Overview of back-typing keyboards
Back-typing (back-type, less often - rear-type), as the name implies, is a way of arranging the input elements on the back of the device. (The word “backpinting” is absent in Russian, of course, but I like less “back-typing”, so in this review I propose to dwell on the first variant.) The Oktodon keyboard is an unconditional back-typing example, but not the only one. the first.
Mankind has already offered us a fair amount of back-typing solutions, and I think it will be interesting for habriders to take a closer look at them.
(Tina Fey, photography by Bust Magazine)
Where did the idea of backpipe come from? Probably, from the same consideration, from which AlexLysenko also proceeded, when inventing the Octodon: smartphones and tablets are quite small in size, the user's fingers, while holding the device, are on the back side. So why not take your fingers in business and free the screen from the keyboard?
It is quite difficult to establish exactly who was first, but it seems that Canadians were the first to use the back-uping idea in the Twiddler chord keyboard .
The Twiddler handle is quite ergonomic and combines keyboard and mouse functions. Keys 17: 12 on the “back” side + 5 under the thumb (since this is a handle, it is difficult to uniquely identify one of the sides as the back). According to the authors, it can be printed on it with either the right or the left hand. In one of the reviews (on the manufacturer's website) it is mentioned that only on a tweeder, without a standard keyboard and mouse, a program of 30,000 lines was written with comfort. Also in the reviews you can find a mention that someone learned to work with the device for a week, but it was not easy to find the learning curves. And yet, despite the difficulty in learning and in work, Twiddler found the chord input on its users, and at the moment the device can be purchased, although it is not cheap ($ 220).
The Americans probably invented the non-chord backing. The project AlphaGrip started in 2000, they wrote about it in RuNet under the funny name “ illegitimate son of a gamepad and keyboard ”.
I counted 42 input elements, 8 of them are two-position (“rocking”, on the back side). Apparently, the device really should be comfortable to hold. In addition, the creators promise that after 30-60 hours of training, you can reach a speed of 200-300 characters per minute. It seems to us that the AlphaGrip has great potential for increasing the speed of dialing, but still embarrassing a lot of dimensions that do not quite fit into the idea of the form factor of modern portable devices. It is impossible not to note the complex arrangement of input elements (some of the characters and signs are located on the back of the device, some on the front), which can make the learning process non-trivial. At least in one of the independent AlphaGrip video reviews , the browser confused the device for a long time, and the summary was: “Typing is very unusual, but how a gamepad can be very good.” Anyway, the project found its followers, and the authors claim that they even program 99% of the time on this device:
AlphaGrip is for sale ($ 129 + shipping), and you are guaranteed a refund if you don't like it.
')
Grippity’s Israeli backing-up development is based on the concept of keyboard transparency.
That is, the starting point of the project (2004) is the familiar QWERTY, but only transparent and on the back side. I really do not want to lose the obvious advantage of QWERTY - the habit of most users to this layout. You can print from the front and back. Subsequently, the project evolved into the idea of a transparent tablet, for which the authors of Grippity received a patent.
Most recently, in December-January, the project came out on Kickstarter , but did not receive funding. Grippity looks very interesting - just like in science fiction films, however, apparently, pressing fingers on the back side of the touch screen is not that great, and the promised speed (5 times higher than on a regular tablet) is not on any video do not demonstrate. Well, probably not all users are ready to change their iPad to a tablet from an unknown manufacturer. As far as can be judged, the Grippity is not yet for sale.
When we are told that Oktodon is like a button accordion, we think: “You haven’t seen TREWGrip yet ...”
There is nothing wrong with the similarity with the bayan - after all, it was he who, to some extent, was the progenitor of all backpipe. The American project TREWGrip appeared in 2010 and is designed primarily for those who type blindly on QWERTY, since the keyboard layout is built so that the finger on TREWGrip is responsible for the same characters as on the standard keyboard. Potential users can expect to reach 90% of their speed on a full-sized keyboard in 8-10 hours of practice. There is a prototype, a patent in the design stage.
TREWGrip is universal, you can attach any device up to 5'3 ”wide to it, the speed record is 575 characters per minute (for this, the guys found a super-fast QWERTY printer, but still impressive), but on Kickstarter this fall (2013) also not funded (judging by the comments - because of the high price, although it is not much higher than the Twiddler). Now TREWGrip is not for sale, however, they made a new site, visited CES - the project is developing.
Also in 2010, the French project AlphaUi was launched , very similar to TREWGrip (and the button accordion!).
