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Kobo unbuttons for $129 eReader Touch Edition, we go hands-on (video)
Kobo today kicked off Book Expo America with the launch of a new six-inch, one-button touchscreen e-reader -- named, appropriately enough, the Kobo eReader Touch Edition. Priced at $130 -- $10 cheaper than Amazon's Kindle -- the pocket-sized device strives for a reading experience more akin to that of old timey paper books, courtesy of a Zeforce infrared touchscreen, new Pearl eInk technology, and a freescale i.MX507 processor for faster page turning. Click on through for more details and our impressions of this little reader.
Mutewatch now in production, set to silently manage your day by July (video)
We first caught wind of Mutewatch AB's eponymous sort of anti-watch -- a personal vibrating time management wristband, equipped with a hidden touch-activated LED display -- when it became available for pre-order back in August. It seemed unique, but back then we had no idea of how it looked in action or when we might finally get one strapped onto our wrists. It's a mystery no more, as the Swedish suite has just released a heavily stylized (and totally rendered) video showcasing the Mutewatch's various touch-enabled functions. Also in tow, a press release announcing retail availability in July. Although our cellphones can do pretty much the same thing as this spendy $259 timepiece, we can't hide our geeky (and guilty) lust for one. You can check out the video for yourself past the break, but be warned: a moderate case of GAS -- Gadget Acquisition Syndrome -- may occur after viewing.
Toshiba's in-cell integrated 7-inch capacitive LCD ditches touch layer, extra girth (video)
Samsung's Super AMOLED may have beat Toshiba to the in-cell capacitive touch punch, but we're still happy to see other LCD panels dropping unnecessary layers. Featured in a GPS mock-up, Toshiba's 7-inch 1024 x 600 R&D display touts 10-point multi-touch over 38,400 sensors -- that's one touch sensor for every four pixels. It may not be the first LCD to abandon the standard touch layer for integrated capacitive support, but we wouldn't shy away from a tablet or embedded screen featuring this 1mm wonder. We'll have to wait though; Toshiba's in-cell tech is still in R&D, with no word when or if we might see it in commercial devices. Check out the video after the break for a quick hands-on. %Gallery-123862%
Samsung GT2 comes forward into the light, gets pictured and spec'd
Being obscured by bigger names like the MyTouch 4G Slide and Samsung Hercules, little TLC was given to the Froyo-powered Samsung Gravity Touch 2 on T-Mobile's leaked roadmap yesterday. To give the Android-that-could its 15 minutes of fame, TmoNews uncovered a very official-looking presentation slide that seems to confirm a $225 price tag and a few specs with it. The GT2, as it's being called, will sport a 3.2-inch screen with a full horizontal slide and is the first member of the Gravity lineup to get Android. We'll also reportedly find an 800MHz CPU and 3MP camera that are characteristic of current midrange smartphones. We'd have a hard time choosing it over the HTC Sensation 4G, which is also supposed to arrive June 8th.
BlackBerry Touch receives conservative makeover before its corporate interview
You've already witnessed a prototype of the BlackBerry Touch and its sleek lines, but get ready for a new peek as RIM has put on its "serious business" face in anticipation of Monaco's release. As you can see, the designers from Waterloo are separating and raising those four iconic buttons. Regardless of RIM's intentions, if this leaked unit makes it to retail shelves, the change would represent a subtle but distinct shift in BlackBerry design. We're guessing the corporate-type won't even notice -- unless those new protrusions happen to catch on their oh-so-fashionable holsters, anyway.
ZeroTouch 'optical multi-touch force field' makes a touchscreen out of just about anything
The rise of tablets and smartphones has made the touchscreen a rather ubiquitous interface, but they aren't everywhere quite yet. A group of students from Texas A&M intend to change that, however, with the invention of ZeroTouch: a seemingly empty picture frame that lets you turn any surface into an interactive touchscreen. It might not look like much, but ZeroTouch is packing a series of pulsing LEDs and infrared sensors that turn that blank space into a highly sensitive surface. Basically, the strategically placed LEDs cover the open area in a sheet of invisible light. When a hand or stylus enters the picture (or lack there of), those beams are interrupted, providing cues to a piece of software that tracks the object's movement -- and boom! You've got a touchscreen. Of course, this isn't the sort of thing that's going to make it to market anytime soon, but you can check out ZeroTouch rocking the rippling water effect in the video below.
