Anyone who has spent significant time typing on a tablet knows that despite its larger size, there’s still a massive room for error. Because it’s missing that satisfying, tactile clickety-clack of physical keyboards, tablets enable mistakes and typing hiccups in the same way that smartphones do. So it’s no surprise that Randy Marsden, co-founder of Android smartphone typing staple Swype, and a small team are seeking to reinvent tablet typing with a new startup called Dryft.
Announced at TechCrunch Disrupt, Dryft recognizes where hands move while typing, and subtly shifts the keys to compensate for the inevitable drifting (get it?) hands do across the device. The keyboard is able to track that by utilizing the accelerometer in a tablet to assess whether hands are moving or at rest. So users will be able to settle their hands on the keyboard without the risk of unintended typing — and with the added benefit of shifting keys. Marsden says those two features considerably boost natural typing speed up to 80 WPM, and lead to less errors.
See a video demo below:
Companies have made an earnest effort to perfect touchpad typing on tablets of all sizes in the last few years — most notably Apple’s split keyboard feature on the iPad. But that hasn’t stopped physical keyboard makers from producing some much-hyped products. If Dryft is able to get its resources together and get off the ground, it could prove to be as big a hit for Android tablets as Swype is for phones.
Marsden and co-founder Rob Chaplinsky are pushing Dryft into beta testing and are actively looking for OEM customers, developers and investors.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.
- Analyzing the wearable computing market
- Carrier IQ and the continued erosion of operator trust
- The future of mobile: a segment analysis by GigaOM Pro