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As touchscreens dominate, Nokia survey says keyboard phones preferred

Kevin C. Tofel — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:53:56 +0000

When asked which input method is preferred on a phone, the old QWERTY keyboard is still a winner. That’s according to a recent survey by the Nokia Conversations blog, who asked which of the following is your favorite input method: QWERTY keyboard, numeric keypad, voice or touchscreen. Nearly half opted for the hardware keyboard and in every country save the U.S., the QWERTY came out on top.

The results are a little surprising to me although it’s difficult to put too much stock in them. Nokia doesn’t say how many poll responses it received and let’s face it: Nokia was among the last to adopt full touchscreens on its phones and didn’t seem to want to bulk up many prior models with full QWERTY keyboards. Instead, it relied upon numeric keypad entry for the bulk of its devices in efforts to keep devices smaller.

For a company that led the first mobile phone era, it almost seems that Nokia is still a step behind in this regard. The stellar full keyboards on Research In Motion devices helped vault the BlackBerry to a market leader but Nokia still didn’t aggressively pursue QWERTY input on the majority its phones.

Later, the iPhone arguably created the next phone era with a touchscreen and on-screen keyboard, but Nokia’s Symbian OS wasn’t optimized for touchscreens until a few years later and by then it was too late. Now, with Windows Phone, Nokia has adopted the touchscreen and software keyboard, but still hasn’t made much of a dent in the overall smartphone market.

The U.S. was the only country in the poll to prefer the touchscreen over all other forms of input: 47.22 percent would rather type on a screen as opposed to the 33.3 percent who prefer a hardware keyboard. What’s odd to me is that the first full touchscreen phone to appeal widespread is the iPhone and the U.S. only accounts for around 40 percent of iPhone sales. That means in countries who prefer a QWERTY keyboard, some are forgoing that preference for Apple’s hardware and software.

This does reinforce to a degree, however, why Research In Motion sales have continued to drop in the U.S. What was once a key competitive advantage — the stellar keypads on a BlackBerry — is no longer as desirable. Instead, consumers have turned their focus on digital app or media ecosystems and the simplification of what used to be complex handset activities or settings. Regardless of input type, Nokia is at least making some strides in that regard with Microsoft’s Windows Phone, although it still has a long road ahead.

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New screen tech has buttons that rise on command

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 15:28:09 +0000

Starting in 2007, capacitive touchscreen technology began revolutionizing first the smartphone market, and now the tablet market. Not everyone wants a flat touch display for input, however, causing some to cling to devices with physical buttons. What if you could have the best of both worlds with buttons that rise up from a flat touch screen as needed? That’s the promise Tactus Technology plans to deliver on.

Here’s how the company describes its solution:

Tactus provides a new dimension to touchscreens by enabling real, physical buttons that rise up from the surface on demand, and then recede back into the screen, leaving a perfectly flat, transparent surface when gone.

It may sound like science fiction, but it’s actually just science. I was skeptical after viewing the company’s own video demonstrations, but The Verge got a hands-on (literally!) demonstration at SID Display Week. It’s the real deal, although it needs some work. That’s not surprising as Tactus plans to work with equipment makers starting next year.

After the demonstration, The Verge explains how the “magic morphing” keys actually work:

“The technology is based on “microfluidics” — beneath the surface of a fairly ordinary-looking touchscreen are a number of channels that can be arrange in any pattern a manufacturer desires, and a small reservoir of fluid (a special type of oil that allows the channels to be invisible, for the most part). To form the shapes of the keys, a tiny amount of fluid is pumped through the channels, which raises a deformable membrane covering the surface of the touchscreen.”

The concept is interesting; more so if it eventually works as advertised. Just like the touchscreen of today can display many controls, keys or buttons, a Tactus screen of the future could do the same — but in three dimensions. And the technology could apply to any number of applications besides smartphones and tablets: Think television remotes, game controllers, home appliances and more.

