Google Japan’s Gboard Dial Version Aims to be a Retro Revolution for Typing

Google Japan loves to surprise us with new keyboard concepts, and the Gboard Dial Version might be the most bizarre yet. This thing was inspired by old rotary phones and replaces the familiar click of keys with a smooth spin of dials.

The surface is covered in nine dials of varying sizes, each one controls a different character or function. To type, put your finger in a hole on the dial, turn it until it stops, and then turn it back. The middle dial is the largest and handles the alphabet, which is organized in three levels so it’s small but covers all letters. The tiny dials around it control numbers, punctuation and even the enter key. Each dial rotates with a nice mechanical hum, just like the rotary phones that inspired it. Typing a single word is like dialing a phone number from the 1950s: slow and weirdly peaceful.

Nobody will be breaking typing records on this thing, as the design favors slowness, the opposite of modern keyboard tapping. The Google Japan team says this minimizes the strain of repetitive key presses, which might be true. The gentle circular motion of the dials feels less abrupt than the constant pounding of a normal keyboard. Plus it’s open-source, so anyone with a 3D printer and a Raspberry Pi Pico can make their own, with schematics and firmware on GitHub.


In addition to the dials, the Gboard Dial Version comes with a unique accessory: a mouse stand that’s also a video call controller. When you put your mouse on it, your webcam and microphone will turn off, just like hanging up a rotary phone to end a call. The stand, like the keyboard, is not for sale but the open-source files make it just as accessible to DIYers.


Google Japan’s history of weird ideas explains why this was made, since they’ve done a keyboard shaped like a Japanese tea cup and a ridiculously long single-row QWERTY strip. The Dial Version fits right in, as a fun experiment that values creativity over functionality. They also suggest future concepts for niches like DJs and entertainers, so they’re not done yet.