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HTC claims Tattoo's screen is too small for capacitive to work well
For full-touch mobile use, capacitive touchscreens are the best solution we've got -- and it has absolutely nothing to do with the iPhone, it has to do with the incremental improvement in usability brought about by near-100 percent touch registration. That's a big deal, because even a 5 percent loss of registration on an on-screen QWERTY keyboard would represent roughly one letter missed every five words (assuming an average word length in the English language of just over 5 letters). Resistive screens have many, many totally valid applications, but put simply, phones aren't one of them; they've been outmoded by a different technology that's more appropriate for the size and use that the average handset sees. Registration issues aside, fingers are larger than styli, and when a resistive display is registering an unweighted pinpoint coordinate, you end up ironically losing accuracy -- a benefit touted by resistive that's really only realized if you're using a stylus full-time. No one's claiming that capacitive screens are the magic elixir to make human digits achieve superhuman accuracy on a tiny screen, but... you know, step one is making sure the phone knows you pressed something. Anyhow, HTC's now claiming that the just-announced Tattoo has gone resistive because its 2.8-inch screen is simply too small "to be accurate with" as a capacitive. The company's tweet goes on to say that resistive "ends up registering fewer miss-clicks," which could be argued -- maybe -- were users expected to use styli. Android is not and was never designed as a stylus-driven platform, and unless HTC's driving in that dubious direction, the claim is bunk. More realistically, the resistive display is probably a cost sacrifice the company made to keep sticker shock to a minimum, which is fair enough -- HTC's trying to cover many market segments with Android, as it should -- but we wish they'd been upfront about it.
Nokia X6 video hands-on: proof that capacitive touchscreens are better
While Nokia wouldn't invite us to Nokia World this year, we were fortunate enough to discover a pair of its new X6 handsets on the IFA floor here in Berlin. On hand were two engineering prototypes, one of which was peeling away from its plastic shell while the other seemed less responsive to our finger-taps. Still, it's clear that the capacitive touchscreen is far more responsive to human touch than the resistive screens found on its N97, or the 5800 XpressMusic especially. This was made abundantly clear when using the on-screen keyboard although some of our swiping gestures were inexplicably ignored in other elements of the interface. But given the choice of the screen being awesome or super-awesome (remember, we're comparing it to Nokia's resistive touchscreen legacy), we'll have to settle on the former for now. Of course, underneath you've still got S60 5th, for better or worse, pumping away inside a chubby little candybar -- no screen tech can change that. See the action in the video after the break then jump into the gallery to see it sized up with a few of its S60 cousins five times removed.
Nokia X6 confirmed to sport a capacitive display, we can finally exhale
Ladies and gentlemen, our long, global nightmare is over. Alright, that's a significant overstatement -- but Nokia's lack of capacitive adoption has unquestionably hurt opinion of its 5800 and N97 models, the first to use its touch-ready S60 5th Edition platform. Happily, afterdawn.com is reporting -- and we've been able to independently confirm -- that the X6 will indeed be using a capacitive display, something that we suspect will significantly improve usability if you're not interested in using a stylus (or plectrum, as the case may be) to navigate your way through the interface. For the record, Samsung's already proven that S60 5th is totally doable with capacitive tech on its i8910 HD, so we're sure Nokia's going to be able to pull this off with aplomb -- the real question might be whether this signals a wholesale abandonment of resistive across the range. Since resistive's cheaper, we wouldn't be surprised to see it continue to hang around on the low end for some time to come, but at least we've now got the choice. Sadly, it's too late to save the N900's screen -- but now that Maemo's made the bold leap into GSM telephony, maybe we'll see some worthy capacitive action the next time around.
Nokia rumors: Xseries is XpressMusic successor, new Nseries touchphone in '09?
