SOFTAVA Q12 Keypad

Editorial by Michael Oryl on Thursday July 31, 2003.

SOFTAVA Q12Yet another new keypad layout for mobile phones? You better believe it. And expect even more.

It seems that we are rapidly approaching the point where the traditional 12 key keypad is no longer going to be able to keep pace with the ever growing feature set that modern mobile handsets keep adding to. Most everybody agrees that T9 was a giant step ahead when compared to the old triple-tap method, but few would argue that it still isn't optimal when entering large amounts of text.

As we saw with Fastap a while ago, companies are trying to come up with new twists on the old 12 key keypad design. Trying to keep the design somewhat familiar to users, all the while offering more flexible and rapid text input - something a 12 key numeric keypad was never intended to do.

One of the newest offerings I've stumbled upon is the Q12 design from SOFTAVA. You might know that name since SOFTAVA developed the Silkyboard accessory for PalmOS devices.

The Q12 design tries to make use of the space between the keys, much as Fastap does, but without actually putting buttons there. The Q12 system relies on multiple buttons being pressed at the same time. This is the reason for the somewhat unconventional button shapes - they are trying to make it easier to hit multiple buttons at the same time.

Having not actually used a Q12 equipped device, I can't honestly say if it works or not. But I do have my doubts that people will be able to adapt to the layout and the myriad of two and three button key combinations needed to enter the characters.

More renderings are available on the following pages.