n. A handheld device keypad designed for thumb-based typing.
2004
The Dana's strength is in doing light word-processing tasks. I cannot imagine using some personal digital assistant for heavy-duty writing tasks, even with a portable keyboard. Personally, I think thumboards are cumbersome to write large documents, so the Dana's approach is well-received.
2003
[Nokia] recently launched two new phones, the 3300, targeted at the youth market, features a color screen, a full thumboard keypad and will store and plays digital music.
2002 (earliest)
There are many means of inputting data into a handheld. Graffiti, which is a set of characters very similar to the printed alphabet, provides a reliable and easy way to learn text entry into handheld computers. However, some people find it daunting to learn a new way of writing letters. As a result, ''thumboards'' — miniature keyboards that are designed for thumb-directed text entry — are becoming more popular.
This term began life as a trademark, the application for which was filed on January 24, 2001 by Seiko Instruments. That trademark is now abandoned. The earliest citation is the earliest media use of thumboard in its generic sense, although generic references to thumboards appear in Usenet as early as October, 2001.