After doing a considerable amount of business with its ClearPad 2000 Series capacitive touchscreens,
Synaptics is taking on multitouch in a very serious way with its new ClearPad 3000 Series screens. Synaptics' existing screens can be found on the G1 and other modern smartphones, but while they offer
a small amount of multitouch, they can become easily confused by anything beyond a simple pinch or swipe gesture -- and are downright dangerous for typing, thanks to a proclivity to average between two simultaneously touched points. The new ClearPad 3000 screens fight that off with new advances in capacitive technology and a new processor which can handle up to 10 simultaneous finger presses -- including some info on the shape and size of each touching finger. The entire screen can actually be tracked pixel-by-pixel, and the new technology allows for up to 8-inch screens without completely destroying battery life. Naturally, these screens will only be as good as the software that uses them (and we still haven't seen anything to top
Stantum's resistive touchscreen tech), but Synaptics is doing the best it can to work with phone manufacturers (and others) who are designing interfaces for these screens, to make sure they can use the tech right. The first devices using ClearPad 3000 should hit this fall, so we suppose we'll find out soon enough if it pays off in device usability. There's a video demonstration of the tech after the break.
posted July 22nd 2009 9:01AM
I would normally say "Useless," but then again I thought 4-finger gestures on MacBooks were useless until I found myself using it more and more.
You're probably right, that you might see the use of that only when you use it. But personally, I can't think of any scenario, where you'd want to use 10 fingers on a touchscreen... Anyone else does?
Useless. 10-finger resistive touchscreen has already been developed: you can use 10 fingers in gloves!
@GB
pocket Twister..
The average number of fingers is less than ten anyway.
Trackpad goatse.
You'd certainly not use multiple fingers on a 2.5" screen, hell even when you clean it you use only 2 and a piece of tissue or soft cloth.
People, the point of being able to read up to ten fingers is so that you'll never hit the limit. It's *supposed* to be too many. The point is that one point isn't enough, two points isn't enough, three might not always be enough, and according to the OP even 4 is useful, so what about 5? Maybe. Ten is the max any one person can do without throwing in other appendages, so it's a safe max that you'll never hit. It's like the new TV's that can display more colors than the human eye can discern. The point is to go so far that we don't ever see the limit - because as long as you never hit the limit, it's *always* enough, instead of mostly enough.
-Taylor
@ Taylor "Ten is the max any one person can do without throwing in other appendages, so it's a safe max that you'll never hit."
Ah, unless you are a six-fingered man... but if you are, I know someone who is looking for you. You killed his father. Prepare to die.
There was news about a kid with 12 functioning fingers and toes. Pretty rare but it happens. Now if he has long nose too, and likes to stick it in, that would make it 13...
I can think of a reason to use 10 fingers on a touch screen. I thought of it around 1993.
Real time strategy games, controlling multiple individual or group units. Controlling virtual faders on a sound or lighting desk. It is also useful if you have more than one person operating the screen.
I think it just depends on the software implementation. I think Apple is doing it the right way. They have *very slowly* introduced new intuitive multi-touch gestures over time. They obviously have a far more elaborate gesture system based on their patents and rumors, but are getting people used to the technology instead of just springing everything on them at once.
This can be seen with the original company that Apple bought that was developing and selling multi-touch pads for desktop PCs. They had like 30 multi-finger gestures that you could customize, but otherwise required you to learn a whole new system. I think it would be a mistake to just implement that without clever organization and massive simplification.
*** I also believe that we need to find a compromise that recognizes Apple's and Microsoft's development (and the Fingerworks company they bought that own all the patents), but at the same time recognizes the universality of multi-touch gestures, and creates a new universal standard for gestures. We can't have every different smartphone manufacturer implementing different gestures with different functions. That would create a real nightmare for the average consumer and usability in general. I know it sounds unrealistic with Apple and MS involved, but perhaps all the contributing companies can pool their interface patents and then license the standard to everyone else. I don't think the Apple should be able to lock out everyone else on multi-touch gesturing.
