Swype Co-Founder creates Dryft virtual keyboard, wants to change the way you type on tablets [VIDEO]
When it comes to Android, virtual keyboards are dime a dozen. It seems like every other week we’re sent a new press release from a new startup promising to revolutionize the way we type on our Android devices. And we get it. Typing away on virtual keys still hasn’t reached the level the accuracy as typing on physical ones. More than often these new keyboards end up falling short of expectations, but this new keyboard — born from the mind of Swype’s co-founder, Randy Mardsen — caught our interest. Here’s why.
Built especially for tablets, Dryft is a virtual keyboard that actually doesn’t want to change the way you type. That’s the whole, beautiful point. No tiny keyboards, no gestures — just easy, fully functional, 10-finger typing, same as you would on desktop/notebook keyboard.
Simply lay your fingers on your tablet, and Dryft will dynamically change the position of the keyboard as you type. You can even lay all your fingers on the surface of the screen as you would a physical keyboard, with Dryft knowing the difference. This is thanks to Dryft’s software working with your tablet’s accelerometer to detect taps on the display.
Unfortunately, because the keyboard is more closely tied to the hardware sensors found inside your tablet, that means you’re not going to find Dryft downloadable from the Google Play Store anytime soon. Instead, just like Swype’s humble beginnings, Randy Madsen hopes to license out the keyboard to OEM’s for use in their tablets, with supported OSs ranging from Android, to iOS, and Windows.
[Dryft]