Research In Motion (RIM) has filed a patent for a physically rotatable keyboard that sports a numeric QWERTY layout – now this is definitely something worth checking out. After all, the display itself will not rotate, but rather the keyboard will do all the rotating with two sides to it, boasting a numeric keyboard on one side and a QWERTY keyboard on the other. Here’s an excerpt from the patent details for more context.
“In a first aspect, a handheld electronic device, such as a smartphone, has a first device member and a second device member that are connected via a connector. The second device member is rotatable about a rotation axis that is canted relative to an axis of the second device member. As a result, when the second device member is rotated between a first position and a second position, its orientation changes. This may facilitate, for example, switching the handheld electronic device between a text entry mode and a telephone mode.”
Makes you wonder just what future BlackBerrys will look like, eh?
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