HP's webOS 2.0 On-Screen Keyboard Gets Shown Off In Video

When webOS launched, there was some grumbling that the device, when it came to the Palm Pre (and subsequently released, Palm Pre Plus), focused too much on the portrait-slider hardware keyboard. The absence of an official on-screen keyboard left some people wanting more. And while there were "options" available for those who wanted to travel down some particular roads, Palm seems to want to keep focusing on the hardware keyboards. That should surprise no one, considering Palm's device legacy. But, it looks like webOS 2.0, which launched with the release of the Palm Pre 2, features a software keyboard, even if it is far from perfect.

Thanks to the fine folks at webOS Internals, they've found the software keyboard that had originally only been hinted at back when webOS 2.0 code was just beginning to be sifted through. They rummaged through several portions of the latest version of webOS 2.0, before they did a few tweaks, and then restarted the system. When everything came back online, they simply had to input "Opt+Sym+K," and they had an on-screen keyboard displayed for them, ready to use.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the software keyboard is ready for the limelight quite yet. The whole thing is still a bit buggy, and there doesn't seem to be any optimization for the keyboard. However, it's obvious that Palm and HP feel that a software keyboard is necessary in one way or another. With that in mind, we can probably start counting down the days until a slate-style webOS 2.0-based device makes an appearance.

[via PreCentral.net]