Super cool!
And while I dislike adding Software/OS things to hardware thread, with the mention of a Keyboard Other Half possibility I have to remind/make you (@Jolla @rainemak) aware that
Hardware Keyboard support in the core OS is severely lacking and needs a workover!
As we have seen with the Gemini port, but also others like PineTab:
- Key(board)-based navigation in the UI is almost non-existant. Hotkey/Shortcut support missing.
- the VKB must be made available/toggleable also when a hardware kbd is detected. The Gemini did not have this, it was considered not needed but it made using the Gemini almost impossible because:
- No Clipboard access! No copy paste (except within the Browser). This makes very, very tedious to enter e.g. passwords anywhere…
- No Multilanguage/keyboard layout switching
- No special character entry except those present on the keyboard (again: passwords!).
- Therefore no emoji input possible, except for those how remember hex-codes for unicode code points, and have an Alt-key and a Numpad that are recognized.
- No predictive text - it’s not there anyway nowadays, but in theory it is a feature that if available, should be usable.
This may seem minor, but keyboards are not only about Text Input.
You need Lipstick support (navigation), Silica Support (shortcuts, navigation), and especially things like the Clipboard working as expected. If this is not improved you may just as well have no HW keyboard support a all.
I’m serious. Try it. Take a Gemini and try creating an Email account with it, or logging into a website, while using non-trivial passwords. Try writing a Finnish message while the device has an English keyboard. Try sending an URL copied from the browser via Email. Have fun.
SFOS can do all that easily. SFOS with keyboard handling as on Gemini is crippled.