The iPhone marked what I think is the beginning of the end for the traditional keyboard. It took a major step forward by using a multi touch screen , this meant the user no longer had to stand in front of a touch screen poking it with one finger at a time. The multi touch made it feel more natural to use something that had no buttons because, after all, any one that uses a computer will be used to the clicking sound of the keyboard. The impact of the iPhone is becoming a lot more apparent recently, now every second phone that is released is a touch screen, each presenting the touch screen function as innovative, despite the wide variety available. Unfortunately for phone-buyers everywhere, these new touch screen phones are not always of the highest quality. For example, on a personal note, the first touch screen phone I had was the Samsung F480, the touch screen was unresponsive, the user interface was bady designed (frustrating when texting as any attempt to press the space bar often resulted in the cancel button being hit, and an annoyed girlfriend not getting her text!)

I have since moved on up in the world to an iPhone and as soon as I started to use it I knew it was the future of how a user interacts with a device. Love at first sight you might say. I would like to point out now that I am a PC not a Mac but I do like this phone (he says fervently trying to not become an apple fan!) Currently more devices are starting to utilise touch screens, the HP touchsmart is one of the first home PC’s to use a touch screen but it still came with a keyboard and mouse (Old habits die hard I guess!) Now, I will admit that the only experience I have with a touchsmart is playing around with one in PC world. While I found it good to use it wasn’t encouraging me to throw my keyboard and mouse out the window, that said, if you bought me one tomorrow I wouldn’t hate you for it.

Microsoft on the other hand got rid of both and the monitor as well when they designed the Surface. I have not had the joy of using one of these yet but judging by what I have seen it has great potential if it is used and developed for correctly. While touch screen technology is advancing rapidly I think it will be awhile longer until I can lay my keyboard to rest. Although, my birthday is coming up if anyone wishes to treat me!