German site NokiaPort has rounded up a nice little cache of juicy Nokia details that it says is culled from "official information from Nokia, confirmed rumors and reputable sources of information," and while we can't personally vouch for most of what we're seeing here, it's all sounding reasonable enough -- and with Nokia World right around the corner, we figured this would be a grand opportunity to lay it out and see how the chips fall. First up, Cseries and Xseries are said to be presented at the show, with the first Xseries model being an upgraded version of the just-launched 5530 XpressMusic with 3G thrown in, probably spelling doom for the 5800 -- in other words, Xseries is very likely a wholesale rebranding of the XpressMusic line, which totally makes sense. Speaking of touchscreens and Nokia branding, the site says that we'll see another touchscreen Nseries model to keep the N97 company before the year's out, followed by Eseries' first S60 5th Edition model in 2010. Coincidentally, they've got a part of a supposed new touch model pictured on the site (see above), though we're not clear on what we're seeing. In the Maemo department, the N900 is likely to be the only Maemo 5 device for the better part of the year, though there's apparently a mysterious N920 already making the rounds in the Espoo campus. As technologies go, xenon flashes are apparently on the outs with Nokia -- better hang onto your phones, N82 owners -- while capacitive screens should start to take hold. Samsung has already proven that S60 works just fine and dandy with a capacitive display on the i8910, so we're stoked to see where Nokia takes it. Finally, OMAP3 cores are said to be working their way into the lineup following a Cortex A8-based introduction in the N900; Nokia has historically lagged its competition as processing power goes, so it'll be great to see them start to match up with the Pres and the iPhones of the world -- at least as far as raw computational might goes, anyhow. [Thanks Hermann S., image via Eldar Murtazin]
HTC files patent for capacitive stylus with resistive accuracy
Though capacitive displays are generally regarded as the easier-to-use technology for mobile touchscreens, their finger-friendliness comes at a dear price: accuracy. Because capacitive tech is incompatible with traditional styli, you're stuck fudging things with your fat digits or settling for a high-tech finger alternative that arguably creates as many problems as it solves. Don't worry, though -- HTC feels your pain, and it seems like they're looking to keep the classic stylus in the game as the company's lineup makes the inevitable transition to capacitive over the coming years. A new patent application describes a stylus with some sort of magnetically charged tip -- at first, we thought that sounded suspiciously like what Wacom does for its tablets, but unlike Wacom's tech, this would function with a traditional, seemingly unmodified capacitive display. It's funny how we've all written off styli in the past couple years and now we've got HTC over here doing everything it can to save 'em -- but hey, if this means we're going to get the best of both worlds, we're all for it. [Via wmpoweruser.com]
RIM patent filing reveals hybrid capacitive / resistive touchscreens
RIM's no stranger to playing different tricks with touchscreens, and it looks like it may have another up its sleeve, with a recent patent application revealing some plans for a hybrid capacitive / resistive touchscreen. As you might expect, the idea here is to take the best aspects from each and form one super touchscreen, which would have the general usability and "goodness" of capacitive displays, and the added benefits of a resistive screen, like better support for stylus-based input. Of course, such a screen would also likely eliminate one of the biggest advantages of resistive displays -- their cost-effectiveness -- so it seems safe to assume that it'd be reserved for higher-end phones to start with.[Via Unwired View]
Synaptics' ClearPad 3000 touchscreen does 10-finger capacitive multitouch, other forms of dark magics
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.
Archos 9 Windows 7 tablet does a little hands-on time
Looks like the Archos 9 Windows 7 tablet has made it out of the labs (and controlled show floor settings) and into the hands of Crave UK, where that seemingly-amazing resistive touchscreen continues to impress -- so much so that they initially thought it was a capacitive unit. We actually pinged Crave ed Nate Lanxon to find out what was up, and the real story appears to be a mystery -- either Archos PR is mistaken in telling everyone that it's a resistive screen, or the company has somehow improved the tech to the point where it's virtually indistinguishable from a capacitive display. Given our experience with previous Archos resistive touchscreen devices that felt like mush, we've got to say we're going with Occam's Razor on this and that it's really capacitive, but we're definitely ready to be proven wrong -- hey Archos, you feel like sending us a new toy to play with?
Nokia launching 'high-end handset' with capacitive touchscreen in Q3?
