Comfort On-Screen Keyboard for the touchscreen device in your life
Can’t say that on-screen keyboards for touchscreen devices ever got my mobile juices flowing, but that’s no reason not to share news of a new application, is it? Touchy-feely fans might want to check out the Comfort On-Screen Keyboard for $11.95 or through the free 30-day trial download. The app works on Windows 2000, XP and Vista, offering a number of on-screen display configurations ranging from fairly traditional to a radial layout similar to DialKeys.We haven’t heard much about on-screen keyboards in a bit. Does that mean they really never took off for most folks? I prefer inking when fully mobile, although I do carry a Bluetooth keyboard for when I’m sitting still. Do any readers use an on-screen keyboard regularly?
Kevin,
This doesn’t bring anything new to the table.
Woadan
For regular readers or long-time touchscreen computing devices owners, no it doesn’t (nor did I ever say it did). For new readers, however, it’s worth a mention as is DialKeys and the question asking if folks are using on-screen keyboards. It’s a topic we haven’t hit in quite a while.
Actually this is good news for me. You see I have 2 OEM versiones of XP Tablet Edition that I can’t use.
I recently formatted my Q1 and discovered that the install CD defaulted to korean. I ended up putting vista on it but with this I can try using vanilla XP on it and get better performance.
This program and evernote should be enough for me.
I’m happy to see good onscreen keyboard apps because they might make manufacturers more comfortable offering a pure slate version of their products.
I like this keyboard, because they have russian layout… =)
It’s all about Zero Weight Keyboard.
http://www.freshnet8.com/
Agreed, ZWK is absolutely fantastic on my Q1 Ultra. I use it everyday. I like not having to carry around anything extra like a BT keyboard.
I’ll check out these other keyboards as well. It’s always good to keep up with what is out there. But ZWK is a hard act to beat.
The on-screen keyboard included in XP/SP2 is a handy little app for when it’s too dark in the room or I’m too comfortable to move more than my mouse hand and just need to google something quick.
Can’t imagine paying for something like that when the included software does the job.
i may need to get one soon. while on slate mode on my Kohjinsha SH6, i find it a bit hard to ink so an on-screen keyboard would be useful, rather than rotate its screen again for me to type a couple of words with the built-in keyboard.
This is a very important topic for me, because with my Vista x61t, I find that text input is still a hurdle to using it in slate mode. The “regular” on screen keyboard is not really nice to use, and the handwriting recognition is a pain in the neck for me (I suppose I probably need to learn some tricks before it works well for me).
As the screen is both active and touch, I suspect a translucent Origami dial-keys type format is going to be the way to go. This one didn’t look translucent, but I sure liked the number keys on the bottom row.
I hope you continue to cover all the input-related topics for mobile computing because I think it’s always going to be a big deal for many of us.
Btw, anyone know if I dial keys is available for free and if it would work on my Vista Thinkpad x61t tablet? In fact, is the whole Origami software set available and usable?
The Origami Experience and DialKeys is only available preinstalled for UMPCs. I haven’t found touch keyboards to work worth a flip in my daily work anyway. URL and password entry aside I find the TIP to be the fastest way to get text into the Tablet.