[nyx_]

A little over a decade ago now, back when the Sony PSP was current, there was a neat little homebrew IM client called AFKIM. It used bitlbee to connect to various IM services (AIM, GTalk, MSN, etc.) and worked pretty well for something running on a PSP.

The keyboard, though, was great:

http://localhost.geek.nz/afkim/docs/usingafkim.html

It's a 3x3 matrix. You use the analog stick to pick a square, then hit one of the face buttons to enter a character. Left and right shoulder buttons shifted the keyboard to uppercase, numbers, specials, etc.

IIRC it was a Lua module that any PSP homebrewer could drop into their application for a pretty decent OSK.

[osener]

That looks very similar to MessagEase keyboard available for Android and iOS. It is pretty cool, I was an avid user when I had an Android phone and I was barely making any typos. It’s very customizable and I particularly enjoyed clipboard integration. On iPhone third party keyboards don’t work as good so I had to stop using it.

[bilkow]

On consoles (including the Switch), Scribblenauts mega pack has a similar interface! https://cdn1-www.playstationlifestyle.net/assets/uploads/gal...

You hold the analog in the appropriate direction and press the button. At first its strange, but I got used to it kind of fast.

[sfRattan]

Soft- or hard-modded original (2001) Xbox consoles had a community developed web browser called 'linksboks' with a similar analog stick and button pad keyboard concept.

There were groups of four characters in screen's corners and centered on the edges, eight groups in all, with the characters of each group color coded to match the A, B, X, and Y buttons on the controller[1]. You picked a group with the analog stick, and pressed the color-matched button to type. It was great!

Sadly, I can't find any screenshots that feature the linksboks onscreen keyboard.

[1]: https://www1-lw.xda-cdn.com/files/2013/01/Xbox_controller_s_...

[gambiting]

Ha, I was literally about to post the same thing. During the PSP days I could type without looking using that exact keyboard. The LYNX browser also had the same keyboard implemented.