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Samsung's Galaxy Watch 3 will let you answer calls by clenching your fist
Samsung has released an app that reveals the Galaxy Watch 3 will let you make hand gestures to answer calls.
Latest Pixel 'feature drop' lets you pause music with a touch-free gesture
Google is trotting out another "feature drop" for Pixel owners, and this latest one might be particularly helpful if you'd rather not fiddle with your phone. For a start, Pixel 4 owners can use a tap gesture to pause or resume music, not just swipes to skip back or forward. That could be extremely helpful if you're cooking and would rather not touch your phone just to stop playback. Most Pixel users can also set the Dark theme to kick in automatically with sunset, and automatically enable rules based on a WiFi network or physical location -- say, silencing your ringtone when you walk through the doors at work.
Gesture navigation is coming to Chrome OS
When Chrome OS arrived on its first tablet in 2018, we were skeptical. It didn't make a lot of sense to have a Chrome system without a keyboard. The operating system has continued to evolve since then, but a new feature could soon help it make it even more viable for tablet or hybrid Chromebook users: gesture-based navigation.
Tap Strap 2 adds gesture control to any Bluetooth-enabled device
Tap made a name for itself with its futuristic wearable keyboards, now it's introduced a new Minority Report-style feature guaranteed to make you feel like you're in a sci-fi movie. The Tap Strap 2's new AirMouse feature lets you control any Bluetooth-connected device with a simple, untethered wave of the hand.
Android 10 phones may have to hide third-party navigation gestures
Are you fond of the custom navigation gestures on your Android phone? You might have to go digging for them in the future. The 9to5Google team says it has obtained the latest Google Mobile Services agreement for device makers, and the terms reportedly require that phones ship using either Android 10's new gestures or the old three-button layout. Third-party gestures can stay, but they have to be hidden at least one level below in the Settings app. Vendors not only can't enable their own gestures by default, they can't even be advertised in the setup process or by a notification.
Google confirms Pixel 4 will support face unlock, touch-free gestures
Google is once again validating rumors about the Pixel 4, this time for its touch-free control. The company has confirmed that its next flagship phones will include motion-sensing Soli radar that lets you skip tracks, silence phone calls and otherwise control key phone tasks by waving your hand. Consider it a potentially more sophisticated take on the LG G8's gestures. Moreover, Soli will play a key role in one of the Pixel 4's other signature features: secure face unlock.
Google's Pixel 4 could track hand gestures
Project Soli is one of Google's many hardware experiments, one in which a tiny radar is used to track hand gestures. The rumor mill is churning, suggesting that Soli may find itself a home inside the search giant's next phone.
Android P introduces iPhone X-like navigation swipes and gestures
First it was the notch, but now Google is taking a more functional cue from Apple's iPhone X: a swipe-based navigation system. (Which, naturally, has its roots elsewhere, long before last year.) As rumored, the Android home 'dot' has morphed into something a little longer and a little more useful. Google says the change is a response to phones growing taller and the issues that creates for one-handed smartphone steering.
DJI's Spark drone starts recording when you raise your arm
When we reviewed DJI's Spark drone, one of our gripes was the limited set of gesture controls. You can't do everything you want without reaching for your phone. DJI is already taking steps to close those gaps, though. It's delivering a firmware update that adds a gesture for starting and stopping video recording. All you have to do is stand within 6.5 feet of the drone's front and raise your arm at a roughly 45-degree angle like you were waving hello. This does require that you be within the frame when recording starts, but that's fine if you planned to star in your own production -- it beats staring down at a screen.
Android Wear's latest preview opens gestures to other apps
Are you the sort to treat your wrist as a test bed for Google software? If so, today's a grand day. Google has released its second developer preview of Android Wear 2.0, and it packs more than just some extra spit and polish. It now supports wrist gestures in third-party apps, to start. While you'll need apps to take advantage of this, it raises hope that your favorite fitness or messaging tool won't require a free hand (or your voice) for navigation.
Make your own hand-controlled robot with a crowdfunded kit
If you've ever wanted to craft a robot that you can control with your hands, you now have a chance of making it a reality: Ziro has started a crowdfunding campaign for its gesture-controlled robot kit. Pledge at least $149 and you'll get both the centerpiece Smart Glove as well as enough parts to build an automaton you can steer with your fingers. It can get expensive to build exactly what you want (a Pro kit is at least $229), but every bundle promises easy construction and smartphone app integration -- you won't have to have a deep understanding of robotics to make this work. If all goes well, you'll get your Ziro hardware in January.
Researchers use Myo muscle-sensing wearable for prosthetics
Controlling Call of Duty or flying a drone isn't all the Myo armband can do. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University are employing the muscle-sensing wearable for a different application: prosthetics. With two of the gadgets, a patient is able control a prosthetic arm when he thinks about it. The pair of Myo bands on the upper arm read the electric impulses from muscle movement and wirelessly transmit them to a nearby computer. That computer determines what movement he is trying to make and tells the prosthetic arm to complete the task.
