muRata Spices Up The Portable Keyboard Sector

[CEATEC 2015] As tablets become more and more versatile in their use in this day and age, not to mention the fact that the kind of hardware that a tablet packs underneath the hood has proven itself to be quite the workhorse, it is not surprising to see the Surface Pro 3 types make a splash in the market with their add-on accessories such as a keyboard that also doubles up as a protective cover. How about taking this slim keyboard and throw in some piezoelectric goodness to see what comes out of it? This is exactly what muRata has done, where they have designed the keyboard that you see above which features a layer of piezoelectric film in order to deliver tactile feedback whenever you touch a particular key.

Despite being ultra-thin in construction thanks to the layer of piezoelectric film used within to achieve its ends, it also comes with a low risk of damage from being dropped, which makes it a whole lot more suitable when it comes to mobile devices. Not only that, this particular technology is not limited in scope to just tiny, portable devices, since it can easily be adopted to see action on larger surfaces, making it extremely suitable for use in the likes of smartphones, flat keyboards, and anywhere else that requires touch input elements.

In our testing, the Japanese keyboard did prove to require more resistance when you press the key as opposed to the regular QWERTY keyboard on display there – although I think this boils down to the amount of intensity required that can be set before anything leaves the factory or is shipped.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: CEATEC, ceatec 2015, murata