BlackBerry

RIM shows off the BlackBerry 10 soft keyboard

posted by Michael H.

Dec 14, 2012, 4:01 PM

RIM shows off the BlackBerry 10 soft keyboard

With the announcement of BlackBerry 10 coming relatively soon, now is the time for RIM to show off what the platform can do, and today we're seeing a video of Vivek Bhardwaj, Head of Software Portfolio for BlackBerry showing off BlackBerry 10′s touchscreen keyboard.

In the video, Bhardwaj shows off how RIM made sure that they keyboard looks like a classic BlackBerry keyboard with the white letters on black background, edge-to-edge design, and even virtual ridges between keys to make it look more like its physical keyboard ancestor. The virtual ridges made us think of that tech we saw last year (and which was supposedly due to hit devices within a year), which can make a touchscreen feel like different textures. It would be pretty nice to see that come around soon, and given RIM's history with physical keyboards, we wouldn't be surprised to see the company try to use it to make a soft keyboard feel more real.

On the feature side, the keyboard has the standard ability to learn words based on what you type, but the more interesting features are on the side of inference rather than prediction. First, the keyboard can infer when you need spaces, so you never really need to use the space key. Also, the keyboard will supposedly be able to infer when you are changing languages and make sure it is checking spelling and adding accents properly.

The video shows some pretty cool features, although we're not sure that it will be enough to convert those users who are still married to physical keyboards. No word on how it all works when tapped with a fingernail, which should be a concern given that a high proportion of BB users are female (over 50% as of last year).

source: BlackBerry via BGR

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18 Comments

15. Roomaku

Posts: 278; Member since: Feb 06, 2012

Awesome but I fear it's to late :(

posted on Dec 15, 2012, 8:14 AM 0

13. RapidCat

Posts: 351; Member since: Jun 12, 2012

this keyboard will not work in indonesia

posted on Dec 15, 2012, 12:14 AM 0

12. bovcrx

Posts: 109; Member since: Mar 06, 2012

Just got to mess with a Dev Alpha B device and the keyboard is pretty good. Can't wait to try the Dev of the physical keyboard.

posted on Dec 14, 2012, 11:26 PM 0

9. nyamo

Posts: 274; Member since: Mar 19, 2011

while larger screens are nice, everyone i know who has loved BB always stuck with them due to the HW keyboard, not sure how RIM is going to persuade new users here with legacy items finally disappearing

posted on Dec 14, 2012, 7:35 PM 0

10. Droid_X_Doug

Posts: 5993; Member since: Dec 22, 2010

Yeah, the devices that RIM released without a physical keyboard were utter failures. In fact I have managed to forget their model numbers, they were such a failure. The BB owners I know (as well as former BB owners) are/were in love with the physical keyboards on the BBs. I wonder how well the touch-only BBs will do. If they tank, that could bias buyers against the BBs with physical keyboards that are scheduled for release a few months later.