The Hindu Business Line : All IT takes is a touch

Picture a surface that can recognise physical objects — from a paintbrush to a cell-phone — and allows finger control to content such as photos, multimedia and maps. You guessed it right. We’re talking about Microsoft’s Surface — a touchscreen table-top prototype that Microsoft started work on much before the launch of the Apple iPhone, early in 2007.

After a two-year wait, it is now ready. Microsoft says it will be available in 12 markets across Europe. And it might not take too long to reach Indian shores.

Though Microsoft was among the pioneers in introducing touchscreen, it was only when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone with its multi-touch interface did the technology gain momentum. Gadget makers were quick to adopt it. Touch is now becoming a common way of interacting with most gadgets and touch-enabled surfaces are popping up everywhere.

Two kinds, fundamentally

There are fundamentally two kinds — capacitive and resistive, and each gadget maker chooses the one that works best for them. While the former is costlier and also more responsive to the human touch, the latter is slightly less expensive and also not as impressive, it is felt.

The biggest plus of the capacitive display — the ability to drag, pinch, zoom, arc, rotate and flick — has been effectively put to use in Apple’s iPhone. Since then, many products have taken insights from Apple’s arsenal, but there are yet not many touchscreen devices to match Apple’s class.

Trends in the PC market

Other than the phone market, the touchscreen craze has caught up most with computing products. HP was the first to bring the touch interface to the PC, a year ago. The company has launched its first notebook, the TouchSmart Tx2, with a ‘capacitive multi-touch interface.’

Speaking to eWorld, Rajiev Grover, Director - Consumer Products, HP India, says the success of the HP TouchSmart PC is what led the company to the TouchSmart notebook.

“Its capacity to reinvent the PC experience with its intuitive touchscreen interface has made it a hit among children and senior citizens alike,” he says.

More products a-coming

Rumour has it that HP is currently working on a series of touchscreen products; one among them might turn out to be a touchscreen phone. When asked, Grover says “we aren’t going to lay out any advanced touch timetables at the moment. But given HP’s 25-year history with touch technologies, you will see even richer experiences in our products in the future.”

Netbooks also come with touchscreen display panels. Intel was the first to introduce its classmate PC with a swivelling touchscreen and ASUS was quick to join the bandwagon. The mini-laptop maker unveiled a touchscreen netbook at the Consumer Electronics Show at Las Vegas. However, the company has refused to comment as to when the touchscreen T91 will be launched in India.

Another touchscreen product ASUS has been working on is the Eee Keyboard. “It easily turns any big-screen TV or LCD monitor into a fully functional PC or multimedia entertainment centre via its Ultra Wide Band Wireless connectivity — making it suitable for any modern home. A 5-inch touch panel is what provides the user with an interactive and intuitive means to control the screen cursor,” says Albert Tung – Managing Director, ASUS India. For its innovation and aesthetics, the Eee Keyboard PC was awarded the first place in the CeBIT-PreView Awards.

User interface is key

Tung points out that the user interface is a very important factor while designing a touch-based product. “Even in our earlier products in the PDA segment, such as the P565 or the P552w, we had developed our own interface – the ASUS Glide technology which is unique to our touchscreen phones.”

With more smartphones running on WinMo OS rolling out with wider touchscreens, Microsoft has taken a step forward and introduced the Windows Mobile 6.5 — a more touch-friendly interface. It revised the icons, text, and menus to make them all bigger, making it easy for use with a finger. A series of LG smartphones and HTC’s second generation Touch Diamond and Touch Pro are the first few to sport it. LG is set to roll out close to 50 handsets with the new Windows Mobile interface.

Google Android uses touch as the heart of the interface and both the Android phones announced so far come with capacitive touchscreens. Samsung announced its next-gen version of TouchWiz at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona this year. LG has also introduced its new 3D, cube-based interface with the upcoming LG Arena.

What makes a touchscreen device a success is the amount of research that goes into it, and the HTC Touch series of phones are one good example. “The intuitive TouchFlo, TouchFlo 2D and the latest TouchFlo 3D experience has created waves all over and has garnered positive reviews from every quarter,” says Ajay Sharma, Country Head, HTC India.

Best of both sides

Thought your touchscreen phone didn’t have enough room to scroll around? Don’t worry; two-sided touchscreen devices are coming up soon. Meaning, both sides of your future phone might be touch-sensitive.

Microsoft is working on a see-through display which can be operated from both sides. Banking on a technology called pseudo-transparency, LucidTouch boasts of a touch sensor layer on its back which senses you when you touch it from behind. Displayed at this year’s TechFest at Redmond recently, this is a soon-to-be reality.

Rising numbers

Although less than 30 million touchscreen phones were sold worldwide in 2007, IMS Research expects the number to increase to over 230 million by 2012. “In a few months from now, every fourth phone sold will be a touch phone,” says Sathish Babu, Promoter, UniverCell, the mobile retailer.

Nokia recently entered the touchscreen market with the launch of its XpressMusic 5800 and the market leaders are about to bring the touch-sensitive N97 — what they call a multi-media computer. BlackBerry also recently joined the band wagon; it also won the Global Mobile Award for Best Mobile technology breakthrough.

Samsung recently announced its first solar-powered touchscreen handset — the Blue Earth — at Barcelona, marking its presence among green phones.

The company’s first touchscreen 8-megapixel camera phone — the Samsung Pixon — is now available in India and the Koreans will be considerably enhancing their touchscreen portfolio next quarter. Some of their exciting touchscreen products that were showcased in Barcelona are also slated for introduction here, in India.

More and more of it

It’s not just the mobile phones, MP3 players and some computing products also come packed with a touchscreen these days. Home switching systems, kiosks, car control panels and remotes have already begun incorporating the technology.

Logitech was among the first to incorporate the tech in remote controls. Commenting on the quick adaptation by gadget makers, Subrotah Biswas, India & SAARC, Logitech, says “we can expect to see more and more products with touchscreens in the future. Any device that offers interactivity could incorporate a touchscreen display too, but that may not replace conventional forms. The co-existence is inevitable.”

The iPhone has given us glimpses into things that are possible. Let’s leave the rest to the imagination of the developers and be pleasantly surprised as the future evolves.

janani@thehindu.co.in

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