The keyboard layout corresponds to the QWERTY layout. In 2014, the project began to actively develop: a new site, several publications on specialized sites, an office in America, a keyboard presented at CES; changed the design and name - now the product is called Twiky. Twiky is designed for tablets, and it is smaller in size than TREWGrip or AlphaGrip. The keys on the back side of the device are now only 8 (it was 30), they now move to the sides (left-right) + maybe the central press (there were 3 buttons under each finger before) - the concept is simplified. To buy this keyboard so far, apparently, it is impossible, I did not find the data on the (estimated) price.
Again, in 2010, an article by a group of authors under the auspices of Microsoft Research, devoted to back-drawing, appeared, in which Grippity, and Twiddler, and some other keyboard solutions were mentioned. As part of the study, a prototype was made and tested by several people within an hour in order to establish a learning curve. The prototype with the working title RearType was a QWERTY-keyboard, divided into two parts, located on the back of the tablet. From the interesting - the researchers note a large variation in print speed among users, from 9 to 47 WPM, lists issues that require ergonomic research - the shape of pens, the size and location of keys. And in general, they note the promise of this approach to new devices such as TabletPC, UMPC. We recently contacted one of the authors of this study and asked if this development was somehow continued. He said that he had not done more research in this area. Thus, we can say that the fallen banner of the Microsoft RearType was selected by the team of the already mentioned TREWGrip, which brought the concept of a split and turned QWERTY to a logical and ergonomic conclusion.
Russian project of 2010, such a productive backing.
We have already described the Octodon in detail earlier , the current speed capabilities (400 characters per minute) were also demonstrated , its key features are due to the desire to make the device handheld and not linked to QWERTY.
Almost all back-up keyboards are positioned as gaming devices.
The first devices were positioned as a replacement for a standard keyboard, now the vector has shifted in the direction of an accessory that is rigidly connected to the device or even part of the device (a transparent Grippity tablet).
It is strange that most of the decisions in the field of backpipe do not find the courage or do not consider it necessary to retreat from QWERTY. But this is precisely those who put on the banner "the end of the era of QWERTY" and "new type of keyboard." When we "learned" QWERTY even in AlphaGrip, we were surprised. In this sense, the Octodon stands alone, since QWERTY initially refused, as if it were not optimal in a handheld device. The same Microsoft research indicates that familiarity with QWERTY does not always give an advantage when switching to backpitting.
From the point of view of learning, it is necessary to take into account that even if we take a familiar QWERTY and transfer it to the back side, the movement of the fingers still changes, and it is still necessary to acquire a new mechanical skill. Savings occur except on the time of the search letters on the familiar / unfamiliar layout.
The complexity of learning to work on a back-up device depends on a number of factors, such as “mechanical” (ease of holding the device, its weight, features of the buttons on the device and their number, reasonableness of the layout), and “human” (good memory, print speed, finger mobility, musical instrument experience).
Most of the above devices are designed for tablets, not for smartphones. AlphaGrip or TrewGrip is convenient to hold, but you can’t remove such a device in your pocket - they just don’t fit there, and they weigh about 300 grams. Twiddler exists as a separate keyboard, and not a single unit with a smartphone.
Of all the solutions described, Oktodon is the easiest (55 gr.) And the most compact. Compactness was achieved thanks to several unique transformations of the body, such that when folded, the keyboard adds only + 3-4 mm of thickness to the size of the smartphone (tablet), and when unfolded it is sufficiently comfortable to hold. This is the only backup transformer.
The number of solutions in the field of back-typing is quite large and diverse, which, in my opinion, shows the urgency of the problem of typing on mobile devices, and the fact that this direction of searching is not unpromising.
If someone knows about a meaningful backing-up solution that I missed - share links.
Upd. In the comments, norguhtar gave a link to another product -
Eka Tetra began to develop chord backing in 2001.
It is possible to use both right and left hand, it is assumed that in the second hand - the mouse (the project was developed as an alternative keyboard for a computer). Speed promise at the level of 200-250 characters per minute (40-50WPM). The main doubts are ergonomics: Ekapad is rather flat, most likely the girth will not be as comfortable as possible. Ekapad remote is put on the thumb (there is a special adjustable loop), that is, when typing with the other four fingers, the thumb holds the device. It turns out that the thumb is constantly in tension. Apparently, in order to avoid this, as well as to avoid rotation of the device itself on a loop around the thumb, in the picture we see that Ekapad is pressed against the user's stomach. It seems that in ergonomics Ekapad loses Twiddler on all fronts. The site shows the cost of the product, and it is rather big by today's standards - $ 165, I think, it’s a limited edition that does not allow making it cheaper.