Touchscreen prototype brings fake insects to life with tactile sensations (video)
The laboratory that taught us all to love again via kissing machine is back, and this time, thankfully, it's got its mind on other things. Kajimoto Labs at Tokyo's University of Electro-Communications showed off a prototype for a touchscreen capable of transferring tactile information like the location of onscreen icons to the user's palm, while a layer of gel positioned behind screen helps it conform to the shape of the sensation-receiving hand. What use could such a technology serve? Well, there's surely a lot of potential here -- take, for example, visually impaired users, who don't otherwise get a lot of information from touchscreens. A less noble example was offered up by a representative from the lab in the form of game where the user can feel ants crawling on his or her hand. Terrifying, and hopefully not compatible with the lab's previous invention. Video of the touchscreen after the break.
Planex capacitive stylus mocks Steve Jobs, all the way to the bank
In the past, our coverage of Planex has largely been relegated to storage devices and wireless access points, but now the company has entered one of the most exciting businesses of all: breaking poor Steve Jobs's heart. That's right, the company has meddled with the natural order of the universe by releasing new smartphone styli. They come in two colors -- black and white, naturally -- and two lengths: 4.2- or 1.6-inches, with soft rubber tips measuring 8mm and 9mm, respectively. The pens will run you ¥1,200 ($15) or ¥1,000 ($12), which is more or less on par with the current suggested price of the Pogo sketch stylus -- well, that plus airfare to Japan to pick one of these things up. But hey, it still beats a hunk of deli meat, right?
Editorial: A less tactile future, and how to avoid it
For the past few weeks, I've been doing most of my typing on a Matias Tactile Pro 3 -- a mechanical keyboard that's much like the original Apple Extended or IBM Model M keyboards, in function, if not appearance. If you're not old enough to remember those, that means it relies on mechanical key switches instead of the rubber membrane used by most keyboards these days. You feel, and hear every key press -- and, after you've used one for a while, you'll be much more aware of the mushy alternative hiding under other keyboards, and likely find them quite unsatisfying. Mechanical keyboards have seen a slight resurgence as of late among gamers, who value their accuracy, but they mostly remain a niche product for folks like me -- writers who might also happen to collect manual typewriters, or coders who honed their skills to their familiar clickety-clack sound in the 80s and 90s. I bring this up because it's not just keyboards that have gotten less "tactile" in recent years, but computing and consumer electronics in general -- and that includes cellphones.
BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 (Bold Touch) official
We've seen it photographed, videotaped, and even, briefly, up on RIM's own website. Now it's up there to stay, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 (aka the Bold Touch) have been made official as RIM kicks off BlackBerry World in Orlando. As expected, the phone packs a 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor that has only a 2.8-inch VGA touchscreen with a 287dpi pixel density to worry about. On the back is a five megapixel camera and inside is 8GB of internal storage (with microSD expansion) and NFC circuitry. At 10.5mm it's RIM's thinnest handset yet, featuring a stainless steel circumference and a fiberglass back, while up front of course it makes room for a full QWERTY keyboard. The 9900 supports HSPA+ connectivity to get its 4G on, while the 9930 is the world variant, adding dual-band CDMA and quad-band GSM to the mix, and both do 802.11a/b/g/n along with Bluetooth 2.1. Both, quite naturally, include the new BlackBerry 7 OS, including a faster browser and voice-activated search. Another picture and full specs are listed after the break, which will have to do you until this handset releases sometime in the summer, meaning this could be your next great beach accessory for those working vacations. Update: Full press release and more images after the break.
Toshiba reveals 7-inch LCD with integrated touch, just 1mm thick
Remember all that happy fuss over Samsung's Super AMOLED display, and its more recent Super AMOLED Plus? Well now Toshiba Mobile Display has jealously stepped into the ring with its own answer to the world's demand for thinner, lighter and less reflective LCDs. Its as-yet-unnamed technology seeks improvement in a roughly similar way to Super AMOLED, by fusing the capacitive touch layer and LCD. In so doing, Toshiba claims it can produce an integrated panel just 1mm thick, which it says is less than half the thickness of a conventional LCD touchscreen. Weight is also halved and surface reflection is reduced by 10 percent. Alas, Toshiba's press release does not provide the stats we really want -- a head-to-head comparison with Samsung's best efforts or, say, the Synaptics ClearPad 3250 which also melds touch layer and LCD. And perhaps to avoid confrontation in the mobile arena, Toshiba emphasizes the use of its technology in "vehicle-mounted" and "industrial" applications. Seems we will have to wait until the screen is exhibited in LA next month before we know whether it is really up for a fight.
