The keyboard to go crazy

David Lee

7-10-2025

Translation: machine translated

This article was not written with the keyboard shown above, but it is still short.

You don't always have to be efficient. That only leads to overproduction and, in the case of keyboards, to annoying chattiness. I like to think back to the days when writing - by hand - was still so laborious that people were pleasantly brief. A positive side effect: the written word is better memorised when complex movements have to be performed.

In this respect, the dial pad keyboard developed by GBoard Japan is a boon for mankind. Even the Enter key has to be rotated around itself, as the video shows. The developers have simply adopted the existing QWERTY layout for the letters, even though - or precisely because - this makes no sense at all. For example, A, one of the most common letters in English, is the most difficult to write. The letters could have been arranged according to their frequency - in English ETAOIN SHRDLU - but that would have prevented the necessary deceleration.

The innovative keyboards that GBoard Japan has already developed in previous years have the same spirit. For example, the extremely versatile single-line keyboard or this strange ... thing.

The dial pad keyboard cannot be purchased, but can be printed out as a 3D model.

David Lee

Senior Editor

David.Lee@digitecgalaxus.ch

My interest in IT and writing landed me in tech journalism early on (2000). I want to know how we can use technology without being used. Outside of the office, I’m a keen musician who makes up for lacking talent with excessive enthusiasm.

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