A housing assembly for a mobile device includes a cover formed from optically transmissive material, and opaque material formed over a portion of the cover. The opaque material is arranged to define a display portion which is optically transmissive. The housing assembly further includes a frame sized to receive the cover, and a first housing structured to couple with the frame, such that the cover, the frame, and the first housing are structured to define an enclosure sized to contain electrical components for the mobile device.

A stand for supporting a device such as a cellphone or tablet computer includes a body section for physically connecting to the device. The body section has one or more legs. The legs have at least two positions; a first position flush with the body section and a second position extended for supporting the device at an angle with respect to a surface on which the device and stand rest. A power input for connecting to a source of power is provided on the body. A device connector is electrically coupled to the power input and electrically connected to the device, thereby providing electrical power to the device. A docking port is formed in the body section. The docking port accepts and holds a peripheral device and has a docking port connector for providing power to the peripheral device.

The computer keyboard operable in motion includes keys and control circuitry, and communication means to connect the keyboard to an in-motion operable mobile computer. The keyboard has one key column for the thumb; one key column for the index finger; and one key column for the middle finger; one key column for the ring finger; one key column for the little finger. The keys on which the tips of the fingers rest at the same time do not form a straight row of keys. The keyboard enables not only touch typing but also voice/key interface mode operation of the smartphone to which the keyboard is connected. In the voice/key interface mode, the computer uses voice and the user uses key inputs to interact each other.

An apparatus for communicating with a handheld device (e.g., a cellular telephone) is provided herein. A protective shroud is configured to enclose the handheld device and protect it against incidents that commonly cause damage to handheld devices. Integral to the protective shroud is at least one of an input component configured to receive user input and a wireless transceiver configured to transmit signals to and/or receive signals from the handheld device. In one example, where both the input component and the wireless transceiver are integral to the protective shroud, signals related to received user input (e.g., where the shroud serves as a keypad) may be transmitted to the handheld device even if the protective shroud is removed from the handheld device.

A keyboard for a handheld device comprises a plurality of side-keys and a main keyboard. The side-keys are configured at one side(s) and/or back of the device and used for changing layout of the main keyboard and operated by one hand holding the device. The main keyboard is used for inputting characters/commands and operated by another hand. Some or all of the side-keys can also be re-used as mouse buttons together with a touch screen of the device being re-used as a touch pad for a mouse. Some or all of the side-keys are operated by means of releasing a finger holding a side-key first and then using the finger to press down or touch the side-key to hold it again. This method operating a side-key can also be used for other key/buttons such as mouse buttons of a touch mouse, a touch-pad mouse, etc. The main keyboard can further comprise a physical keyboard and a mapping keyboard configured on a touch screen of the device to realize much more keys by means of simultaneously pressing down and releasing two or more keys of the physical keyboard. A current layout of the physical keyboard is mapped to the mapping keyboard.

The present disclosure relates to methods and devices for connecting external equipment. The method may include in response to detecting that the external equipment is connected with a smart terminal, acquiring description information of the external equipment. The method may further include determining a keyboard type of the external equipment, based upon the acquired description information of the external equipment. The method may further include generating an equipment acknowledgement of, and establishing a connection to, the external equipment, based upon the determined keyboard type. Technical solutions presented herein may provide that, when equipment (such as a smart terminal) connects with external equipment, if a user is to perform an input operation, it may be determined whether to perform the input operation with a soft keyboard of an input system or to perform the input operation with the external equipment, based upon the determined keyboard type, which may ensure that the user may effectively perform the input operation and improve the user experience.

A modular portable device system and method allow extended user input. The system includes a first device and a second device, the devices being attachable via a plurality of magnetic attachment points (magnets or magnetically responsive attachment points) on each. In a first configuration, the devices are held together by all of the magnetic attachment points, and in this configuration an extended user input facility on the second device is not user-accessible. In a second configuration, the devices are connected by only a subset of the magnetic attachment points, and in this second configuration the extended user input facility is user-accessible. A Hall Effect sensor on the first device and sensor magnet on the second device are positioned to overlap when the devices are connected in the second configuration in order to alert the first device that the second device has been attached in the extended input mode.