Smart Keyboard Cover for Jolla Coming to Kickstarter

The Jolla smartphone still isn’t widely known, but it’s loved by everyone who has one, such as myself. The innovative operating system called Sailfish OS has the most natural input feeling and makes the rivals look like Windows 3.1 compared to XP on the usability factor, at least when you ask me.

Ever since the Jolla smartphone launched about a year ago, we were teased with a slide-out keyboard using The Other Half to connect. The Other Half is an NFC-based system that is integrated into the smartphone and covers, effectively turning the cover into something with a function instead of a visual-only feature. There are a long list of Other Halfs available, but so far the slide-out keyboard has been missing.

This is about to change in the very near future when the project that so far only is known as TOHKBD is set to hit Kickstarter. There have been teasers on Facebook and Twitter with the words “We’re almost there” and the progress log on Maemo also looks promising.

There isn’t that much solid information yet, but the keyboard will be produced in various layouts to suit an international market. Using the NFC and direct contact functions of the cover eliminates the need for Bluetooth and also gives the keyboard backlight ability.

Even with the various layouts, it’s still a very limited customer circle as the keyboard cover only appeals to Jolla owners. This is something that could make it difficult for the Kickstarter to get the funding it needs. Price is estimated at around €120.00 which might be another problem for the Kickstarter. A high price for a very specialized gadget.

Personally I can’t wait for this to hit Kickstarter to get started so I can pledge my donation. I don’t mind touchscreens for navigating, but typing on them is a real pain.

Thanks to DigitalTrends for providing us with this information

Images courtesy of DigitalTrends