from Hacker News

Wearable keyboard that turns anything you can touch into a typing surface

by spektom on 6/19/16, 6:21 PM with 36 comments

• by chjohasbrouck on 6/19/16, 10:47 PM

  Having to actually put this on your hand makes it much less convenient for short-burst typing than a touchscreen. You have to take it out, fit it, and be temporarily disabled by it.

  Using this for typing over long durations isn't more convenient than a keyboard and the friction would probably become uncomfortable over time.

  I think this will encounter the same problem most wearables have finding product-market fit. The bar is already incredibly high in terms of the speed and ease of use of consumer electronics. If you've added even 1 physical step that adds even a half-second to an action, people will always eventually default to the half-second faster way of doing something.

  There's also the issue of personal consolidation. People will generally favor a single device that does 2 things over two devices that each do 1 thing, even if the more specialized devices perform better at their individual roles. This is why releasing the iPhone eventually cannibalized iPod sales. I don't see a wearable keyboard justifying pocket space for most people.

  I actually struggle to find a use for this product even when I get very specific about the use case. If you're rock climbing, you still have to position the screen of the device you're typing on. This product just added to the number of hands I have to use. Even if the screen is mounted somewhere for you, what's the ideal use case? Texting while bicycling?

• by utopcell on 6/20/16, 2:01 AM

  It seems less productive for longer typing sessions and too slow to "install" it on your hand for shorter ones. I wonder in which use cases would this excel. Truthfully, if I am to forego tactile feedback, I'd much rather prefer a wireless leap motion that I can place on a table.

• by kirykl on 6/20/16, 12:59 AM

  Reminds me of this that fizzled out http://matias.ca/halfkeyboard/

• by dhon_ on 6/20/16, 12:59 AM

  A wristband seems like a much less obtrusive way to accomplish this goal (tracking tendons or muscles in the forearm) and would be great integrated with a smart watch.

  This looks promising http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/business-it/writing-in-the-air-...

• by pdq on 6/20/16, 1:53 AM

  There's a startup in Austin doing a similar keyboard product: https://gest.co/

  Personally I'm skeptical on the accuracy and usability of these keyboards.

• by Rhapso on 6/19/16, 10:30 PM

  I like the premise, but the foley typing sounds and look of the product make me feel like it is a mock up and the product does not exist.

  Anybody have crappy footage of a guy on youtube using one of these things? I would trust that more.

  edit: Great video below. THANKS!

• by MaxLeiter on 6/19/16, 11:13 PM

  Any ideas on how it knows where you "are" on the keyboard? I.e. How does it know you're pressing the "W" key?

• by engizeer on 6/20/16, 5:42 AM

  Ah their waitlist is hackable(or is it crackable?). They don't distinguish between "abc@gmail.com" and "a.bc@gmail.com" - so pretty much you can game the list and move to the top(I did something very similar when OnePlus 2 came out). So tapwithus mods - if you're listening - please fix this!

• by drewm1980 on 6/20/16, 6:56 AM

  If I were these guys I'd be pretty focused on the VR market.

  Scribblenauts VR will need keyboard input!

• by franciscop on 6/19/16, 11:52 PM

  This reminds me to the speed typing one hand keyboards that I've read as the promise to faster writing in some places. However they were "old fashion", as in they were the future 30-40 years ago. I remember reading a conversation about how, as they stopped being manufactured now people who are used to them are crazy searching pieces:

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwriter

• by personjerry on 6/20/16, 2:41 AM

  What an impractical-looking device. I don't use wearables, but I pretend to type without a keyboard all the time, touching my fingers to my palm. A good wearable should be shaped comfortably like a glove. Then, it should detect which finger and how bent the finger is upon touching the palm, which would indicate which column and which row on the keyboard respectively.

• by lolc on 6/20/16, 12:13 AM

  I was waiting for somebody to do this! Looks like they got it right and simple. Finally I'll get fine mobile text input :-)

  I wonder whether our sensory system would work well enough to use such a simple strip for the back-channel too. Maybe by contracting the holes by the same patterns? I guess it would work, given how fast people can read Braille.

• by machinelearning on 6/19/16, 11:32 PM

  www.gest.co A better designed device that does not require you to learn novel patterns and can do much more

• by cdevs on 6/20/16, 2:34 AM

  If you can get it down to a set of gloves that use qwerty in the office I'm in