Now we've seen a gazillion concepts that showed an iPhone or some other futuristic looking phone that has a projector upfront that projects a virtual keyboard onto the surface where the phone's kept.
The idea is that you can type on the projected virtual QWERTY keyboard whilst keeping the phone in landscape orientation. But sadly, no iPhone has come out with this feature yet nor any commercially available smartphone for that matter. However, Samsung could very well be the first company to come out with this ingenious feature.
The South Korean tech giant is showing off a few of its innovative upcoming projects from its incubation program called C-Lab at the on-going CES 2020 tech event. One of which is an AI software that helps you type on a virtual keyboard on an empty surface. A video of Samsung's 'SelfifeType' was shared by The Verge.
How does Samsung's 'SelfieType' work?
SelfieType, as the name would suggest, uses the front-facing selfie camera on a smartphone, tablet or laptop to track the movements of your fingers and transfer them into the standard QWERTY keyboard layout that's inside the phone's UI.
Now, this does not project a virtual QWERTY keyboard layout onto the surface but it just tracks the movement of your fingers and registers them against the standard keyboard layout using AI. What's interesting though, is that the SelfieType software doesn't require any additional equipment or a projector to work. It's pretty accurate and consistent too.
We see a technology like this to be a very good alternative to carrying a laptop or a portable keyboard when you're on the go. All you will carry is just your phone or your tablet and you can use type on it just like you would on a laptop keyboard. The feature will also be very beneficial because the digital QWERTY keyboards on smartphones are very cramped and users with big hands could find it difficult to type on them.
Samsung C-Lab projects
Meanwhile, Samsung is showing live demos of SelfieType and also some very interesting upcoming products at CES 2020. SelfieType is just one of mine C-Lab projects that Samsung is showing off at CES. Samsung has vouched that some of the products and ideas that it will be showcasing at the kick-started annual tech event which will help shape technology for the coming decade. Samsung's C-Lab projects include the company's most innovative ideas.