Ideum releases MT55 HD multitouch table for hands-on museum-goers (video)
Ideum has taken the wraps off the latest addition to its growing family of multitouch tables, with the release of the MT55. The table, originally announced late last month, boasts a handsome 55-inch LCD display, which beams LED-backlit graphics in 1920×1080 HD resolution. As with its predecessors, the MT55's screen comes coated with a 5-mm layer of sturdy, tempered glass, and sits atop a pedestal made of aluminum and steel. Within that pedestal lurks an Intel Quad Core i7 CPU, with 4GB of RAM, a pair of 250GB SATA hard drives, and an NVIDIA Quadro 600 video card. The system runs Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, and comes packed with GestureWorks multitouch software for both Flash and Flex. The MT55 also features an integrated Bose Audio system, and can support up to 32 simultaneous touchpoints -- not quite as many as the 50 that its 100-inch counterpart can handle, but definitely enough to enthrall any class of 4th-graders on a field trip to the museum. Stroll on past the break to see the full press release and a video of the MT55 in action.
Acer's Jim Wong named Corporate President, will head new Touch Business Group
The changes just keep on coming at Acer these days -- following a shakeup at the top and a new, friendlier logo, the company has now announced that longtime company exec Jim Wong will be stepping up to the role of Corporate President. What's more, he'll also be heading up Acer's brand new Touch Business Group, which combines the company's former tablet PC and smartphone teams, and promises to help Acer "make significant inroads" in the mobile device business -- or so it hopes, at least. Elsewhere in the company, Acer's traditional PC Global Operations business will be led by the former VP of its handheld business unit, Campbell Kan, while a number of other Acer execs have also been appointed to some new positions, including Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Technology Officer. Head on past the break for the official word from Acer itself.
RIM's BlackBerry Torch 9860 makes blurry video debut
Storm 3? Torch 9860? Touch 9860? Monza? Monaco? The latest all-touchscreen BlackBerry has more names than RIM has leaks, as evidenced by this hands-on video out of Thailand. We're not sure what the handler's impressions are of the, as yet, unannounced device (but if you speak Thai, please, feel free to enlighten us in the comments). It seems that 1.2GHz Snapdragon delivers some snappy performance, at least. It's tough to tell, thanks to predictably out of focus camera work, but it also appears that the Torch 9860 (we're sticking with that for now) is using Comic Sans. We hope that's not by default. Vid's after the break, per usual. Update: A reader pointed us to another video (after the break) of the Torch 9860 in action. Nothing new to reveal, but the quality is much better -- and not a trace of Comic Sans in sight! [Thanks, Khalifa]
TouchStudio from Microsoft Research tests users' willingness to code solely on their phone
While touchscreens bring imagery and ideas to unprecedented personal levels, unsurprisingly, they have remained entirely inadequate for building the programs that enable this humane experience. Now, a project from Microsoft Research aims to shatter this axiom with the TouchStudio development environment for Windows Phone. Enterprising coders may get their hands on the initial release of this paradigm buster in the Marketplace, where they're invited to try their hand at coding applications using only fingers on glass. The SDK includes a handful of sample scripts to get you going, along with the proper hooks to access many of the phone's built-in sensors. While this dev kit won't let you to build the next killer app by simply dragging and poking haphazardly, if you happen to prove us wrong, we really want to hear about it. [Thanks, Fred T.]
BlackBerry Bold Touch 9930 gets the hands-on treatment, complete with elevator music (video)
Have the leaked specs and tutorial video got you yearning for more BlackBerry Bold Touch coverage? Well, today's your lucky day, RIM-o-philes, because we've got new some moving pictures with real, live human fingers doing the touchscreen two-step on the diminutive display of a next-gen Bold 9930 (codename Montana). Though a small sample, the footage does confirm earlier reports that the screen is quite responsive, so it shouldn't have trouble making capacitive converts out of those in the optical trackpad troop. We know, BlackBerry World and the new Bold's debut can't come soon enough, so do some self-soothing, view the new vid, and breathe -- you'll have your hands on one before you know it.
