Texter turns Xbox 360 controller into keyboard, sorta

yes I agree...but how long will it take you to memorize that and don't they have a keyboard for the 360?

"Dont u agree"

No thanks, just get a cheap keyboard.

I saw this on xbox-scene. They have it backwards. With the left stick you select 1 of 8 colors and on the the right stick the set of letters. If you select blue and ABCDE, E is the blue letter. It is smarter to select the letters first and then the color, that way you are only picking from five characters, not eight. Otherwise, an okay idea but I don't think any one will care.

Didn't Microsoft prototype a mini keyboard that plugs in at the bottom of the controller? Kinda like for texting. What ever happened to that?

I remember seeing pictures of it over a year ago. Curiously, it was mentioned again recently in a poll conducted to gauge possible new offerings from Microsoft.

They have logitech USB 2.0 keyboards at Gamestop knocked down to a measly $10.00 which are perfectly compatible with the 360 (and good quality and small and great looking and...well, perfect).

usb 2.0? how fast do people type?

(Blue, pi/4)(Green, 3pi/4)(Orange, 3pi/4)(Orange, pi/4)___(Orange, 3pi/4)(Orange, pi/4)___(Red, 3pi/4)(Red, 2pi)(Green, pi)(Red, pi/2)(Orange, 3pi/4)(Orange, pi/2)(Yellow, 3pi/4)___(Orange, pi/4)(Blue, pi/4)(Red, 2pi)(Red, pi/4)(Orange, 3pi/4)(Orange, pi)!

I saw this on X-S yesterday and thought how (or why) someone would remember all those. Of course anyone who devotes the time to it and learn it and probably become very good at it (like I did with texting on a phone). Personally I don't think I'd waste my time trying to learn something like this.

L1+(left,up-right)(up, up-left)(up-right, up-left)(up-right,up-right)(RB)(up-right,up-right)(left, right)(up, left)(left,up)(up-right,up-right)(

It seems like a bad idea to me-just more fuss to deal with. I like the idea of the attachable little keyboard from MS. Otherwise, I had no issues with a wireless keyboard attached to the 360.

Found a picture of Microsoft's mini keyboard...

http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/4/xbox360/xbox360_keyboard.jpg

... or you can just pick up a cheap USB keyboard.

If you could have a visual cue on screen when you use it it might actually be really good, but without that visual cue its useless.

Yeah, unless you want to learn a new way to type, this thing isn't worth it.

I typed this twice as fast as normal thanks to USB 2.0

i wonder if the qwerty keyboard was so quickly criticized as well?

How does this " plugs in between the console and gamepad" if you're using a wireless gamepad? Compatible with only wired?

I did some early testing for this product (I am not an employee, just a focus-group member), and I found it quite useful. When compared with the on-screen keyboard, it is awesome. It takes a fraction of the time to type. There was quite a learning curve for me personally, but when I got the hang of it it was really fast to use. I love playing online games, but hate the use of the keyboard if I am playing them on the PC, and hate on-screen keyboards or switching from the controller to a keyboard on the console. It actually made me want to play more games on the PC because I could use a controller instead of the keyboard. Plus it eliminates the use of the mouse. I liked it lot. All the people that doubt it should just try it, they are relatively inexpensive, $24.95 I think. It is just like any other new product, people will be quick to criticize before giving it a chance. And yes, as of now they are only used for wired controllers.

Dacey,

Thanks for the impressions. I do hate switching between keyboard and pad just to type in PSU. Given how quickly one can text on a phone, I don't doubt that decent speeds could be achieved with Texter. BTW, was there ever a problem with accidentally activating the keyboard when playing?

Lastly, it sucks that it's wired only. I guess working through the play-n-charge kit is too much to hope for, huh?

kftgr,

On the wireless 360 thing, all 3rd party accessories are restricted to wired connection. When you connect the play-n-charge, you're gettin the juice from the USB adapter, but not "talking" through it--the actual communication traffic is still wireless....

ktfgr,

I have never had any issue with accidentally going into text mode. You have to double-click the analog stick to go into text mode, so it is very difficult to mistakenly do it.

Hopefully a wireless one is in development, but they would still have to get around the console developer.