Mankind has already offered us a fair amount of back-typing solutions, and I think it will be interesting for habriders to take a closer look at them.
(Tina Fey, photography by Bust Magazine)
Where did the idea of backpipe come from? Probably, from the same consideration, from which AlexLysenko also proceeded, when inventing the Octodon: smartphones and tablets are quite small in size, the user's fingers, while holding the device, are on the back side. So why not take your fingers in business and free the screen from the keyboard?
Twiddler
It is quite difficult to establish exactly who was first, but it seems that Canadians were the first to use the back-uping idea in the Twiddler chord keyboard .
The Twiddler handle is quite ergonomic and combines keyboard and mouse functions. Keys 17: 12 on the “back” side + 5 under the thumb (since this is a handle, it is difficult to uniquely identify one of the sides as the back). According to the authors, it can be printed on it with either the right or the left hand. In one of the reviews (on the manufacturer's website) it is mentioned that only on a tweeder, without a standard keyboard and mouse, a program of 30,000 lines was written with comfort. Also in the reviews you can find a mention that someone learned to work with the device for a week, but it was not easy to find the learning curves. And yet, despite the difficulty in learning and in work, Twiddler found the chord input on its users, and at the moment the device can be purchased, although it is not cheap ($ 220).
Alphagrip
The Americans probably invented the non-chord backing. The project AlphaGrip started in 2000, they wrote about it in RuNet under the funny name “ illegitimate son of a gamepad and keyboard ”.
I counted 42 input elements, 8 of them are two-position (“rocking”, on the back side). Apparently, the device really should be comfortable to hold. In addition, the creators promise that after 30-60 hours of training, you can reach a speed of 200-300 characters per minute. It seems to us that the AlphaGrip has great potential for increasing the speed of dialing, but still embarrassing a lot of dimensions that do not quite fit into the idea of the form factor of modern portable devices. It is impossible not to note the complex arrangement of input elements (some of the characters and signs are located on the back of the device, some on the front), which can make the learning process non-trivial. At least in one of the independent AlphaGrip video reviews , the browser confused the device for a long time, and the summary was: “Typing is very unusual, but how a gamepad can be very good.” Anyway, the project found its followers, and the authors claim that they even program 99% of the time on this device:
AlphaGrip is for sale ($ 129 + shipping), and you are guaranteed a refund if you don't like it.
')
Grippity
Grippity’s Israeli backing-up development is based on the concept of keyboard transparency.
That is, the starting point of the project (2004) is the familiar QWERTY, but only transparent and on the back side. I really do not want to lose the obvious advantage of QWERTY - the habit of most users to this layout. You can print from the front and back. Subsequently, the project evolved into the idea of a transparent tablet, for which the authors of Grippity received a patent.
Most recently, in December-January, the project came out on Kickstarter , but did not receive funding. Grippity looks very interesting - just like in science fiction films, however, apparently, pressing fingers on the back side of the touch screen is not that great, and the promised speed (5 times higher than on a regular tablet) is not on any video do not demonstrate. Well, probably not all users are ready to change their iPad to a tablet from an unknown manufacturer. As far as can be judged, the Grippity is not yet for sale.
Trewgrip
When we are told that Oktodon is like a button accordion, we think: “You haven’t seen TREWGrip yet ...”
There is nothing wrong with the similarity with the bayan - after all, it was he who, to some extent, was the progenitor of all backpipe. The American project TREWGrip appeared in 2010 and is designed primarily for those who type blindly on QWERTY, since the keyboard layout is built so that the finger on TREWGrip is responsible for the same characters as on the standard keyboard. Potential users can expect to reach 90% of their speed on a full-sized keyboard in 8-10 hours of practice. There is a prototype, a patent in the design stage.
TREWGrip is universal, you can attach any device up to 5'3 ”wide to it, the speed record is 575 characters per minute (for this, the guys found a super-fast QWERTY printer, but still impressive), but on Kickstarter this fall (2013) also not funded (judging by the comments - because of the high price, although it is not much higher than the Twiddler). Now TREWGrip is not for sale, however, they made a new site, visited CES - the project is developing.
AlphaUi (Twiky)
Also in 2010, the French project AlphaUi was launched , very similar to TREWGrip (and the button accordion!).
The keyboard layout corresponds to the QWERTY layout. In 2014, the project began to actively develop: a new site, several publications on specialized sites, an office in America, a keyboard presented at CES; changed the design and name - now the product is called Twiky. Twiky is designed for tablets, and it is smaller in size than TREWGrip or AlphaGrip. The keys on the back side of the device are now only 8 (it was 30), they now move to the sides (left-right) + maybe the central press (there were 3 buttons under each finger before) - the concept is simplified. To buy this keyboard so far, apparently, it is impossible, I did not find the data on the (estimated) price.