BlackBerry Orlando leaks out: say hello to the touchscreen Curve
As if we needed any more signs of where Research in Motion was heading in terms of its 2011 device line, we've just caught wind of yet another touchscreen-equipped Berry. The BlackBerry "Orlando" is purported to be a variation of the Curve with touch capabilities, already being described as a mini Bold Touch. This yet again begs the question of why exactly RIM has so many different devices planned, especially when the spec differences are so minor. We wish the company would deviate from this approach it has relied on for years, but it seems to be more focused on its tablet strategy than it is on pushing the envelope with phones. Additionally, it could just mean that BB6 might be sticking around for a while and that RIM wants its users to get acclimated, or perhaps that it might take a little longer than we think for QNX to trickle down from the PlayBook.
Google adding touchscreen-friendly tweaks to Chrome OS, still has tablets on its mind
When a tablet version of Chrome OS was teased back in February of last year, we found it a legitimately exciting proposition. Now that we have Android's Honeycomb iteration designed specifically for slates, however, we're having to wonder just why Google's still chasing that keyboard-less dream with its web-centric OS. CNET has been doing some snooping in and around the latest iterations of Chrome OS, where it's discovered numerous pieces of circumstantial evidence, such as a new onscreen keyboard, suggesting tablets are still very much on the menu. Chrome OS kicked off life on the development device known as Cr-48 and will resume availability this summer courtesy of Acer and Samsung, though we'd kind of assumed it would stick to notebooks now that Android's making a sincere effort on devices bigger than an EVO. Mountain View has responded to CNET's queries with a pretty inconclusive statement, saying only that "We are engaging in early open-source work for the tablet form factor, but we have nothing new to announce at this time." Check out last year's concept video after the break.
BlackBerry Bold Touch previewed in leaked tutorials: prepare to pinch-to-zoom (updated)
A slew of leaked video tutorials for upcoming BlackBerry devices is finally giving us a glimpse into what RIM has in store to keep its diehard fans from ditching the platform. Among some more video of the all-touchscreen BlackBerry Monaco / Touch, we're finally seeing how the popular Bold form factor will benefit from some touchscreen magic in the aptly named Bold Touch. We're longtime fans of the traditional form factor, but if anything, the addition looks to be more trouble than it's worth. Like its sliding cousin, the Torch, touch input seems even more gimmicky given that all the same functions can be performed using the familiar (and beloved) optical trackpad -- which doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Sure, touchscreens are all the rage these days and pinch-to-zoom is nice, but we can't help but wonder if RIM is simply killing time until its dual-core QNX-equipped phones hit unsuspecting BBM'ers. Of course, the company has been impressing us with its use of touch on the Playbook, so there's no telling what it might have in store come BlackBerry World. You can peep the Monaco action after the break, or check out a torrent of others at the source link as well. [Thanks, Reagan M.] Update: Uh oh, looks like the original Monaco video got yanked, but fret not, as Crackberry has just posted some more clips -- we got one of the new ones after the break as well.
BlackBerry Touch / Monaco gets manhandled, said to get official in May
Our interest in the BlackBerry Touch (codename Monaco) was piqued when we first caught wind of the device, and we had a feeling it'd be making its way into the wild ever since one showed up in Verizon red around mid-Feburary. Now, BGR has managed to procure an unreleased prototype, and we've gotta say that we like what we're seeing. According to the pub, it should get official at BlackBerry World in May, and it'll run OS 6.1 underneath that 800 x 480-pixel screen. The new BB6 is said to use a BlackBerry ID in place of a PIN for certain key functions -- a necessary move for non-BB platforms rumored to be getting BBM (a historically PIN-based service). BGR also claims it won't be getting the Storm nomenclature, so we apologize in advance to the SurePress fanboys. Either way, we've got an inkling that we'll be hearing more as we get closer to May, but unfortunately our dreams of a super AMOLED-equipped Torch running stock Android with a BBM app will just remain figments of our imagination.
