Indian phone maker Lava tries to reinvent the QWERTY keyboard. Behold the Alpha keyboard
By Florin on 15 Jul 10I don’t know if this company is named like that because it wants you to believe its products are hot, but I do know that Lava International Ltd has managed to make a unique phone. Two of them, actually: the Lava B2 and Lava B5 – which are BlackBerry-like devices that, instead of QWERTY keyboards, feature “Alpha keyboards”.
An Alpha keyboard is presented as a “a path-breaking innovation” and it has its keys arranged alphabetically, instead of in the QWERTY way.
Lava says that these phones are made for those who don’t have a PC – “a large segment of mobile users who are not familiar or comfortable with QWERTY or Multi-tap keypads.”
The Lava B5 costs 4,399 INR ($95) and features a 2.2 inch QVGA display, dual SIM capabilities, email, Opera mini, Nimbuzz, MSN, Skype, FM radio, Bluetooth, Media player, 3.5mm headset jack, and memory card support. The Lava B2 is slightly cheaper, although its features are about the same.
I’d probably get used to typing on an Alpha keyboard eventually, although my first attempts to write, say, “hello world” would definitely come out as “pcssi bidsm.”
The B2 and B5 also have QWERTY versions – you can see them at Lava’s official website (where the Alpha-key versions should have been listed, too, but they’re not – yet).
Via Unwire India
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