Reply With QuoteYou need to get out more. I see kids taking notes on iPads in class typing as fast as I can type on a traditional keyboard. Can I do it? No. But then my parents couldn't play Atari as well as I could either.Originally Posted by Starlight
Jason covered this.
Smartphone and tablet users type an extraordinary amount of text via screen-based keyboards; they trend younger. Say, the 30-and-under crowd.
You need to get out more. I see kids taking notes on iPads in class typing as fast as I can type on a traditional keyboard. Can I do it? No. But then my parents couldn't play Atari as well as I could either.
My kids type really quickly on their phones and on the iPad, however they type sentences like this:
"hi tera! wat u say james wont go 2 mall?? lol ;)"
I'll take them any day in a speed typing contest with full sentences and punctuation.
There is one commercial one, the Celluon Cube. It never seemed to do much, but that probably has as much to do with the prohibitive price as with any user experience.
Why aren't we getting a regular laptop keyboard with Surface? The lack of one seriously diminishes my interest in an otherwise interesting product. I need real keys to depress. My speed and accuracy will be worse with a zero-feedback keyboard. I haven't followed Surface much yet since it's not even close to being out, but this surprises me.
There is. It's called the type cover I believe vs the touch cover. It's thicker and there is actual travel distance on the keys (though probably not that much) on the type cover.
They have two keyboard covers. One is a super thin/light fleece-surface (I believe) cover that has virtual keys. The other is a heavier/thicker mechanical keyboard with regular keys.
Yep, the advantage of the thin one is that it doesn't compromise on thickness or weight; it's just as thin as the ipad smart cover, but you can also kinda type on it. It remains to be seen if that typing is actually superior to on-screen keyboards, because MS won't let anyone try it. My guess is that it will turn out to be superior, but in no way comparable to a real keyboard. Which is perfectly fine-- that's appropriate to tap out a quick email, but not for real work.
My real issue with all these tablet case keyboards, and this new surface soft-keyboard, is that they're only really usable with a table and chair. If you want to, for instance, use the keyboard on a train, you really need the pseudo laptop Transformer style design. I'm not sure the benefits of all these various case types are worth it when they're still so limited.
*raises hand* I grew up using an Atari 400. For 3 years. Touch-typing hex-dump listings from Compute! I only need a keyclick sound to type on that cover.
It's the Timex Sinclair keyboard all over again!
I was a pretty awesome touch typist on that.
So it comes with both the touch and the type cover? I was looking at a spec sheet and it listed both. Does that mean you carry both around with Surface? I still can't quite visualize it. I was thinking of it as a traditional laptop with a display that could be folded back to turn the whole thing into a tablet.
Anyway, it sounds interesting and I can see a lot of people wanting something like this for compatibility reasons.
You have the option of buying 1 or the other. No manufacturer would ever give you both.
I mean, you COULD buy both. They're just accessories, you use whichever you want. I don't think there's anything that'd stop you from buying both, and switching between them as you feel like.
You woudln't want a cover for your device? Would you want some other cover, instead of the one you can use as a keyboard? Maybe just wrap the thing in a dishtowel and save money?
It's seems like they've almost got to give you a keyboard. I mean, it's the latest new cool device and all, but some things haven't changed. People are going to expect a keyboard. Or do you believe maybe it'll be like baggage and airlines, where Microsoft starts charging you for things that used to be free.
I agree -- it will come with some kind of keyboard. I thought perhaps it came with both and I couldn't figure out how that worked. I was thinking both keyboards were attached and you chose which one to use, which didn't make a lot of sense to me.
So you pick your keyboard when you buy. That makes sense. The non-feedback keyboard is thinner and lighter. That's the advantage of it.
What I meant was no manufacturer would lose out on the option of selling you the other one as an accessory. No consumer would want to pay up front for both to be absorbed into the device's initial cost.
You guys are all wrong. It won't come with either cover, because that would add to the base cost which absolutely must be $499 or lower.
Yes, this. Does the iPad come with a keyboard? Does any Android tablet come with a keyboard? No, these are accessories, pure and simple. There is a 0% chance they will be in the box.
You think? I guess if you want a Windows tablet that's ok, but if you want a Windows device that is both a tablet and a productivity device I'd be a bit irritated that a real keyboard wasn't included. That doesn't mean I wouldn't buy one, but I'd be grumbling.
The alternative is to either eat the cost or set their minimum configuration price at $549, which would absolutely kill them. Personally I think winRT tablets are stone-cold dead at $499, and they have a chance at $399. But pricing higher than the ipad3 is simply suicidal.
Seeing as how a large part of Microsoft's angle has been "It's a tablet, but with an awesome keyboard!" I find it hard to believe the tablet won't come with a keyboard.
Yeah, I think only people who need a native Win system for business reasons would buy a higher priced Win tablet. Otherwise why not spend less and get the premium tablet, an iPad?
We don't know the price yet. Maybe MS will come in at $399 for the Surface.
We're also likely to see a 10" Kindle Fire at maybe $299 before the year is out. It's a competitive market.
That was my rationale for it coming with 1 or the other.
Maybe they'll subsidize some of the cost to gain market share. Hahah, that sentence just tumbled off of my fingers with nary a thought. Goddamn, I am ready for an MBA.
MS is already hugely in the hole, all that money they paid app developers for winphone7 was wasted, their retail apple store clones aren't revenue sources, and they're holding Nokia's head above water too. All that said, you've got to hand it to them, much like the xbox, MS is completely willing to buy its way into a market, come hell of high water, they will keep spending that office money.
There are two different keyboards, though. I sincerely doubt they'll ship one when someone might want the other.
I'm guessing they'll expect the "default" be the flat thing, since it makes things lighter/thinner. But I want the one with the real keys. So don't charge me for the touch keyboard, please.
I'd be gobsmacked if either tablet came w/ either keyboard.
That said, there is a point that the Pro tablet, (and the RT w/ Office on the Desktop), will be nigh useless outside of Metro mode without an onscreen keyboard. Does Win 8 have a touch optimized onscreen keyboard for Desktop mode? Probably just the same crappy keyboard that's available in Win 7, right? Not good enough for a tablet. You need the Desktop to re-position itself so the keyboard isn't blocking apps, but rather pops up underneath the working area.
The more I think about the Win 8 tablet, the more I realize it's a tale of two interfaces. Metro, which is a barren wasteland, and Desktop mode, which is nigh useless without a physical mouse and keyboard. I think the novelty of having both UI worlds will wear off pretty fast if they're both clumsy and incomplete.
Last edited by mono; 06-26-2012 at 06:08 PM.
That's my working assumption on what people in class are typing on their iPads, but I could be wrong. I know my misspellings on Qt3 posts have gone way up since I started occasionally posting from my iPad.
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