I'm waiting for the day they remove the keyboard altogether and just have everyone use voice to text and eventually thought to text. I'd love to see that black mirror episode expanding on the meme of everyone sitting at a table texting each other at the same table but because of voice to text they've had this ingenious idea that they could just talk to each other instead!

And that is the last day I ever eat at a restaurant.

Re: Clicks – Physical keyboard for iPhone

#264
post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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

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.

Re: Clicks – Physical keyboard for iPhone

#265

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 land…

Video intro is too long, without much substance.

Re: Clicks – Physical keyboard for iPhone

#266
post #16

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.

>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

Re: Clicks – Physical keyboard for iPhone

#269
post #261

It's fascinating how phones have come full circle. One of my first cell phones had a full QWERTY keyboard with physical keys that was exposed when you slid the top face of the phone sideways. Many phones in that era had similar full keyboards. The fact that the iPod touch, iPhone, iPads, and other surface devices didn't need physical keys was seen as more modern and desirable at the time. Now it looks like people are…

I like the helix comparision. It indicates progress. Reading this sentence I fully expected the word "circle" be used.

Re: Clicks – Physical keyboard for iPhone

#270
post #259

Wonder how they’re getting around patent encumbrance. Ryan Seacrest already tried this a decade ago. https://www.pcmag.com/news/ryan-seacrest-invests-in-typo-iph... https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/typos-hardware-keyboard-for...

Visually, it looks a lot less like a copy of a BlackBerry keyboard, so that helps.

The first patent quoted in that lawsuit article has expired [1]. The second patent is still active [2], but is related to a "ramped-key keyboard" (essentially curved), which this new product is not AFAICT.

The third, a design patent [3], is still active, but would appear to only apply to a complete handheld device that includes an attached keyboard, not a separate accessory... Not a lawyer or patent expert by any means though.

I guess we'll see - none of that stops anyone from suing them.

[1]: https://patents.google.com/patent/US7629964B2/en?oq=7%2c629%...

[2]: https://patents.google.com/patent/US8162552B2/en?oq=8%2c162%...

[3]: https://patents.google.com/patent/USD685775S1/en?oq=D685%2c7...

Post reply on HN