Kong Fanwen’s No-Key Flat Glass Keyboard Is Clearly Stunning [Etched Key Glass Keyboard Concept Rivals Apple’s Designer Keyboards]

Posted by Andrew Tingle on June 12th 2008 | 6 Responses

Kong Fanwens No Key Flat Glass Keyboard

With the overriding fashion in the gadget and electronics industries being the production of ultra slim devices (just look at tends in the design of cell phones and HDTV units by way of examples) designer Kong Fanwen has taken matters to their logical extreme in terms of waterproof keyboard design with this ‘No-Key’ glass keyboard which, as its name suggests, features a simple piece of glass with keys etched on its surface.

Kong Fanwens No Key Flat Glass Keyboard Detail

The keyboard works by shining a light source through the glass to illuminate the etched details in the glass, allowing you to see the keys, with a mounted mini camera serving to relay your ‘key presses’ to your PC by, interestingly (considering the decidedly cutting edge nature of the keyboard itself) a standard wired USB connection (this made us smile, though we suspect that, with both an integrated light and a camera, the device may prrove somewhat expensive to run if powered by batteries alone – though possible, surely?).

Merely a concept at the time of writing, but one that we sincerely hope makes it into production as a commercially available item, we would not be surprised it the likes of Apple were to snap this ‘No-Key’ glass keyboard up pronto (if we were Apple, we’d have written the cheque already).

[via Yanko Design]

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Kong Fanwen’s No-Key Flat Glass Keyboard Is Clearly Stunning [Etched Key Glass Keyboard Concept Rivals Apple’s Designer Keyboards]

6 Responses/Trackbacks concerning
“Kong Fanwen’s No-Key Flat Glass Keyboard Is Clearly Stunning [Etched Key Glass Keyboard Concept Rivals Apple’s Designer Keyboards]”

RESPONSES

Response by james | July 6th, 2008 at 11:22 am

the wire is needed for the time. because there is still technology problem with video info transfering through bluetooth now. the inputting of the keyboard depends on the instant finger-motion info.
Response by mlw | November 18th, 2008 at 4:16 pm

My only concern is the camera portion of this, insofar as accuracy, power drain, and lifespan issues, not to mention the bluetooth portion as james commented on. Why not use transparent circuitry? I’ve seen several such instances of its use (4 function calculators, mostly) and unless the board is tilted at just the right angle you can’t see the circuit at all. Perhaps this detracts from the “no button” concept and I’m missing the point.
Response by kong fanwen | March 3rd, 2009 at 3:24 am

It was reported by BBC in May 1,08 that the keyboard is five times ditier than toilet:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7377002.stm
Easy cleaning is the most important point of the concept .
Response by Andrew | March 7th, 2009 at 3:19 am

Thanks for that info, especially nice to hear directly from the designers themselves! Any further updates on this?
Response by kongfanwen | March 20th, 2009 at 8:04 am

Thanks for the editor’s description on the design….
you can think it a concept design.but in fact, it is really easy to be reaized.there is no problem for the camera to cover the whole keyboard,the most important thing left is the support software..unfortunately, I can not design software…I am finding that kind of genius…And if I can find enough Capitals, it will be on the market soon….