Elan demonstrates Smart Remote Controller, the touchpad pair desperately seeking a home

If you have an Eee PC you're probably familiar with the name Elantech and how making multi-touch gestures on the company's tiny touchpads is easier said than done. Looking for a little more room to be creative, Elan has created a prototype it calls the Smart Remote Controller. It's basically two touchpads on a wireless device with a pair of buttons in the middle, able to act as a gamepad, mouse replacement, virtual keyboard, and even a remote control that looks even less intuitive than Logitech's 1100. No word on when or if this will ever see the light of day at retail, but after watching the video below you may or may not be too heartbroken if it never does.

[Mushrooshi Posted Mar 20th 2009 9:39AM]

I know I have to drop the MT bomb:

But wouldn't it just be better to have multitouch?

By no means do I say this sucks, this is pretty cool, but still...

[TMC Posted Mar 20th 2009 10:14AM]

No.

Why? Because Apple patented multitouch all the way to hell and back.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 6:33PM]

Maybe, maybe not. "Single" touch is quite cheaper, plus when used with one hand only, you can pretty much use only a finger at a time. So multitouch wouldn't actually do you much good there. Plus, in two hand mode, it was meant to be held as a controller so I guess it kinda works.

The device actually looks really really smart, I don't know why engadget is putting it down like this. It's innovative input, can be used with one or two hands, and has multiple functions. If they wisen up the design a bit (it looks a bit ugly/like it just escaped the 80s), work up with the bugs and change the control scheme a bit, I can definitely see it as something cool.

Too bad not too many people are going to buy this. Unless operating systems are getting embedded to TVs' or something, I can't see why I would use something like this. If don't want to be near the keyboard, that means my PC is connected to a TV. If I'm tech savvy enough to do that, I'll probably have a wireless keyboard/mouse to go along with that. If everyone in the future has an OS on their TV, this would rock.

[htd Posted Mar 20th 2009 9:42AM]

there's feeling of touching a button on those things, I'd stick with gamepads

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 10:09AM]

Actually, two thumb touch pads as controllers is sort of clever.
Let's see how and whether anyone picks it up to use it for any games or particular applications.

[idogis1 Posted Mar 20th 2009 10:33AM]

This seams kind of cool. The only thing that seams kind of wonky to me is the remote control mode. They should stick to gestures with that. Maybe swipe left for channel down, right for channel up, and up and down to scroll through them faster.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 10:41AM]

For quake etc, this is a major improvement over thumb sticks as it can be speed not position based, just like mouse / keyb

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 10:59AM]

Its a pretty clever idea !!!

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 11:40AM]

i don't suppose anybody would have any idea as to the music in this video? I LOVE it! it sounds cool and catchy!

[chimericdream Posted Mar 20th 2009 12:31PM]

Good idea, but I'm not sure about the implementation. It looks like two garage door openers from the 80s stuck together.

And what's with that music during the video? I kept hoping for someone to actually talk about the product, but no dice.

[midnightblade Posted Mar 20th 2009 12:38PM]

I dunno why engadget is bashing on this, I think it's pretty cool. Not the most useful thing but quite an interesting concept nonetheless.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 8th 2009 2:32PM]

Perhaps Engadget has a few Eee's. I find the randomly variable sensitivity to be maddening on the elantek hardware. Strangely enough, while the Linux drivers aren't quite as versatile as the Windoze drivers (are supposed to be), they are much more stable. Still, if this thing works as well as in the video (hehe) it looks promising...