DigiTimes has a couple of back-to-back rumors from its industry sources that could be of interest to Nokia fans. Yesterday, the Taiwanese rumor rag said that Nokia will adopt a Synaptics touchscreen integrated circuit (which may or may not support multi-touch) solution for an upcoming "high-end handset" due for launch in the 3rd quarter of 2009. To be clear, this is not the N97 which is expected to go on sale in June. Now DigiTimes adds that capacitive touch panel orders from Nokia have been received from Wintek, the same supplier fitting Nokia's 5800 with resistive touchscreens. We're big fans of silky smooth, capacitive glass panels on finger-friendly touchscreen phones so we'll be stoked if these rumors prove true.Read -- Nokia adopts Synaptics touchscreen ICRead -- Wintek lands orders from Nokia
Toshiba's leaked product roadmap gets us hot, extra bothered by fuel-cell powered L01 MID
If the roadmap posted after the break is to be believed (and we think it is) then Toshiba is set to capture a lot of attention with its Snapdragon-based handhelds over the coming year. Techblog.gr has what it claims to be the Toshiba Device Roadmap through 2010. They've shown us a PowerPoint sample off-line that seems to support the claim. Of course, this isn't the first time Tosh has leaked an entire product cycle and the named devices align nicely with some of the prototypes Toshiba was showing-off at CES in January (see gallery below). Toshiba was already off to a good start in 2009 with its incredibly thin 4.1-inch TG01 running atop Qualcomm's snapdragon platform. It just gets better from there. First we've got the TG02 (launching in Q4) update to the TG01 that adds IPX4 water resistance without changing the specs or the dimensions. The TG03 ups the ante again with the inclusion of a 3-channel speaker for a better video experience. Also in Q4, Tosh looks ready to launch a 15-mm QWERTY slider version of the 9.9-mm TG01 with new capacitive (!) touchscreen called the K01. All other specs look unchanged including WinMo 6.5. Next is the K02 clamshell with primary 3.5-inch WVGA display and QWERTY on the inside coupled with a secondary LCD and 10-key on-screen keypad on the outside. The K02 features a resistive touchscreen, HSPA data, and same QSD8x50 chipset found in the TG01 (and all the other devices on this roadmap). Last, but by no means least, is the 7-inch L01 looking every bit the love-child of a Nokia N800 and HTC Advantage. The very same device that was shown powered by a DMFC (fuel cell) at CES in January. Interesting since Toshiba has promised a consumer device powered by a fuel cell before March of 2010. Unfortunately, it's limited to WinMo 6.5 (with a hint of a Windows Mobile 7 in 2010) and the same WVGA resolution seen on the smaller screens when it launches. Assuming the leak is true, of course.%Gallery-41724%
EETI to purportedly ship 7- and 12-inch capacitive touchscreens this year
It doesn't take much to make us happy -- in fact, just mention the word "capacitive" and you're already halfway to winning us over. Throw in "multitouch," and you've got us hook, line and sinker. According to an admittedly dodgy DigiTimes report, Taiwan's own EETI is gearing up to ship laptop-grade 7- and 12-inch capacitive touch panels in the the latter half of this year, and if you're to believe it, that's word straight from company president Mei Tsai. EETI has already begun shipping smaller capacitive touch panels, so larger ones for use in netbooks and ultraportables is just a logical extension of the business. Of course, just because these things ship to OEMs doesn't mean we'll see them right away in commercialized products, but we feel pretty good about seeing a few near-final units at CES 2010.[Via Slashgear]
Apple patent reveals 'iPhone gloves' for warmer hands-on experience
A new Apple patent has been found that will assuredly warms the hearts (and hands) of many iPhone users currently enduring a cold winter. Originally filed a day before the iPhone's June 28, 2007 launch, it details a glove with a thin, electrically conductive, "anti-sticky" inner layer that is able to function with a capacitive touchscreen. It also suggests the glove could have apertures on the fingertips for opening and closing the more protective outer layer. Of course, the concept is far from new -- just do a quick Google search for "iPhone gloves" to see a wide variety of choices -- and Apple doesn't really dabble in this sort of iPhone / iPod accessory, but if Phil keeps his hands in his pockets for the first half of the Macworld keynote, we're gonna start to get ideas.[Via Apple Insider; thanks, Shawn]
Video: HTC's Touch Diamond / Pro are multi-touch gods, just not how you'd think
While multi-touch input might be all the rage in handhelds and laptop trackpads at the moment, alas, it's not on the feature list for HTC's latest Touch Diamond and Touch Pro. However, the capability is indeed present and exploited on video by HTC's own debug application. Even more interesting is the way that the handsets' entire front, capacitive surface (not just the 2.8-inch, 640 x 480 pixel display) can be used for multi-finger input. So like Dell's Latitude XT Tablet which launched multi-touch ready, expect to see future, multi-touch capabilities come to HTC's latest... someday. Click through for the vid.
