Synaptics' ThinTouch Keyboard Will Enable Better Laptops

[Marcus Yam]

This next generation keyboard technology is thinner and capacitive touch-sensitive.

Synaptics' ThinTouch Keyboard Will Enable Better Laptops : Read more

 

[amk09]

I have no objections to going thinner as long as it's still responsive, accurate, and consistent! The desire to "feel" the key being pressed down is forever ingrained in me, no matter how much we transition to touch. Thankfully it looks as if this keyboard will still provide tactile keys

 

[teh_chem]

I am intrigued. Hopefully they can maintain a similar extent of tactile feedback.

TBH, if tactile feedback (more importantly, discrete keys with tactile boundaries) could be designed into a touchpanel-based keyboard, and have the touch tech. not be prone to accidental keystrokes, it might be something. But as of now, touchpanel keyboards have nothing like this, so typing with them is major teh suck. Just thinking out loud...

 

[headscratcher]

[citation][nom]teh_chem[/nom]I am intrigued. Hopefully they can maintain a similar extent of tactile feedback. TBH, if tactile feedback (more importantly, discrete keys with tactile boundaries) could be designed into a touchpanel-based keyboard, and have the touch tech. not be prone to accidental keystrokes, it might be something. But as of now, touchpanel keyboards have nothing like this, so typing with them is major teh suck. Just thinking out loud...[/citation]
This is what has be considering a Blackberry Bold right now. I mostly use my phone for sending messages anyway.

 

[mr_tuel]

Interesting. Having to type with different levels of force to dictate capitalization would take some getting used to, and could allow one to re-purpose the shift and caps keys. Hopefully the keys still have reasonable tactile feedback or I won't use one. IMO the keys on the early 2008 MacBook Pro (right before unibody and with concave keys) are ideal for a laptop. The concave surface guides my fingers to the center of the keys far better than the flat plane of modern chiclet keys. Maybe I'm just old-school :/

 

[Tab54o]

I don't agree. they just keep making things smaller and thinner but also less functional. Function before form!!! ALWAYS.

 

[altriss]

[citation][nom]Tab54o[/nom]I don't agree. they just keep making things smaller and thinner but also less functional. Function before form!!! ALWAYS.[/citation]
before screaming wait and test it...
And by the way, thinner also mean more space for battery on laptop, and so more function.
So please instead of directly accusing everything new for being different than what you have imagined, wait and see...

 

[flowingbass]

Great... capacitive. So when your fingers rest on some keys on the keyboard or even just unnoticingly "touch" keys you dont intend to hit, you start typing "ljs[ckalwd" on your document.

 

[jacobdrj]

Hmm, wonder why I missed this article. This seems very cool. Hopefully it has nice tactile feedback and doesn't cost too much...