Why is there no keyboard on the back of the tablet?

Barren fantasy? Stupidity? Conspiracy? Or maybe all together - both of them?

Probably, almost everyone who picked up the tablet had a simple thought: “Why not attach buttons to it from behind? After all, when we hold this device, the fingers of the hands are left almost without work! And they can do so much! ”

And there were always a lot of clever people who were seriously puzzled by this idea. And about their ergonomic, and not very thought, you can tell even more. And if you follow the turns of this thought, you can get an answer to the main question - why is such a keyboard really worth doing? Therefore - welcome under cat. The incredible, obvious, and not very much, about this, is already gathered below.
It’s worth starting with the fact that in the field of creating an opposite-sided keyboard, over the past decade and a half, a rather vigorous, but not particularly advertised activity has developed. Both from the large companies, and from separate inventors. Many, including your humble servant, fixed these ideas floating in the air, ideas in patents, made successful, and not so much, prototypes, and even produced devices that were completely ready for use . Along the way, telling interested about their successes.

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Successes, that is important, not small. After all, the figure of 440 characters per minute , although with certain amendments, is worth something.

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And, nevertheless, the keyboard on the back of the tablets, game consoles and remotes from smart TV, we do not see. Why?

If you look at the implementation of this idea in general, it becomes clear: many who decided to do this, acted, as they say, "with a swoop." Bribed by the seeming simplicity of the task, they did not simplify their own devices, so demanding it. And they were obtained at the same time, and too easy, and too difficult.

These guys, above-mentioned (for example, from Microsoft and TREWgrip ) simply transferred the usual Qwerty-keyboard, with all its rows, slopes (and even service keys!), To the back sides of their devices, and said: “Everything. No problems! Here's a back-side keyboard! ”

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Fortunately, not everyone was so simple in their aspirations, and yet they put the keys in natural, even rows, without shifting. Not like in ordinary computer keyboards.

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Others - went even further, and were puzzled by a more convenient direction of pressing: for example, to the side, or - at an angle.

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And, in general, it came to the need to reduce the total number of buttons, sometimes even reaching the chord input.

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However, the fact remains that very few were able to fully adapt the keyboard to the opposite position. And even the one who almost achieved the ideal result (for example, the creators of Octodon or AlphaGrip ), did not receive a full-fledged commercial success from his device.

Indeed, in addition to the need to solve a number of purely ergonomic dilemmas, it is necessary to answer a big and important marketing question that some readers of this article, I think, was obvious from the very beginning. Is it necessary? Is it worth it?

Is it necessary?


And here is my answer - looking for someone.

After all, if we don’t strongly pursue typing speed (do we really need it?), Then on tablets, and, in part, on smart TV, there are a lot of relatively good solutions that allow you to type text at a rather fast and attentive speed. or two-finger invalid.

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And it costs you nothing, with a certain dexterity and desire, to achieve at this rather high level:



But if you want the highest speed of recruitment, convenience, and maximum use of what you are capable of, then we can say: the situation is awful.

And that is why, I think, the overwhelming majority of people practically do not use tablet computers for solving work tasks. And perceives it mainly as a tool of entertainment. A smart TV remains with many, by and large, just an ordinary TV.

But really, no one from the manufacturers of equipment, or peripherals, was seduced by the idea of ​​making the tablet a truly working tool, and smart TV - a communication tool?

So that the first one does not lie at home like a toy, while you carry a laptop with you to work. And so as not to break away from the second, including the computer, to write a couple of comments in social networks for other people's pictures.

A tablet with which the user does not part, and a TV, from which he does not otlipaet? Is this not the dream of any manufacturer? Why didn’t it happen?

I think the reason is not only in the capsidation of some, and the cowardice of others. This is about other things .

In concept, and in expectations. More precisely, in the expectation that a certain concept will meet certain expectations.

Concept


The concept is simple. Buttons should not be. Buttons are the past. Point.

