In the current smartphone market, you need to choose between LCD touchscreens (incredible UI versatility) and real QWERTY buttons (tactile feedback). But the MorphPad offers a third choice that's somewhere in between.
Little more than a proof of concept at the moment, this demo shows us a QWERTY Bluetooth remote filled with dynamic, reconfigurable buttons. This idea alone is beyond most current QWERTY implementation, but then Pelikan takes innovation a step further by allowing a majority of their keys to go blank and serve as a touch-sensitive pad (for mousing, gestures, etc).
My main concern isn't whether or not the tech works (you can spot it in Toshiba's Biblio), but whether or not the button-built touchpad really feels very comfortable to use.
And frankly, to all the worried Blackberry/Sidekick loyalists in the house, touch screens really aren't so bad to type on. The learning curve for a Nexus One or iPhone isn't all that far beyond any new smartphone keyboard, given that real-button QWERTY designs vary so much. [mobile-review via Engadget]


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