Is all the required software onboard the device itself? I thought it was using some kind of paired application to handle processing the input.

edit:

>With the TextBlade, WayTools can deliver over-the-air updates to keep firmware up to date, something that's not possible with most keyboards. The TextBlade will have more functions six months after it's released than it does today. For example, one upcoming update will add multi-device support, and that update is coming a few weeks after launch.

Source: http://www.macrumors.com/2015/03/06/hands-on-with-the-textbl...

So it seems that there is enough brain inside the device to handle it all, if I'm reading that correctly. Interesting.

The keyboard can't get OTA updates unless it can communicate with the update server. That means it has either WiFi or 3G or the tablet gets the files and uploads them to the keyboard. Probably the latter.

Why would a keyboard need firmware updates? This is like the NSA wet dream, more pointless "IoT".

Bug fixes? If something needs a firmware to begin with, it probably needs firmware upgrades.

It's a keyboard.

It's not rocket science, how hard can it be to make a bug-free keyboard firmware? It's not this is virgin ground either, keyboards have been built for decades which had no bugs.

If you look up the TextBlade, you will immediately see why its firmware needs to be more complex than your average keyboard.

Ok, I did looked it up, and still can't find anything worth updating? Different keyboard layouts?

In the end of the day it's still a keyboard. You click the keys and it sends keycodes down a wire or using Bluteooth. What's there to update?

Well, since it uses multitouch and some smarts to figure out which letter in one of the merged keys you wanted to type, I imagine it would be more useful to update that algorithm than in a keyboard where one button press = one keycode. This goes especially so if that algorithm uses any text based prediction, although I don't know whether it does. The multitouch, combined with an accelerometer I read the device has, could also be used to add interesting gestures or pressure-sensitive functionality that don't directly map to key presses. You could send the raw data over the air instead of using firmware on the device, but then nothing would be able to use it out of the box, so what's the advantage?

I think you're being purposefully obtuse here. This device is obviously more complicated than a standard keyboard and would definitely benefit from having a) sophisticated firmware, and b) the ability to update the firmware.

"keyboards have been built for decades which had no bugs."

Keyboards also haven't changed significantly for decades, we still use the same basic design, exterior(QWERTY) and interior(keyboard matrix circuit).

It surely can be used, but the lack of modifier keys would make the experience a lot worse than with an usual keyboard.

Cut and paste seems to have buit-in shortcuts, I'm not sure about things like cmd+space, ctrl+tab etc. There don't even seem to be an escape key.

https://waytools.com/products/textblade/2/numbers-symbols It has Cmd (which I presume doubles as Ctrl for non-Apple?). It has physical Tab and ⌂ in the CapsLock position; the latter suspiciously is marked only in green, and I wouldn't be surprised if it also does Escape. And surely you can map Esc somewhere with https://waytools.com/store/showroom/info/multimap/tablet

Select and Edit combos (on home row!) let you access arrows, dedicated prev/next word, home/end and replaces Ctrl+ZXCV. So you're using Cmd(/Ctrl) and Shift less in favor of home row chords. To further deprecate Shift (leaving only letters and <>?"), most punctiuation moved to the Fn layer (the green modifier though they don't call it that).

That makes a lot of sense, as thumb-activated Cmd and Fn ought to be more comfortable than Shift.

The only loss in modifier convenience is numbers requiring Fn but that's cheap price for a row off.

=> Seems it has almost everything. The big missing modifiers are Alt and Win/Super. OTOH there is a "Media" modifier they don't elaborate on. I hope the remapping software is flexible enough to map at least Alt.

There will be a big learning curve for shortcut users, though modifier usage _ought_ to be actually more convenient than standard keyboards. (all theoretic)

Hmm, I'm off to try https://superuser.com/questions/96299/mapping-superhjkl-to-a...