Tactus says the technology is a simple replacement for equipment makers, who add the membrane to the top of the touch screen. And it’s supposed to be power efficient, although the company doesn’t specify the power requirements. That’s still an open question on what the technology does to the visual quality of the screen itself. The fluid is supposed to be nearly invisible, but I suspect it will affect how crisp a display looks.

Still, there’s promise here in the product, and it could provide the best of both worlds: Touchscreens paired with buttons on demand.

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Whoa: iPad 3 might let you “feel” on-screen objects

Kevin C. Tofel — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 14:51:18 +0000

Updated.Once again, Apple may have tipped off a feature of its next iPad in plain sight. The final words on its press invite for Wednesday’s iPad event say the company has something to see — “And touch.” This very well could be the first Apple tablet that “touches” you back using highly specialized haptic feedback.

If this feature debuts in the iPad, it would likely come from technology developed by Senseg, a Helsinki-based company that specializes in touch technology. Here’s a demo provided to CNet illustrating what Senseg can accomplish with highly-focused electrostatic fields on a touchscreen:

Blog site Pocket-lint reached out to Senseg for any comments on the new iPad and was told, “We won’t be making any statements until after Apple’s announcement.” That’s certainly not a confirmation of the company’s involvement, but it keeps the door open to such a development.

So what would it take for the iPad HD to include Senseg’s magical touch technology? Not much that would increase the size or drastically change the current components: a screen coating to feel the “tixels” as they’re called, a small electronics module to manage the tactile signals, and software:

The Tixel is the means by which Senseg’s technology transmits electro-vibration stimulus. It is an ultra-thin durable coating on the touch interface that outputs tactile effects. Senseg’s patented Tixel can be applied to almost any surface, flat or curved, hard or soft, transparent or opaque. Because there are no moving parts in Senseg’s solution it can scale to almost any size of device. Moreover, with no mechanical inertia Senseg tactile response is immediate.

This is just the type of technology that Apple would introduce at a device event. It would be considered “magical” to the masses and would open up completely new experiences for developers and users alike. Imagine looking at a picture of a beach and feeling the grit of the sand. Perhaps you can feel the rough skin of those green pigs in Angry Birds (as they smile at you). Or maybe next-generation websites will come alive through touchable images or buttons.

We pretty much know (or think we know) everything else about the new iPad, but I’m going to bet dollars to donuts that this is the first iPad that, in a sense, can touch you back.

Update: Charles Arthur at the Guardian led the news on Senseg’s potential touch solution in the next iPad, calling attention to it yesterday. Another “no comment” comment was provided by Senseg to the Guardian when asked about the new iPad earlier this week.

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4 iPad apps to help wrangle data

Erica Ogg — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 21:17:20 +0000

In 2012, the next big thing will be what we do with the millions of iPhones and iPads that have infiltrated the office. When it comes to the iPad specifically, one of the most useful ways to incorporate the touchscreen device into your workflow is as a tool to visualize and manipulate data. That is why it is so exciting that there are a growing number of apps that give us new ways to gather, absorb and manipulate data necessary to get our jobs done. Here are a few of the more interesting ones out there that take advantage of Apple’s tablet.

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CES 2012: a recap and analysis

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:40:31 +0000

This year’s CES was the biggest in the show’s 44-year history, boasting 15 miles of exhibit hall aisles, 3,100 booths and 153,000 attendees. The Kerton Group sent three delegates to CES to scout out new products, listen to keynotes, watch announcements and get tips from insiders. This report, which bundles those findings together, serves as an outline of the major launches and overarching trends at CES (think smartphones for $0, Androidification and connectivity) as well as an analysis of what those developments mean for the larger consumer electronics picture. Companies mentioned in this report include Apple, Tesla and T-Mobile. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial.

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Mujjo gloves as good as skin on iOS devices, but better insulated

Darrell Etherington — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:09:47 +0000

Winter is finally in full effect here in Toronto, with a couple of very cold days in the past week that gave me the perfect opportunity to test a pair of Mujjo touchscreen gloves. These gloves are woven throughout with silver-coated conductive fibers to allow them to work with capacitive screens, like the ones on your iPhone and iPad, and their unique design makes them better suited than most for the task.