RearType
Again, in 2010, an article by a group of authors under the auspices of Microsoft Research, devoted to back-drawing, appeared, in which Grippity, and Twiddler, and some other keyboard solutions were mentioned. As part of the study, a prototype was made and tested by several people within an hour in order to establish a learning curve. The prototype with the working title RearType was a QWERTY-keyboard, divided into two parts, located on the back of the tablet. From the interesting - the researchers note a large variation in print speed among users, from 9 to 47 WPM, lists issues that require ergonomic research - the shape of pens, the size and location of keys. And in general, they note the promise of this approach to new devices such as TabletPC, UMPC. We recently contacted one of the authors of this study and asked if this development was somehow continued. He said that he had not done more research in this area. Thus, we can say that the fallen banner of the Microsoft RearType was selected by the team of the already mentioned TREWGrip, which brought the concept of a split and turned QWERTY to a logical and ergonomic conclusion.
Octodon
Russian project of 2010, such a productive backing.
We have already described the Octodon in detail earlier , the current speed capabilities (400 characters per minute) were also demonstrated , its key features are due to the desire to make the device handheld and not linked to QWERTY.
Instead of output
Almost all back-up keyboards are positioned as gaming devices.
The first devices were positioned as a replacement for a standard keyboard, now the vector has shifted in the direction of an accessory that is rigidly connected to the device or even part of the device (a transparent Grippity tablet).
It is strange that most of the decisions in the field of backpipe do not find the courage or do not consider it necessary to retreat from QWERTY. But this is precisely those who put on the banner "the end of the era of QWERTY" and "new type of keyboard." When we "learned" QWERTY even in AlphaGrip, we were surprised. In this sense, the Octodon stands alone, since QWERTY initially refused, as if it were not optimal in a handheld device. The same Microsoft research indicates that familiarity with QWERTY does not always give an advantage when switching to backpitting.
From the point of view of learning, it is necessary to take into account that even if we take a familiar QWERTY and transfer it to the back side, the movement of the fingers still changes, and it is still necessary to acquire a new mechanical skill. Savings occur except on the time of the search letters on the familiar / unfamiliar layout.
The complexity of learning to work on a back-up device depends on a number of factors, such as “mechanical” (ease of holding the device, its weight, features of the buttons on the device and their number, reasonableness of the layout), and “human” (good memory, print speed, finger mobility, musical instrument experience).
Most of the above devices are designed for tablets, not for smartphones. AlphaGrip or TrewGrip is convenient to hold, but you can’t remove such a device in your pocket - they just don’t fit there, and they weigh about 300 grams. Twiddler exists as a separate keyboard, and not a single unit with a smartphone.
Of all the solutions described, Oktodon is the easiest (55 gr.) And the most compact. Compactness was achieved thanks to several unique transformations of the body, such that when folded, the keyboard adds only + 3-4 mm of thickness to the size of the smartphone (tablet), and when unfolded it is sufficiently comfortable to hold. This is the only backup transformer.
There are still many back-up inventions in the world, but they are mostly only in patent applications
Here , for example, and here . And there was also an interesting article on Habré on this topic. And there is a lot of everything else that it makes no sense to list in the review, since it did not become a product.
The number of solutions in the field of back-typing is quite large and diverse, which, in my opinion, shows the urgency of the problem of typing on mobile devices, and the fact that this direction of searching is not unpromising.
If someone knows about a meaningful backing-up solution that I missed - share links.
Upd. In the comments, norguhtar gave a link to another product -
Ekapad
Eka Tetra began to develop chord backing in 2001.
It is possible to use both right and left hand, it is assumed that in the second hand - the mouse (the project was developed as an alternative keyboard for a computer). Speed promise at the level of 200-250 characters per minute (40-50WPM). The main doubts are ergonomics: Ekapad is rather flat, most likely the girth will not be as comfortable as possible. Ekapad remote is put on the thumb (there is a special adjustable loop), that is, when typing with the other four fingers, the thumb holds the device. It turns out that the thumb is constantly in tension. Apparently, in order to avoid this, as well as to avoid rotation of the device itself on a loop around the thumb, in the picture we see that Ekapad is pressed against the user's stomach. It seems that in ergonomics Ekapad loses Twiddler on all fronts. The site shows the cost of the product, and it is rather big by today's standards - $ 165, I think, it’s a limited edition that does not allow making it cheaper.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/214575/
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