Expectations


Expectations that something is about to happen.

Come up with. Something new. Revolutionary. With a sensor. With a voice. With dictionary. With projection. But without buttons. After all, progress does not stand still. And we must finally finally abandon these archaic devices that are hated and terrible in their nature!

And really! So - it will be! So - it will happen! But not here. And not now. And a little later. And it will not be a sensor, not a projection, and not various “helpers” who type words for us. And even not voice dialing.

Projection and sensor will never give you full-fledged convenience and reverse response. With them, it is impossible to be confident in pressing, if it, this sensor, or projection, is not viewed. The voice, as it turned out, requires a rather unusual skill of speaking with oneself. That is not for everyone, and not always convenient.

The calculation of the “helpers”, which, in principle, can be on any keyboard, is only partially justified, since Makes constant monitoring of what happens during work. They are a dead-end branch for those who need complete control, and the freedom of what it introduces.

So what awaits us?


And the fact of the matter is that it does not wait. The fact is that here and now you can. But there is one thing. Or rather - double BUT.

To make a more or less convenient one-sided, or back-type keyboard, now, technically, is not difficult. If we summarize the existing experience, analyze it, and leave certain “tolerances” for regional variations, we can derive its “ideal formula” and get a completely acceptable result: 150-160 characters per minute. For the average user.

Those. 2-3 characters per second. When learning duration of approx. 20-25 hours. In fact - a couple of weeks of periodic use.

But, the first BUT tells us, the majority does not suit this period. Most users. This is too much time. This is not a couple of hours.

Such a keyboard, as an approximation, is really necessary, but it will take time to master it - only a few. And since, oddly enough, most manufacturers are guided by the majority of consumers, such a device, based on mass, is doomed.

Rip?


But, the second BUT tells us in response, if you look at such a keyboard once again, already without the expectations of something radical and stunning, its other important side is revealed. It can easily, and with advantage, be not a full-featured, but an auxiliary tool. And then it will be simple and understandable not only for a handful of geeks and posers, but also for an ordinary person.

Reduction and increase of the open web-page, movement on it to the sides, opening a browser, phone book, call list; closing, and minimizing windows ...

Settings, and the most necessary, popular applications ... In one touch! Is this not good? After all, all this is done with the buttons of such a keyboard is simple and easy! And what can they do in games? This is really a coup that is hard to imagine!

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There may be 8 of these buttons. (one for each finger), or 16, "two for one." Then - and more opportunities, and the half-keyboard can be "downloaded" on them, in which case. And if you add a pair of service keys to the device on each side, then you can even break the pattern.

But for what? After all, there is a touch control and touch input?

My answer is simple: to use my brain for the intended purpose. Or rather, some of its features, such as the ability to perform some very important mechanical work on the machine. The mechanical work that you do under visual control, at the moment when you use it in this way, I do not deny, very useful, and convenient, touch control and not so much, touch input.

For, remembering the words of a classic, the brain can do a lot.

How to feel it?


Easy. Take, for example, in the hands of the tablet. Or if there is none, something similar. For example - a small book. Imagine, under each of your finger - a button programmed by us. All we need in the first place: applications, settings, video, skype, or photos. And in each application there are generally established for all positions of the buttons: closing, minimizing, searching ...

Suppose you need to find a video in Youtube. It is programmed on one of the buttons of the “main” menu.
3 clicks (one - double) - and you are already in his search bar (unlocking - YT - Search).
Make a search query in the browser?
Another 1.5 seconds - and you can already enter it (curtailed YT - Browser - Search).
Need device settings?
2 clicks - and you are in them (turned off the browser, entered the settings).
You have time for everything, even before the moment you figure out why you need it.

You ask who cares? Such a speed?

And really, where are we in a hurry?

After all, while our Android is doing its job, we can really think about a lot. About meanings. About life. About fullness. After all, we really do not use this wonderful opportunity.

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