Touchscreen gloves, not touchscreen finger tips

A big problem I’ve had with previous versions of touchscreen gloves has been that other manufacturers seem to think a couple conductive pads on the index and middle finger will make sure you’re covered. But sometimes that approach means using them will result in missed touches, and make using devices fiddly and generally inconvenient.

The Mujjo gloves get around that limitation by featuring conductive thread throughout the entire weave of the glove’s body; literally any part of it, including the cuff, can activate your device’s touchscreen. When you’re trying to find directions in the middle of a snowstorm so dense you can only see about a foot in front of you, this makes a big difference.

Comfortable and sturdy

Mujjo’s gloves fit, pardon the pun, like a glove. They come in two size ranges: S/M and M/L, and are designed to stretch to accommodate different hand shapes. My M/L are a perfect fit, and the S/M worked as well for my girlfriend. They have a dense weave that means you won’t see skin through any holes anywhere on the glove, even when stretched. And they should also stand up to a fair bit of abuse; they don’t feel delicate or liable to start coming apart at the seams anytime soon, and I used them for a fair amount of outdoor rough-housing with my (admittedly small and relatively gentle) dog. Note however that the Mujjo gloves are not machine washable, and should only be washed by hand with cold water and laid flat to dry.

Warm, but not the warmest

While the Mujjo gloves were more than adequate at most temperatures, they did not deal well with the extreme cold of a day that reached around 1 or 2 degrees Fahrenheit. They were still better than nothing at those lows, but I still felt the need to use my pockets with fair frequency. At more reasonable temperatures of around 20 to 23 Fahrenheit, the gloves proved more than comfortable, even during longer periods of 30 minutes or more outside.

The total package

I’ve tried a few touchscreen-compatible gloves, but the Mujjos are already my favorite. They look good (though they do only come in one color), they feel good on the hand and provide adequate warmth, and they work as well as bare skin on every capacitive touchscreen I could find to test them with. At around $32 U.S. per pair plus shipping, they aren’t exactly cheap, but if touchscreen compatibility is what you’re after, these gloves are a bargain.

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What the future of Apple’s wearable devices could look like

Darrell Etherington — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:57:44 +0000

The next iPod you buy could wrap around your wrist and be Siri-controlled through speech commands, according to a New York Times report on Sunday. That’s because Apple is actively prototyping wearable computing devices, sources told the newspaper, in an effort to stay on top of this emerging tech trend.

Besides the description of a “curved-glass,” wrist-top iPod with Siri controls, the NYT‘s report is light on specifics, saying mostly a “small” team within Apple is tasked with dreaming up and prototyping wearable computing devices. But forming a picture of what Apple could do with wearable tech, based on the examples of other early pioneers in the space, Apple’s own patent applications, and recent changes in the tech it uses in its mobile devices.

Plan for the PAN

Apple will almost certainly try to exploit the onboard connectivity technology of its mobile devices to make users and their gear walking personal area networks of real-time feedback and communication. It took another definite step in that direction with the addition of Bluetooth 4.0 to the iPhone 4S, MacBook Air and Mac mini, and its recent efforts to promote the low-power, low-latency Bluetooth tech among iPhone, iPad and iPod accessory makers.

Bluetooth 4.0 is key to Apple’s wearable device strategy, because it could potentially allow wearable devices to talk to a central command device, in all likelihood an iPhone or iPad, without taxing battery life to the point where using it entails more pain than gain. If it’s promoting the tech heavily to outside developers, you can bet it’s betting on it internally, too.

Keep your smartphone close, but your data closer

Existing wearable computing devices hint at what could be on the horizon from Apple, albeit probably in a much more roughshod form than Apple would ever ship. Devices like the Meta Watch and inPulse smartwatch already deliver wrist-based notifications of messages, calls, emails and more from your smartphone. People already keep their smartphones no further than three feet away in most situations, on average, says the NYT, but smart watches bring the information and communication they provide closer still.

