Thursday, November 22, 2007

Nokia Patent Reveals Coolness, Brilliance

Filed under: Gadgets, Tech — Malcolm Owen @ 1:24 pm

The one thing I have found with keyboards on mobile phones is that my gargantuan hands just won’t fit properly. I have fat fingers and large hands, which means despite navigating a computer keyboard very well, the same can’t be said about the small and cramped cellphone keypad. Add in the fact that I’m one of those people that just can’t stand to send a text message without proper spelling, punctuation and grammar, and text messaging becomes a personal hell. If only there was some way to get a bigger and full keyboard into a mobile phone…
Now, although there is the Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard that projects onto a surface a full Qwerty keyboard, it doesn’t help you when you’re in the middle of the street with no flat surface to place the device on in order to use it. Although that is an answer, it’s not really what I’m looking for.

Nokia, in their latest Patent filing, shows off a new way to get a keyboard onto a phone, by using what appears at first to be a sideways-folding clamshell style handset. That in itself would be nice, but they’ve gone one better. Thanks to some magical hinge work, they’ve worked out how to get the screen to be at an angle, making it a bit easier to see what you’re typing. The extensive space available means a full keyboard could be placed, albeit not a full-sized one.

It is a step in the right direction, and if this really does make it into handsets, I’d be more than happy to try it out.

[Via Electronista]

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Win a Wii with Gametactics

Filed under: Gaming, Internet, Tech — Malcolm Owen @ 12:54 pm

Yes, I know I write there. And yes, I know it’s only for the population of Canada to try and win, but quite frankly this is the biggest contest that Gametactics has ever wheeled out into the world. Excuse me whilst I go into “Smarmy Marketer” Mode…

Do you want this year’s most wanted games console by Christmas? Want a Wii but can’t get one in the shops? Live in Canada but not the Province of Quebec? Then you can enter Gametactics‘ contest to win a Wii, Battalion Wars 2 and Fire Emblem from Nintendo of Canada. Just go HERE, enter your details (No, they won’t be sold to anyone else), answer the easy question (Think really hard about this. People really are getting it wrong…), and hope you win.
The winner’s chosen after the 30th of November, where they’ll be contacted and then sent the little white box of gaming goodness.

Enter Now!

That didn’t hurt much at all, did it? Things learned - “Smarmy” is in my Mac’s spellchecker…

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