Wednesday, 14 November 2012 15:07
College kid comes up with vibration-based virtual keyboard
Written by Nedim Hadzic
Lay thy phone on the table and tap away
A student at at University of London's Godsmiths College, Florian Krauetly, has come up with a neat concept of a smartphone keyboard that relies on nothing but vibration.
To be precise, Krauetli’s method relies on the iPhone’s accelerometer. The phone apparently measures vibrations from the table it’s placed and detects what you actually typed.
The system is dubbed Vibrative and aims to make typing lengthy mails easier for users. The phone does have to be calibrated for the surface in question, but it works. If you need to see it to believe it, check it out at Huff Post.
However, Kraeuti pointed out that the signals the phone collects are pretty weak and that this is more of a “proof of concept”. He said Vibrative detects correct letters some 80 percent of the time but that more sensitive accelerometers would boost this figure even further.
So, it does need a bit more work, but it is a very interesting concept. Should Krauetli or someone else manage to perfect the method, it could add a bit more functionality to smartphones and tablets.
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