If Apple is indeed working on a curved-glass, wrist-wearable iPod, it’s also likely testing ways in which this device can talk to your iPhone to provide a steady stream of meaningful information. The iPod nano, with its countless watch-band accessories, is basically already crying out for this kind of functionality.

Patents and prototypes pave the way

Apple rarely takes breaks from filing new patents and working with supply chain partners on mysterious products, and some of those designs paint a picture of a wearable device future. The NYT‘s description of a curved glass iPod, for instance, resonates with a report from September that claimed Apple was getting ready to release products with curved touchscreens early in 2012.

Apple also has some general patents in play that could come in handy for small, wearable devices, like one for making portable devices out of lighter-weight materials with new, advanced construction methods, and descriptions of methods for using non-physical, non-visual control schemes (of which Siri is just one example) for future devices. That last patent talks about providing tactile feedback, which could be very useful for a computing device strapped to one’s person.

Mobile gets personal

Wearable computing is definitely a trend, and though right now it’s in its infancy and running into early-stage problems (the Jawbone UP recall, for example), it’s quickly accumulating momentum (the UP’s success despite its shortcomings, for example). Apple may not be on the cutting edge of this trend right now, as the relatively non-communicative iPod nano hardly counts, but it has the ingredients to take wearable devices mainstream: a massive existing iOS user base, and the right tech, both currently shipping and in active development.

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Connected world: the consumer technology revolution

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:01:08 +0000

Connectivity changes everything. That’s the credo driving just about every corner of our day-to-day lives. As human beings, we are now connected to one another through not just our social networks but also our cars, the books we read, the albums we download and even our own health and wellness habits (to name just a few areas). With that in mind, GigaOM Pro has singled out certain areas in the technology industry where we see this shift to constant connectivity taking place most drastically.

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Sony Reader Wi-Fi review: One Reader to rule them all?

Darrell Etherington — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:12:17 +0000

Sony did something very wise when it refreshed its e-reader lineup this fall. It streamlined it and released just one 2011 model, the PRS-T1, or as it’s colloquially known, the Sony Reader Wi-Fi. But can Sony’s new focus help it keep up with Amazon, the e-reader juggernaut that seems to be going in the opposite direction of Sony with many new models to choose from? Read on to find out.

Hardware design

The Sony Reader Wi-Fi is, in my opinion, better looking than its predecessors. The white version Sony sent me has a fairly thin bezel around the 6-inch touch screen, providing just enough room for fingers to hold on to it.

The slightly rubberized back is grippy without feeling sticky, and I like that there are no seams on the back of the case. I might be revealing some OCD tendencies here, but I absolutely hate when I can feel where one part of the back of my Kindle meets another and the edges of the two pieces aren’t quite flush. The Sony doesn’t have that problem, and actually feels more solidly constructed overall than the latest entry-level Kindle, which I reviewed in September.

The fact that the Sony Reader is slightly taller (though also not as wide) as the Kindle, and the placement of its page-turn buttons (a welcome addition despite the presence of touch controls) means that I can’t use it as easily one handed, however. That’s been the best benefit of the 2011 Kindle: the ability to use it comfortably with one hand, including page-turning via the back/forward buttons lining the sides.

Touchscreen/Display

The Reader has a high-contrast e-ink screen that’s easy to read, and you can actually tweak brightness and saturation options to achieve a look you feel more comfortable with. While these features are nice to have, in practice the default settings seemed best to my eye anyway and basically were on par with the latest Kindle.

Touch was remarkably responsive, and swiping through pages and tapping interface buttons was easy enough even with my somewhat thick fingers. Sony also includes a stylus with the PRS-T1, which you can use to make handwritten notes on any page. That, and the ability to draw on blank pages and save them to the device were actually two of my favorite elements. Having an e-reader that doubles as a sketchbook is definitely something I could grow to love.

The picture I drew on my e-reader. Never thought I'd be typing those words.

