Does that make sense? Ok. Here’s how we can explain in detail what RearType is. RearType is a normal QWERTY keyboard, split in two parts and kept on the rear part of the tablets. The user’s thumb rests on the front of the device as the other 8 fingers grip the device, which enables him or her to type from the back of the device. The above picture shows how RearType devices may look like.

Reartype might sound little confusing at first. It seems Reartype comes with uneasiness of unintentional presses.But Microsoft has taken well care of this unwanted key presses by providing an ‘explicit control’ to enable the keys (e.g. flicking an enable/disable switch) or by ‘automatic sensing of the hands or fingers being in the correct state‘. We also don’t need to worry about the wrong keys pressing because Reartype visualizes the keys positioning on the screen. In simple words, the user can see what keys are being pressed as the software highlights the keys on the screen. Here's the picture.

Having read a little about this new design from Microsoft, it looks like Microsoft is taking a big risk. It is a big threat to touchscreens.  However time will justify which one is more user friendly and be used for multi-tasking. Users might find this input device quite weird at first, but training and experience can make them better. Microsoft researchers say this device has an average typing speed of 15.1WPM (Words per minute) after practicing for one hour. This is justifiable compared to touch screens , which doesn’t have very high typing speed like the keyboards itselves. So it’s the matter of time who creates the future in hardware sector- RearType, Touchscreens or something else?

Courtesy of Microsoft Research https://research.microsoft.com/pubs/135609/reartype%20mobilehci.pdf