4 ms·

Input is huge. I have a coworker who has done a lot of research on two thumb qwerty keyboards like the one on the Blackberry. He's actually found that users can

by nirmal 18y ago

Input is huge. I have a coworker who has done a lot of research on two thumb qwerty keyboards like the one on the Blackberry. He's actually found that users can type fairly accurately and upto 60wpm with about 400 minutes of practice [1]. Also another friend has looked at the Twiddler, a one-handed chording keyboard. It requires more practice but you can type accurately and touch type [2]. [1] http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jamer/pubs/mq%20-%20TOCHI06.pdf http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jamer/pubs/mq%20-%20TOCHI06.pdf [2] http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~kent/pubs/twiddler-iswc.pdf http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~kent/pubs/twiddler-iswc.pdf

Zev 18y ago
And assuming I know what I want to type, I can type upwards of 100wpm with a full sized qwerty keyboard without having to spending 7 hours looking at a 2" screen.
- nirmal 18y ago
  That's the great thing about the Twiddler. With the right chord setup you can get crazy fast. My professor has used his wearable system for a long time and he can burst to 120wpm. Ref [1] shows info on how blind typing affects speed and accuracy on the two thumb qwerty keyboards.
jodrellblank 18y ago
I haven't tried a blackberry, but I have tried Windows mobile device thumbboards - and accuracy may be ok, but thumbs only on such a small keyboard ... it's just not good enough to be even a netbook keyboard replacement. Too tiring, too difficult/slow to access other keys/symbols/numbers... I like the ideas of the senseboard ( http://www.senseboard.com/product.php http://www.senseboard.com/product.php ) and the dataegg ( http://www.xaphoon.com/dataegg/ http://www.xaphoon.com/dataegg/ ) chording keyboard best. Unfortunately senseboard seems a bit of a dead / vapourware company and the dataegg vanished and the closest thing I can find to it is the cykey ( http://www.bellaire.demon.co.uk/index.html http://www.bellaire.demon.co.uk/index.html ) which I have tried, but it's not a keyboard replacement really. Apart from speed, it needs to be on a surface and metakeys are awkward. Twiddler I've seen online but it looks incredibly uncomfortable in a finger-contortion sense to me. Imagine a DataEgg style jacket for the iPod/Phone...
menloparkbum 18y ago
I have a twiddler. When I lived in boston, there was a crew of guys at MIT in the late 90s/early 2000s who were into them, so I bought one. I can't stand it. It doesn't seem to work well with my hands. I have large, rugged, yet sensitive hands. Even so, I could type way faster with my thumbs on a SideKick keyboard than I could on the twiddler. It seems to work better for typing text. It was bad for programming. Maybe I didn't spend enough time customizing my environment. Also, they aren't made anymore.
- jodrellblank 18y ago
  I went looking and see they've basically shut down - parts for v2 are no longer available, they're in debt and they can't afford to develop v3 and that was a couple of years ago. There are none on eBay.com or .co.uk active or recently completed, or any on Froogle either. Shame; I never thought they looked brilliant, but quite liked that they exist.
  - nirmal 18y ago
    http://wiki.cc.gatech.edu/ccg/classes/7470/7470-f06/bluetooth_twiddler http://wiki.cc.gatech.edu/ccg/classes/7470/7470-f06/bluetoot... These guys worked on a Bluetooth version that was HCI Profile compliant. They worked for my advisor.

by nirmal 18y ago

Zev 18y ago

And assuming I know what I want to type, I can type upwards of 100wpm with a full sized qwerty keyboard without having to spending 7 hours looking at a 2" screen.

nirmal 18y ago
That's the great thing about the Twiddler. With the right chord setup you can get crazy fast. My professor has used his wearable system for a long time and he can burst to 120wpm. Ref [1] shows info on how blind typing affects speed and accuracy on the two thumb qwerty keyboards.

jodrellblank 18y ago

I haven't tried a blackberry, but I have tried Windows mobile device thumbboards - and accuracy may be ok, but thumbs only on such a small keyboard ... it's just not good enough to be even a netbook keyboard replacement. Too tiring, too difficult/slow to access other keys/symbols/numbers... I like the ideas of the senseboard ( http://www.senseboard.com/product.php http://www.senseboard.com/product.php ) and the dataegg ( http://www.xaphoon.com/dataegg/ http://www.xaphoon.com/dataegg/ ) chording keyboard best. Unfortunately senseboard seems a bit of a dead / vapourware company and the dataegg vanished and the closest thing I can find to it is the cykey ( http://www.bellaire.demon.co.uk/index.html http://www.bellaire.demon.co.uk/index.html ) which I have tried, but it's not a keyboard replacement really. Apart from speed, it needs to be on a surface and metakeys are awkward. Twiddler I've seen online but it looks incredibly uncomfortable in a finger-contortion sense to me. Imagine a DataEgg style jacket for the iPod/Phone...

menloparkbum 18y ago

I have a twiddler. When I lived in boston, there was a crew of guys at MIT in the late 90s/early 2000s who were into them, so I bought one. I can't stand it. It doesn't seem to work well with my hands. I have large, rugged, yet sensitive hands. Even so, I could type way faster with my thumbs on a SideKick keyboard than I could on the twiddler. It seems to work better for typing text. It was bad for programming. Maybe I didn't spend enough time customizing my environment. Also, they aren't made anymore.

jodrellblank 18y ago
I went looking and see they've basically shut down - parts for v2 are no longer available, they're in debt and they can't afford to develop v3 and that was a couple of years ago. There are none on eBay.com or .co.uk active or recently completed, or any on Froogle either. Shame; I never thought they looked brilliant, but quite liked that they exist.
- nirmal 18y ago
  http://wiki.cc.gatech.edu/ccg/classes/7470/7470-f06/bluetooth_twiddler http://wiki.cc.gatech.edu/ccg/classes/7470/7470-f06/bluetoot... These guys worked on a Bluetooth version that was HCI Profile compliant. They worked for my advisor.