Curvy Keyboard Could Come in Windows Phone 8

A Microsoft spokesperson has already declared the company still has plenty to reveal about Windows Phone 8, and a new leaked picture suggests one of the features it has kept in reserve will be a keyboard adapted for one-thumb typing.

Before touchscreens became standard, using a single thumb to tap out a message on an alphanumeric keyboard was perfectly normal, but as screens got bigger, typing with the same hand that’s holding the phone became more difficult.

Microsoft’s solution, should the screenshot prove to be genuine, is to introduce a gently curving keyboard which slides in from one side of the screen, so as to match the area reachable by your thumb. This approach recalls the stillborn mobile OS called Intuition, seen on the First Else smartphone from a couple of years ago. It “fanned” options on the side of the screen for easy, one-handed use too.

The layout is adapted from an alphanumeric keyboard, a little like that found on the first BlackBerry Pearl, and is shown running on an HTC Trophy. While WMPoweruser links the keyboard to Windows Phone 8, if it’s running on a Trophy, then it could be part of Windows Phone 7.8 too.

The design looks a little confusing, and many people will have forgotten how to type on anything but a QWERTY keyboard, but with a little practice this could be a considerable benefit, especially as Windows Phone 8 will include support for higher resolution – and therefore physically larger  – screens.

If this is a real feature for a future version of Windows Phone, it’s something to look forward too, and makes us want to know what else Microsoft has been keeping quiet.