touchscreens

You Are Now Entering the Touchscreen Smartphone Era

Kit Eaton — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:22:52 -0500

Touchscreen smartphones are the thing in the U.S. this year, with sales growing so rapidly it would give the Ares I-X a run for its money. And next year the pace of the change is going to be even faster. Welcome to the touchscreen era.

Which Tablet (PC) Will You Swallow--Apple's or Android's?

Kit Eaton — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:49:26 -0400

As speculation increases on the InterWebs about Apple's mythical tablet Mac, spurred by some leaked video, another cool-looking tablet MID has surfaced, and this one's powered by Google's Android. It's the year of the tablet PC!

Check out the unidentified slate/tablet form-factor device--it's an extremely sexy-looking beast, even if its design cues are unashamedly ripped from the iPhone.

Jabra Bluetooth Headset With Touchscreen: Design Overkill?

Kit Eaton — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:42:21 -0400

Jabra's latest Bluetooth headsets come with a bizarre extra--a charger base-station equipped with a color touchscreen. Is this product design for a world gone mad, or just a handy extra?

It's Time to Ditch the Physical Keyboard

Kit Eaton — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:40:53 -0400

Lenovo spent two years on the design of its new business laptop--but not on its internals. It took that long to tweak two keys on the keyboard. In this light, might it be time to ditch the old clickety-click of physical keyboarding?

Schematics' Multi-touch Interactive Touchwall Debuts in Cannes [video]

Cliff Kuang — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:08:37 -0400

Schematic, one of the interactive agencies which helped conceive the augmented-reality interfaces of Minority Report, has been laboring for the last seven years to make the film's dazzling technologies a reality. They just showed off their latest attempt, which comes tantalizingly close.

Microsoft Moving Surface Off the Table and Into Your Home

Kit Eaton — Thu, 14 May 2009 07:05:02 -0400

Microsoft's Surface shows off the capabilities of multi-touch computing admirably, but it's still limited by the machine's box. It's no surprise then to find plans to take Surface off a flat screen and dot it all over your home.

The BBC video below, shot inside Microsoft's showcase house of the future--The Microsoft Home--which is designed to demonstrate technology that may come to our homes in "five-to-ten years." Though the Microsoft Home isn't exactly a new concept, we still thought the BBC video was pretty cool, so we'll show you anyway:

David Hockney's a Smarthphone Artist -- Are You?

Kit Eaton — Wed, 06 May 2009 08:45:15 -0400

Every smartphone user has tinkered with a drawing app--it's a tiny jolt of fun, and it's somehow satisfying to see virtual paint spattering on a touchscreen beneath the fingertip. But is it art? Absolutely. But don't take my word for it: David Hockney says so.

Nokia Leaks Its "Mini Computer" Smartphone Plans

Kit Eaton — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 06:22:42 -0400

Ask any giant: being big means being slow. But some new information shows that cellphone giant Nokia is finally getting what smartphones are all about. For its future phones, the company is copying the works of the smartphone masters: Apple and Google.

The leak comes from an unexpected source, the designer of the Nokia N97, Axel Meyer. He was captured on video talking about the design philosophy behind the N97, and during his presentation showed a number of prototype devices too--all evolutions of the N97 smartphone.

Samsung Predicts a Smartphone, OLED and Touchscreen-Rich Future

Kit Eaton — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:01:33 -0400

Samsung, with its suite of successful smartphones, is in a better position than most mobile phone makers to know about the future of the devices--and it's betting that in just three years 29% of all cellphones sold will be smart ones. That represents a growth of over 100% on the current global smartphone market.

Nokia's Digging the Touchscreen Phone Vibe, Horribly Late

Kit Eaton — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:49:00 -0400

Nokia's big. I mean really big--the world's largest manufacturer of cellphones. But being huge and successful doesn't always mean you're fast, and a bunch of leaks pointing to upcoming touchscreen phones have just illustrated how far behind the game Nokia is.

Vibrating Touchscreen Devices Could Get Braille Tweak for Blind Users

Kit Eaton — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:30:57 -0400

We've written a lot about touchscreen technology, both existing and near future, but there's an inescapable limitation if you're a user with impaired or zero vision: touchscreens accept your touch, but usually respond solely with visual information. Now Finnish scientists have devised a way to remedy that, and it's a darn clever re-interpretation of Braille.

Flexible Touchscreen E-paper Signals the Rise of Touchscreens Everywhere

Kit Eaton — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:19:46 -0500

We've sung the praises of flexible screen technology here a few times--it'll be a key part of the next revolution in gadget technology. And now another piece of the puzzle has fallen into place, as the ASU Flexible Display Center recently demonstrated a fully-flexible e-ink touchscreen.

The flexdisplay is in fact an e-ink device, bringing the benefits of low power-consumption and zero-power display. And, its touchscreen supports inputs by stylus pen or fingertip.