Android Wear can do a whole lot more using your wrist
That big Android Wear update isn't just about allowing cellular data on smartwatches -- it's also really helpful if you don't have a hand free. Google has quietly revealed that Android Wear 1.4 has a ton of new wrist gestures beyond the usual flicks to navigate cards. You can take action on a card by pushing your arm down, for instance, or go back to your watch face by wriggling your wrist. You're probably going to look silly if you use nothing but wrist gestures, but this beats dropping a bag (or freezing your hands) just to touch your watch for a brief moment.
Sonos app hints at new speaker with gesture control
Keeping your new product secret until launch is a tricky business. Especially when you want to co-launch an update to your mobile app with renders and guides for said new product. A beta version of the Sonos app popped up online, and was promptly unpacked, and sifted through over at Zatznotfunny -- revealing images of a speaker not in the current Sonos range. The renders offer no sense of scale, so it's hard to say if the device could be something like a Play:6, or whether one of the (now years old) existing products is getting a facelift -- but there's definitely a sleeker, more modern design language going on. Perhaps most interesting, is that the renders hint at swipe/gesture control in lieu of buttons. Always (and literally) a nice touch. Right now that's all we have to go on, but we like what we see.
ZTE's latest smartwatch packs style and gesture control
ZTE isn't just counting on a high-end smartphone to convince you that it means business. The company has taken the wraps off of the Axon Watch, a smartwatch that's miles above last year's clunky BlueWatch in both design and features. Besides looking like a conventional watch that you might actually enjoy putting on your wrist, it's packing a wearable version of Tencent OS (nope, no Android Wear here) with both perks like gesture control as well as basics like phone calls, messaging and fitness tracking.
Watch Synaptics' touch-sensitive space bar in action
Earlier today, Synaptics announced its SmartBar technology that adds a touch input area -- enabled by a sub-0.2mm-thick PET film -- onto the space bar, which then lets you perform certain tasks without having to touch the mouse or trackpad. We went over to the company's show room at Computex to check this out, and we came away impressed. In the first demo, we looked at how you can quickly select text while typing by simply swiping to the left on the space bar. We were then shown how you can scroll with two fingers on the space bar: hold down one on the left and swipe with another on the right for vertical scrolling, and vice versa for horizontal scrolling. This will take some getting used to, obviously. You can also zoom in and out by swiping both fingers inwards or outwards -- a bit like pinch-to-zoom but on a space bar.
Synaptics' touch-sensitive space bar speeds up your writing
Your smartphone's keyboard has loads of shortcuts that help you write faster, but the keyboard on your big, brawny PC doesn't. Seems illogical, doesn't it? Synaptics doesn't think it makes sense, either. The input firm is launching SmartBar, a technology that turns your keyboard's space bar into a touch-sensitive surface for gesture controls. You can swipe your thumb to select text, pinch to zoom in and program five "logical buttons" that perform macros, such as formatting text or building units in a favorite real-time strategy game. This might only save you a couple of seconds reaching for your mouse, but Synaptics is betting that those little time savings will add up.
Android Wear will reportedly let you navigate with a flick of the wrist
Right now, the only ways to get around Android Wear are to use your voice or swipe your fingers. What if you'd rather not talk to your smartwatch, and don't have a hand free? You may have another option soon. A source for The Verge claims that a future Android Wear update will add gesture control -- you'll just have to flick your wrist to switch through cards, so you can check the weather even if your hands are full. There's also talk of WiFi support in the next release, so you won't have to stay close to your phone to get alerts if you have a suitably equipped wearable. It's not certain just when these upgrades would hit (assuming they're real, of course), but they could be worth the wait if you're a Google watch devotee.
Fujitsu's ring lets you write in the air with your fingertip
Head-mounted displays are frequently supposed to keep your hands free, but they only sometimes live up to that promise. You can't really dictate a message in a noisy warehouse, can you? If Fujitsu gets its way, you won't have to. It just built a smart ring that not only allows for motion control (something we've seen before), but in-air handwriting. All you do is trace letters with your fingertip, and the motion sensor translates those scribbles into usable characters -- supremely helpful if you need to send a quick reply when you don't have access to a keyboard. There's an NFC tag reader in the ring, too, so you can get instructions for working on a device just by tapping it.
Kinect for Windows can track individual finger movements
Microsoft's new Kinect sensor is a lot of things, but absurdly accurate isn't one of them. To that end, Redmond' Research division is showing off some recent advancements its made with Handpose -- a way to fully track finger movement with its do-all gizmo in a variety of conditions. The video we've embedded below shows off the $150 PC peripheral analyzing and capturing intricate finger and hand movements seemingly pretty easily both from close-range and further back. Changes in lighting don't affect the fidelity either, as the tracking is all performed by the Kinect's depth sensor, not its camera. As Kotaku notes, however, this looks very much like something that'll be used for applications outside of gaming, rather than as a boost for your Dance Central skills. We'd like to imagine that its extra accuracy would probably come in handy in the operating room.
