If it was going to blow up then why hasn't those laser beam projected keyboards blown up, or why have mechanical keyboards become so damn popular and not "keyboards on screens?"

This isn't going anywhere.

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542354234235 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

>why have mechanical keyboards become so damn popular and not "keyboards on screens?"

Both are popular. Literally 100s of millions of people use keyboards on screens, so I'm not even really sure what you think you are trying to say. The desktop computer market isn't likely to move away from mechanical keyboards, but the phone/tablet market did a long time ago. Something with more accuracy, or that can be used for touch typing, without taking up device real estate, could definitely blow up in that market.

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robotnikman 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Having a keyboard with tactile feedback is much easier to use than a touch screen keyboard, an you're way less likely to make mistakes. The main reason you don't see them on phone anymore is because having a keyboard on a phone takes up space, makes the phone cost more, and in the case of sliding keyboards adds more points of failure as well. For phone, a touch keyboard is good enough.

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someuser2345 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I disagree; this wristband might be a game changer because your hand does not need to be free to use it (at least in theory, we'll see how it actually plays out). Also, I'm willing to bet that for some people, this wristband might be more accessible than a regular keyboard (i.e. people with limited mobility or missing hands). Compare it to the laser beam keyboard, which is just a flat version of a regular keyboard.

> why have mechanical keyboards become so damn popular and not "keyboards on screens?"

Keyboards in general have become more popular, as more and more people get computing devices. I'm willing to bet the increase of keyboards on screens is much greater than the increase of mechanical keyboards; there are far more smartphones than mechanical keyboards.

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0x457 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> why have mechanical keyboards become so damn popular

It's a very similar hobby to collecting post-marks.

> those laser beam projected keyboards blown up

Because no serious company never made one and what was nowhere near usable beyond "Checks what another useless thing I got!"

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jackbrookes 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> why have mechanical keyboards become so damn popular and not "keyboards on screens?"

I mean... have you ever used a phone?

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dandellion 5 days ago | parent [-]

My phone has so far replaced zero of my keyboards.

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paxys 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

The vast majority of the planet uses a touchscreen phone or tablet as their primary (and sometimes only) computing device. The tech audience on HN is very far removed from how the rest of the world uses technology.

	▲	dandellion 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		You're kinda missing the point here. Yes, mobile phones use touchscreens, and billions of people have smartphones, that is correct. Yes the audience of HN is far removed, not gonna argue that. Because that's not what we're talking about. Grandparent very correctly points out that mobile phones haven't replaced traditional keyboards, in fact there's probably more keyboards being sold now than at any point in history before, that's because phone touchscreen haven't replaced keyboards, they're just a new interface for a new device. 15 years later other devices are still using other interfaces, and the actual places where it has been replaced are not that many. Only point of sale machines and cars come to mind having replaced keyboards (and I'm being very generous, honestly I wouldn't even call that keyboards) with touchscreens, and some car brands are even starting to walk it back.

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542354234235 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You said it wouldn't "blow up". You didn't say it would replace mechanical keyboards. It wouldn't. Noone said people were going to switch from using a mechanical keyboard to that. WE are talking about its usefulness for phones/tablets. Also, a phone's on-screen keyboard replaces a mechanical keyboard in that phones dont have a mechanical keyboard and people dont use a mechanical keyboard as their input device for that phone. If my car doesn't have a mechanical key, it has been replaced by a digital key. It doesn't matter if I make 5 copies of my house key.

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hombre_fatal 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I doubt that.

It has replaced all of your keyboards every time you ever input text on your phone.

	▲	dandellion 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		On the contrary, I have more keyboards now than I had before I had a smartphone or tablet, they have multiplied my keyboards.