A number of potentially groundbreaking cell phone technologies are making news around the internet today, particularly the emergence of haptics(transmitting and receiving tactile sensations, in the case of cell phones, vibrations sent alongside txt msgs, alerts) and a new SMS input method that works somewhat like the famed Apple click wheel. Using a circular touchpad that records the clockwise or counter clockwise movement of a finger, the KeyWheel works like a rotary phone dial, registering where input starts and stops, albeit from four seperate starting points, four stopping points, and by tracing the direction of your curve. Each of the four zones in the KeyWheel represent a starting point for one of four groups of letters. Depending on which zone the input is started from, and which direction the input takes, stopping points are contextual. Think of the click wheel like an X-Y axis graph, split into four quadrants. With this input system, if you started in I and moved your finger counterclockwise to II the letter A would be indicated. Similarly, if you started in I and moved your finger clockwiseto II the letter F would be indicated. I Apologize for this unintended pun in advance, but after surmounting a somewhat minatory learning curve the speed in which input could be achieved by a one-handed method could be greatly increased over the conventional "hit 7 four times to get S" method. By thinking of the QWERTY format outside of the comfort zone in which nearly all computer users regard it, I think the advantages of this new concept justifies its' oddity. Microth KeyWheel product page.

I4U's article about Microth's KeyWheel.