So it’s college and I am sitting with my friends at one end of the classroom, busy tapping furiously on our N-Gage navigation key, trying to beat each other at a car racing game. Then there’s the nerd of the class, our tech-guru, writing messages at the other end, with a stylus (I don’t even remember the phone model now.) Fumbling around, trying to get the phone to recognize his writing. And we all thought what a stupid way to operate phones. Four years hence, and technology has proven me wrong.
Now, of course, the touch-screen phones are here and are here to stay. The most annoying thing about the initial stylus-pointing phone models was their interface, which was a real pain. To add to your misery, you needed that freaky little object with you all the times and even then, touching the screen with it would often result in weird responses.
Then Apple stepped in. Its revolutionary iPhone, with the amazing touch screen features is all set to unleash a wave of devices (including cell phones) that will respond to taps, drags and even flicks of your fingers. The touch-screen phones are indeed, poised for growth.
Even before the iPhone storm, touch screens were gaining popularity. In 2006 alone, 38 million handsets (4 per cent of total) that were shipped had touch-screen attributes. This figure is bound to rise as customers warm up to the new breed of mobile phones.
Following two technologies are most commonly used in touch screens these days that are fanning the growth of this market. (Warning: following section deals with technological mumbo-jumbo associated with touch screens.)
1. Resistive: the screen panel is coated with a transparent metal oxide coating (ITO). A stylus or finger touch changes the pressure and breaks the circuit. This is then processed by the microprocessor. This technology is used in Palm’s Treo and Motorola’s ROKR E6.
2. Capacitive: herein, a metal wire mesh runs between layers of glass and registers touch as a small amount of charge is drawn to the point of contact. iPhone and LG Prada use an advanced version of this technology called ‘projected capacitive’ technology. The capacitive sensors are far superior (and hence costlier) than the resistive sensors. These are used in e-book readers, where one can flip page by merely flicking fingers near the screen.
It is the rapid advancement in the latter form of sensors, which will do the trick for touch-screen phones. Now, of course, the new breed of touch-enabled phones is more responsive. The next front is ‘multi-touch‘ technology. iPhone will steal the show on this front too and it is widely expected to be the very first multi-touch device.
The iPhone is going to be a catalyst for this technology.
- says Jennifer Colegrove, a senior analyst of display technologies at iSuppli.
With this, of course, one cannot but agree. The tech companies are notorious for engaging in rat races and blindly copying one good concept until they can think of something else.
Look at the most talked about phones these days and you’ll realize that they are all gradually moving away from the archaic dial pads. Phones like Prada, iPhone, HTC Touch, Helio Ocean are all examples of revolutionized technology. The concept phones that designers are coming up with are seeking to build on this trend. Nokia Aeon, Nokia dual-touchscreen Archive, Synaptics Onyx, Sony Ericsson concept phone are all aiming at strengthening this legacy.
I wonder what your take on the whole thing is. As phones gradually incorporate all the features that we usually look for in laptops, they increasingly take the touch-screen route. If the designers are able to make the navigation interface more user friendly, there is no doubt that more users will switch over to the new form of devices. How the companies proceed to minimize cost and reduce size of the touch-screen phones will be interesting to see. A touch-screen that is small and cheap will certainly be the Holy Grail for companies in the immediate future.