This technology looks like a ripoff of Apple. Does Apple not have patents covering this tech?
a pocket Piano?
Am I, am I supposed to conduct with my penis?
i read that with a peter griffin voice haha
Mmmmmmm that sounds finger lickin good...or finger press'in or..just fingering...............the screen
so if all 10 fingers are on the screen, what do i hold it with? ill let your imagination do the work ;)
Nobody knows what you are doing since one finger already obscures the view, you must indeed use your imagination, and a table.
11-finger capacitive or bust
Why stop at 11? Why not get your friends involved, go for 20. 'Cause we all know, fingering (by) yourself is not as much fun.
finger twister can result in babies
finger twister... good one!
Whats next? 10 finger, 10 toes capacitive multitouch?
but barely there are enough space for 5 finger.
should last us a while until we evolve extra digits
There are already people with 11 or more fingers, and more toes, and webbed toes, you are outdated you decimal throwback :)
that means I can open ten applications at a time..oops not on iPhone
No other phone has a lot of apps worth multitasking. Plus multitasking is one reason the Palm has no battery life and why their application development is limited to minimum resources, which results in less than stellar apps.
I feel like my first generation ipod touch already has this technology being demoed, just presented differently.
No, the reason the Pre has bad battery life has almost nothing to do with the multitasking. If you had one, I'd say try leaving 10 cards open and then try leaving 0 cards open and compare battery life. Since the clock is locked at 500mHz for non-modified devices, it won't really affect your battery life. What affects battery life much more is all the radios needed in a modern device. Try streaming Pandora over Bluetooth for a while, and sure, of course it'll die quickly. Combining that with the 1150 mAh battery of the Pre is the issue, not multitasking.
If you've noticed, every other 3G phone with a similar sized battery has had subpar battery life. The G1, and iPhone 3G included.
LOLUMAD?
@technewb
Please. the Pre has the main basic apps down, i.e. the ones you will use the most. Sure, there are apps and definitely games that the pre needs, but that doesn't mean that there are "no apps worth multitasking." I would assume that the apps you use 75% of the time on your iphone/touch (NOT GAMES) are basic ones that the pre already has.
@ Joe H
A rarely said fact. Thanks
And exactly, half the perceptual problem with battery life is that people are coming off clapped out black and white screen 5 year old phones that barely did SMS, I am sure it did last a week.
Personally the battery life of the iPhone is stellar and I imagine as equally stellar as the Pre or the G1. By stellar I refer to my personal comparison to my 3 prior 3G phones a Nokia, a Motorola and a LG. They had the need for daily charging, or at least every 2nd day to avoid going flat; the iPhone (and the others i assume) lasts the same time with heaps more screen and power sapping features all running. On top of that I use the iPhone a lot more than the prior phones, as would users of Pre and G1, simply because there is more things to use it for.
what did the ten fingers say to the touchface?
Slide fingers to smack?
Did anyone else want him to start playing "Green Sleeves" on that thing?
Greensleeves doesn't require 10 fingers at the same time, try something like Phantom of the Opera.
Wait, he said 8 finger in the video, where is this 10?
Interesting, but 3 fingers is about all i can fit on a cell phone screen. Just don't see a need for much more than that. This will just be an excuse for companies to charge consumers MORE money.
Really, they should hire researchers that can find any reason for so many fingers on a tiny screen, and if they discover a use then they should perhaps get a nobel price for incredible ingenuity because then I'd be impressed.
Synaptics does more than just touchpads!?
Off topic, but does anyone know what company actually manufactures the LCD in the iPhone or the G1?
-Taylor
CHINA
Wow! So much multi-finger touch screen functionality that you can no longer see the screen! This is way better than the iPod Touch / iPhone! Cool!
The iPhone has been using this technology since the beginning. Sorry ClearPad 3000.