Source: Tom's Hardware – Keywords: laser, keyboard
Categories: Consumer Electronics, Hardware
Suggested Improvements & Conclusion
The design of this unit is high quality and the technology shows great promise but certain modifications could expand the device beyond the realm of a simple "bling." A few salient points:
- Light box projection should be directly integrated into the PDA/phone design, which I’ve heard is under development.
- Accuracy must be drastically improved or some sort of automatic error correction must be added. There are too many phantom keys/misses even after playing around with sensitivity settings. Error rates could be somewhat related to human error/training as evinced in point three.
- There should be some way to deploy index keys so those typing with traditional methods will have a "home spot" to return to. "Hard" index keys may also serve to provide greater accuracy/key detection.
Conclusion
As mentioned above, the unit is smaller than a foldable keyboard but is about the same size as the thumb board included with my 6315. I found I could type faster and with far fewer errors using my thumb board due in part to its physical presentation/hard feedback. Both foldable and thumb board offer tactile feedback; I tried emulating the "hard sense" of "F" and "J" index keys by putting some tape points down under the Vibe’s projection. Trying to type anything with accuracy and without having to go back and proof/correct errors remained unviable. If you use the "hunt-and-peck" system of typing instead of a "Mavis Beacon" standard QWERTY mount, you’re much better off. But if you have to modify your typing style, you’re not getting the full benefit of a keyboard and are losing practice time for when you go back to a traditional 101/104.
To be fair, typing did improve after using the keyboard for a time but in our opinion, it wasn’t worth the effort.
Author’s Opinion
I-Tech’s VKB is a neat little device and runs big on the "wow/impress your friends factor." But when it comes down to the nitty gritty of transcribing notes, I’ll stick to a Belk in foldable or, God forbid, a thumb board instead of relaying on the VKB. The price is also prohibitive, when compared to your cheap as chips regular keyboard.
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I've got one of these, and - although it doesn't get *much* use, I have to say I'm surprisingly impressed. I have an (old) invention ideas list on my web site which included this concept, so I felt morally obliged to get one when I found out that a companies were actually selling them.
Yes, the lack of tactile feedback is annoying - you can't touch-type. I find myself looking at the keyboard, and the projected key positions and where they register don't quite line up on my unit (I need to aim at the side of the key nearer to the device), but allowing for that, accuracy is reasonable. There's some lag in key presses reaching my mobile (Portege G900), so I'm reliant on looking at the keys rather than the screen, but it doesn't usually lose keys. Fortunately, I don't keep my fingers on the "home" keys on qwerty anyway - I don't look at the keyboard, but I only do the traditional touch-typing thing on dvorak.
It's nothing like as good as a real keyboard, but it *is* much smaller than the folding keyboard I own (which, to be fair, is much bigger than the Palm version which I also own), and I can't get the folding keyboard to work with my G900, so it's the laser keyboard or the integrated keyboard(/thumb board) on the device - and the laser keyboard *is* faster. It's a bit chubby, but it's small enough to leave in my bag for when I need it.
I've not had brightness problems, but I've not tried using it outside (I wouldn't be able to see the screen on my device anyway). I'd find it much more usable if the keyboard projected from the side (side-to-side space is much easier for me to arrange than front-to-back space - especially on a train or on a desk full of monitors), but I guess the fingers would shade each other much more; perhaps the best that could be done is to make the device thinner and have it project more closely to itself.
Yes, it's a gadget. I got it when I saw one on special, expecting it to be entertaining but almost useless. It's not brilliant, but it's much better than I was expecting - it *is* usable. So long as you're not expecting too much, you may find the same. I may change my opinion after I've got Emacs installed on my phone and I start to use it in anger.
Well played fluppeteer. That's probably the most useful comment I've seen in months
:-) Glad to be of service. (And I did end up using the keyboard last night for sending an sms - it seemed laggier than when note-taking, but the G900 is a little rough around the edges so it might be better on more developed devices.)