Apple has been rumored to be releasing a brand new revolutionary product this year and some people have been putting their money on a smartwatch. If Apple developed a smartwatch you probably would think that it would exclude the ability to type, but after watching this concept of ZoomBoard you may think differently.
Essentially ZoomBoard allows you to type by first tapping on the keyboard to zoom in, tapping on the character you want, then zooming back out and repeating the process. According to its designer ZoomBoard allows you to type about 10 words per minute, which would allow users to enter phone numbers and searches such as “closest pizza” and “directions home” both quickly and quietly.
The proliferation of touchscreen devices has made soft keyboards a routine part of life. However, ultra-small computing platforms like the Sony SmartWatch and Apple iPod Nano lack a means of text entry. This limits their potential, despite the fact they are capable computers. In this work, we present a soft keyboard interaction technique called ZoomBoard that enables text entry on ultra-small devices. Our approach uses iterative zooming to enlarge otherwise impossibly tiny keys to comfortable size. We based our design on a QWERTY layout, so that it is immediately familiar to users and leverages existing skill.
Pretty neat, huh? If you want to learn more about ZoomBoard you can read the Univerity paper by clicking here. Don’t forget to watch the concept video for yourself below as well and shares your thoughts in the comments.