Tactus Technology is introducing a unique, new keyboard case today called Phorm that promises to bring tactile feedback to the typing experience while still using the on-screen touch keyboard. Phorm uses microfluids to raise a segments of a screen protector kept on with a frame and protective case to apply “physical” keys that appear and disappear at the swipe of switch. The goal is to improve typing speed and accuracy when typing with the iPad without requiring a keyboard you have to charge or pair with your tablet. Check out the video below to see Phorm in action.
While I have not had the opportunity to go hands-on with the Phorm case for iPad, the idea of being able to add and remove buttons from the display without assembling and removing another accessory is certainly novel.
Phorm combines a durable tablet case with a special screen protector that features bubble-like buttons that can raise up or flatten to disappear by sliding a panel on the back of the case. The use of the slider allows the case to hide the buttons just like you hide the iPad’s on-screen keyboard when not in use.
Engineered by the industrial design firms behind the Beats by Dre products, Phorm has the power to transform the way we interact with all of the screens in our lives, by finally making the touchscreen physically tactile and easy to use. Microfluidic technology activates optically-clear buttons with just a simple slider bar on the back of the case. The buttons rise above the screen and guide your fingers to the optimal touch zone on your device’s keyboard, improving accuracy, confidence, satisfaction, and the overall typing experience.
While the Phorm case adds tactile feedback to typing for use in portrait mode, it’s not designed to support tactile typing for landscape typing with the larger keyboard. The case is also only designed for use with Apple’s stock keyboard, obviously, and not guaranteed to align correctly with third party keyboards now available thanks to iOS 8. According to the company, though, Phorm has been “tested with the iOS, Swiftkey, Swype and Fleksy keyboards.”
Tactus is only targeting the 7.9-inch iPad mini with its first run of Phorm cases for Apple hardware while Phorm keyboard case won’t yet support the 9.7-inch iPad lineup, but that includes all three generations of the iPad mini. Anyone interested in Phorm for other devices including the iPhone 6 and iPad Air can vote on the company’s website.
[youtube http://youtu.be/gGA5ypnhMTg]
Tactus is currently taking pre-orders at GetPhorm.com for the iPad mini version with cases available in slate gray and sky gray. The Phorm case is planned to retail for $149 when it debuts, but pre-orders are available starting today for $99. Following a 30-day pre-order period, Tactus plans to begin shipping the Phorm case this summer.
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For those who refuse to get used to a touch screen. I type really fast on my iPad. Other people can too if they do what I did. When the first iPhone shipped, I spent about 2 weeks using only my iPhone for email. This forced me to get used to the touch screen.
Bet that works real nice to log into TrueCar
The ad looks like the first two minutes of a home invasion slasher film.
This device is based on an idea (that being able to “feel” the keys can enable faster typing), that is completely unproven, and I would assert … untrue.
You may disagree with me, as I do with them, but the onus of the proof is on them, and I don’t see how there is really any evidence to support their claim.
In touch typing .. yes, putting your fingers on the keys is the way to go, but this isn’t that. If you look at their videos, no one seems to be typing any faster than about 10 WPM, and when the camera is in the right spot to show it, you can see the people using it searching for the keys with their eyes first, just the same as people do without this device.
I think this is far closer to a sort of “comfort” product than it is something that will actually increase productivity.
I was thinking the same thing. This would be great for being able to find and rest fingers on the ‘home row’, but with touch typing you can’t do this. Your fingers only touch the screen when you touch the pad. You don’t know if you’re on the right key or not. It’s also very interesting that the female actor chose to type with the ‘hunt & peck’ technique which is a slap in the face to this entire promotion. LOL
Ditto all that. I was thinking, “Come on! Show someoneone flying at 70-80wpm using all their fingers and not even looking at the keyboard!” Otherwise, what’s the point?
I guess I just don’t get it. Too me the reason for a touch screen device is to not have any physical buttons. I guess something like this could be used for people with difficulty seeing, like a kind of brail overlay for touch screens.
I think the technology is really cool but I feel like this isn’t the best use for it
I don’t understand the use of the iPad anyway. Who wants to lay their computer screen flat on a table and type on it? If you add a keyboard, you have a laptop. So why not buy a more powerful laptop? Instead of just adding a keyboard, they should add functionality to the keyboard that doesn’t exist on the iPad itself. (programmable short cut keys, and extra screen to show program palates. Just adding a keyboard just makes it a laptop. It should make it better than a laptop could ever be. Otherwise, it’s a dead product.
And why doesn’t the iPad have haptic technology already to make the keyboard tactile? Apple missed the boat and should have come up with the Microsoft Surface Pro 3. The iPad needs to have functionality a laptop can’t possibly have, like double screens, programmable smart keys (besides those on the keyboard). It should become the go-to computer because it functions MUCH better than a laptop. As thin as laptops are, honestly, I don’t see the purpose in the iPad.