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My concern with a device of this size is typing. How do you use a keyboard barely larger than a credit card? Do you thumb-type, touch type, hunt-and-peck with j

My concern with a device of this size is typing. How do you use a keyboard barely larger than a credit card? Do you thumb-type, touch type, hunt-and-peck with just your index fingers?

doubled112 4y ago
Thumb type, I'd imagine. Like a BlackBerry. It is one of those devices I could see always carrying with me but only using in emergencies. It has HDMI, Ethernet and serial ports. What more could you ask for?
asveikau 4y ago
Maybe when throughput is a high concern you take a Bluetooth keyboard in a bag. Though at that point maybe also a light laptop would work...
cesarb 4y ago
> How do you use a keyboard barely larger than a credit card? If you can use a phone's virtual keyboard, which is even smaller and has no physical separation between the keys, you should be able to use a keyboard like that one. It feels strange at first, but you adjust quickly. (I don't have any experience with that GPD, but I have experience with an old EeePC, which is similar-sized but probably has smaller keys because it doesn't have any keys to the left and right of its trackpad.)
- Arainach 4y ago
  A phone keyboard supports swiping for words and never requires multiple buttons to be pressed. Tapping on a small target is one thing; trying to hold down a modifier without pressing adjacent keys is something very different. I am proficient with phone keyboards, but part of that proficiency is almost never using any punctuation, numbers, or symbols that aren't on the primary screen. Once I need anything more specialized (say if I wanted to do any coding) my speed drops by a huge factor.
- olliej 4y ago
  I can hold my phone in one hand, and type with just my thumb, and my thumb covers the full spread of the keyboard. Or I can type with two thumbs for things that are longer than a few words, and again reach the entire keyboard without shifting grip. But also I don't type much - in fact as little as possible - on my phone, and certainly not code. I will switch to my laptop for anything more than a few words if it's possible.
gsibble 4y ago
You'd be surprised. On the GPD I had, I managed full 10 finger typing (albeit one finger at a time). It worked surprisingly well and I managed to code at a good enough speed that I could be fairly productive on it.
MutableLambda 4y ago
You can blindly type on P2 MAX, but it's not that small and is 600 grams. But like numbers and special characters are still a pain.
bigjimmyk3 4y ago
Somewhat similar, but I owned a Toshiba Libretto back in the late 90s and the keyboard was quite compact. I could still touch type even though my fingers were all right next to each other, so it's not a deal-breaker.

My concern with a device of this size is typing. How do you use a keyboard barely larger than a credit card? Do you thumb-type, touch type, hunt-and-peck with just your index fingers?

doubled112 4y ago

Thumb type, I'd imagine. Like a BlackBerry. It is one of those devices I could see always carrying with me but only using in emergencies. It has HDMI, Ethernet and serial ports. What more could you ask for?

asveikau 4y ago

Maybe when throughput is a high concern you take a Bluetooth keyboard in a bag. Though at that point maybe also a light laptop would work...

cesarb 4y ago

> How do you use a keyboard barely larger than a credit card? If you can use a phone's virtual keyboard, which is even smaller and has no physical separation between the keys, you should be able to use a keyboard like that one. It feels strange at first, but you adjust quickly. (I don't have any experience with that GPD, but I have experience with an old EeePC, which is similar-sized but probably has smaller keys because it doesn't have any keys to the left and right of its trackpad.)

Arainach 4y ago
A phone keyboard supports swiping for words and never requires multiple buttons to be pressed. Tapping on a small target is one thing; trying to hold down a modifier without pressing adjacent keys is something very different. I am proficient with phone keyboards, but part of that proficiency is almost never using any punctuation, numbers, or symbols that aren't on the primary screen. Once I need anything more specialized (say if I wanted to do any coding) my speed drops by a huge factor.
olliej 4y ago
I can hold my phone in one hand, and type with just my thumb, and my thumb covers the full spread of the keyboard. Or I can type with two thumbs for things that are longer than a few words, and again reach the entire keyboard without shifting grip. But also I don't type much - in fact as little as possible - on my phone, and certainly not code. I will switch to my laptop for anything more than a few words if it's possible.

gsibble 4y ago

You'd be surprised. On the GPD I had, I managed full 10 finger typing (albeit one finger at a time). It worked surprisingly well and I managed to code at a good enough speed that I could be fairly productive on it.

MutableLambda 4y ago

You can blindly type on P2 MAX, but it's not that small and is 600 grams. But like numbers and special characters are still a pain.

bigjimmyk3 4y ago

Somewhat similar, but I owned a Toshiba Libretto back in the late 90s and the keyboard was quite compact. I could still touch type even though my fingers were all right next to each other, so it's not a deal-breaker.