Hasta La Gadget!

Pure gimmickry, but undoubtedly beautiful. And despite its name, the Levitatr ships with all vowels intact

James Stumpf dreamed of an iPad with physical keys which would rise, magically, from the glass itself. Of course, this is a ridiculous dream, but that didn’t stop James from striving to make it real. The result is the Levitatr, a sleek slab of aluminum and polycarbonate from which — you guessed it — the keys magically rise.

The $80 keyboard (currently seeking funding on Kickstarter) is activated by pressing down a knobbly button on one side. This pops up the keys which were previously flush with the surface. Two more buttons — one for power and one to connect via Bluetooth — are hidden around back, and there’s a fold-out kickstand to hold the iPad at the appropriate angle.

The only problem I see is that it’s thick, at 9.8mm (0.4 inches). That only makes it a little bit smaller than Apple’s own aluminum keyboard inside a case.

Still, it’s neat-looking, and James has hopes for this to be incorporated into the screen of an actual tablet in the future. Although that sounds pretty difficult, if he can crack it, then he might genuinely be onto something that would differentiate a tablet from the iPad.

Levitatr: A keyboard with elevating keys for iPad, Tablets [Kickstarter]

See Also:

• Fat, Folding Logitech Keyboard Case for Slim iPad 2
• Writer, an iPad Keyboard Case for Pros
• Clever Stand Clamps Keyboard to iPhone, iPad
• ZAGGfolio for iPad: Great Keyboard, So-So Case