My big problem with the Sony Reader’s display is that unlike the Kindle, it does a complete flash to refresh with every page turn. I’d gotten used to only seeing that happen every five or six page turns on my latest Kindle device. Going back to having it happen every time I navigate to a new screen is actually surprisingly hard to get over. If you haven’t yet been spoiled by the latest e-ink tech, however, you probably won’t notice this quirk.

Turning pages with the Sony Reader Wi-Fi actually isn’t all that pleasant. It works as advertised, but making a swipe gesture for every page turn gets old, quickly. Luckily, Sony has included hardware page turn buttons too, which is much more pleasant when you’re actually flipping through a book. Having both on the device is a smart move by Sony.

Features

As mentioned, I’m quite impressed by the Sony Reader’s ability to act as an e-ink sketchbook using the included stylus (or, for less accurate results, your finger). You can even save your doodles as screenshots and then transfer them to your computer just by navigating to the appropriate folder without installing any additional software.

The Sony Reader also supports MP3 and AAC playback, which the basic Kindle does not (the upcoming Touch and Touch 3G do), and has a microSD card slot for memory expansion up to 32 GB (no Kindle offers expandable memory). Its battery lasts a month per charger, just like the entry-level Kindle’s.

The touchscreen also allows you to zoom in on any content using simple pinch gestures that Apple users will be familiar with, and you can search within any book with just a couple of taps. The on-screen keyboard is well-designed and responsive, too.

Sony also offers a lot more in terms of font customization options vs. the Kindle, but for me, that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. I found that in general, the overabundance of options on the Sony Reader provided much more opportunity for a user to get lost or overwhelmed with choice. Amazon sticks to a few, useful options that never require you to navigate too deeply into submenus.

Price and availability

Sony’s Reader Wi-Fi carries an MSRP of $149 in the U.S., and is available now, including in many international markets. The price of $149 is $10 more than the Kobo Touch and the Kindle Touch without special offers, and the same price as the Kindle Touch 3G without, but those products are both launching the U.S. only. Sony’s ePub compatibility also means it works with books from a wider variety of third-party stores, and with libraries both inside and outside of the U.S.

Verdict

Sony is asking more than its competitors, but it offers some unique features that those competitors don’t, including stylus input and hardware page-turn buttons. For me, though, those extra features aren’t enough to justify the additional cost of the Sony Reader over something like the base Kindle. If I can get a light, portable no-nonsense e-reader for $79 (or even $109, without special offers) that I can use with one hand and that has a faster page-turn rate, that’s what I’m going to do.

If you have more advanced needs (a device that both plays music and lets you read, for instance), and the Sony’s unique distinguishing traits are things you think you’d use often, then you won’t get quite the same experience from any other device.

Disclaimer: Sony provided the PRS-T1 unit for review purposes.

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Sensu makes iPad painting more like the real thing

Darrell Etherington — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 21:02:02 +0000

Enjoy “painting” on your iPad? It can produce some amazing results, but it doesn’t really feel like the real thing. That’s where Sensu comes in. It’s a new twist on the stylus that replicates real bristles using touch-screen compatible synthetic “hairs.” Using a cap that doubles as a handle extension, it also retains portability while avoiding feeling as stubby as most iPad drawing tools.

The Sensu will work with any app on the iPad (SketchBook Pro is a good candidate), and even when closed, the reverse end of the tool can be used as a normal, nub-ended stylus. Plus, the Sensu is also really good-looking, in either a chrome or limited edition gunmetal finish.

Sensu is a Kickstarter-backed project, but you won’t have to worry about whether or not it will ever become a reality. It has already exceeded its funding goal by about $12,500. Funding is still open, though, so you can pledge either $25 to get the basic chrome edition, or $75 to get the special gunmetal version. Retail price for the basic Sensu will start at an estimated $30-35, and pre-orders for Kickstarter backers ship sometime around January.

Kickstarter really is my go-to resource for cool new iOS device accessories, and the Sensu is a great example of why. Check out the prototype in action to see how well the Sensu mimics a traditional painting experience.

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