Concept Phone With A Touch(less) Of Class

Written by Adam Gosling

Tuesday, 22 August 2006

With mobile phones quickly becoming much more than phones, the current limitations imposed on these handheld computers could be eliminated using advanced touch screen technologies that you, well, don't touch. Put together an innovative developer of user interface solutions and some hot industrial design and you might get something like the Onyx, a new direction in phones that helps point the way in next generation personal computing. Synaptics, a specialist in the development of mobile computing, communications and entertainment interface, teamed up with a progressive industrial design outfit called Pilotfish to put together a device that not only clears away the keypad, but opens the way for adaptive interfaces that adjust to the tasks at hand. Built with a new type of ‘touch' screen that not only recognises actual touch, but also complex gestures and proximity, the Onyx could for example answer a call once you put the device close enough to your ear. It creates new possibilities such as assigning functions to two-finger taps, closing tasks by swiping an "X" over them, or sending messages by swiping them off the screen. Better still, the prototype phone uses a dynamic UI (user interface), where applications are layered and opened simultaneously, allowing a seamless flow of information between applications. The ClearPad interface is an optically clear, capacitive touch screen that allowed the interface programmers to create a solution that dramatically adapts to present the information and controls a user needs at any given moment. "Mobile phones are no longer used just for making calls -- they have become a single access point for critical day-to-day information," explains Clark Foy, vice president of Synaptics. "The Onyx phone is a breakthrough illustration of how advances in interface technology and collaborative design will drive the future of mobile interactions and services." "The real meaning of this product is about opening up the channels between hand, eyes, and device, and giving people access to actions and information in a way not possible with conventional buttons," says Brian Conner, leader of the design team for the Onyx at Pilotfish in Munich. For more information on the Onyx Concept, visit http://www.synaptics.com/onyx www.synaptics.com www.pilotfish.eu Related news items The Poor Man's Palm -02/10/2007 Armani, Prada, Labels Get Mobile -26/09/2007 Next-Gen 3G RAZR DownUnder -24/09/2007 Nokia E51: Smarter Than It Looks -19/09/2007 New Pearl Colours Coming -18/09/2007 Newer news items Alcatel, Samsung To Develop Dual Mode TV Phones -30/10/2006 Microsoft Promises Vista Upgrades -24/10/2006 Not Just A Flash In The PRAM -11/09/2006 Vodafone First To Trial HSDPA In Aus -07/09/2006 As Precited: The End Of WLAN Standards Has Arrived -29/08/2006 Older news items Ericsson Invests In Aussie Wireless Smarts -22/08/2006 ACMA To Auction 2010-2025 MHz Band -22/08/2006 One Million Order For One Laptop -26/07/2006 Motorola To Trial WiMax handsets -25/07/2006 Google GDrive Info Leaked? -10/07/2006 Tag This Now: