Entries tagged with touchscreen - Channel 10

HP’s New TouchSmart PCs

sarahintampa — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:02:00 GMT

On the Windows Experience blog, Brandon has the scoop on the next generation of HP TouchSmart PCs: the IQ804 and IQ816. These new PCs are bigger than the previous models (25.5” vs. 22”) and, like the older ones, they let you shine ambient lighting on your keyboard. However, now, you can change the color of that light. As someone who wanted to purchase the HP MediaSmart WHS just for the Easter egg where you can customize the lighting scheme, I have to admit this makes the new TouchSmart PCs look pretty sexy to me. But those pretty lights aren’t all the new PCs have to offer: they also come with a pocket media drive for portable media, built-in TV tuners, giant hard drives (804 = 500GB, 816=750GB), a wall-mounting kit, a Blu-ray drive, screens with an image resolution of 1920x1200 pixels, and, of course, a natural user interface that works via touch.

Bill Gates Demos TouchWall - Like Surface for the Office

sarahintampa — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:22:00 GMT

The 12th annual Microsoft CEO Summit was held May 13-15th. At this forum, business leaders meet up to discuss the most pressing issues affecting global business today. This year's topics included decoding financial markets, establishing cultures of execution, and exploring how the Internet will evolve over the next five years. The keynote speech was by Bill Gates. One of the highlights of the speech was when he demoed a brand-new piece of technology called the TouchWall.

He described the TouchWall as an "intelligent whiteboard." The screen that had been behind him showing a static image was actually the TouchWall itself, ready to be used. After discussing natural computer interfaces like touchscreen tablet PCs, Surface, and Microsoft RoundTable, he then walked up the TouchWall and touched it to begin the demo. Like Surface, the TouchWall uses scanning cameras, but here they are located at the bottom of the device.

Using finger gestures, like swooshes across the screen and other now common movements to expand and shrink items, he began zooming in and out on what was a big, multimedia laden document, of which the static image that had been there before was only a small part.

Gates then showed how you could zoom in on a Word document and flip through the pages, zoom out then back in on a Powerpoint presentation, then out again and back in to watch a video. It was a very similar looking experience as to what Silverlight's Deep Zoom functionality provides.

In addition to just moving the document on the screen and zooming in and out, you could also use a pen-like feature that lets you draw on the TouchWall with only your finger, something you could use to circle items for emphasis, for example.

Gates also said that the whiteboard was a "natural extension for Office," and that the hardware "wouldn't be that expensive." He hinted that not only was the Office group working on it.

This definitely has potential. I know at one of my previous jobs, we had a semi-intelligent whiteboard that would let you take pictures of what you had put up there, but thanks to a crappy driver and confusing software, no one ever really used it for anything but a traditional whiteboard. Instead, everyone just plugged in laptops to a projector and launched a PowerPoint. The TouchWall was so much more interactive and visually stimulating, but even better, it looked darn easy. You just touch it.

You can watch the video for yourself here. The TouchWall is at about 34:50.

The HTC Touch Diamond

sarahintampa — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:01:00 GMT

A very elegant, innovative touchscreen phone just launched, the HTC Touch Diamond. With the Diamond, you can check your email, view photos, and listen to music - all through touch. The phone features a 2.8-inch touchscreen, a TouchFlo 3D graphics processor, 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera, HSDPA internet, 4 GB of internal storage, and an integrated GPS. This is also the first device to offer Windows Mobile 6.1. No word on pricing yet, though. Want to see more? Geek Sugar has the teaser video up and Jason Langridge is linking to YouTube coverage of the launch.

Smart Touch UI for Windows Mobile

sarahintampa — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:19:00 GMT

The mobile interface called Smart Touch UI, designed to run on Gigabyte's GSmart Windows Mobile phones, is an innovative UI that lets you interact with your phone by pressing buttons on your phone's LCD screen as well as sliding your finger across the screen to interact with various features, like the analog/digital clock. The interface proved to be popular enough for an unofficial version to appear on the net, in the form of the "Gmart Today Plugin," a download from the site Freeware for Pocket PC. According to the download page, the plugin runs on both Windows Mobile 5 & 6. Once installed, you can flip between the GSmart interface and the default Windows Mobile interface by pressing the "Today" icon. (via Download Squad)

HTC Touch skips the buttons and brings the cool

Jesse — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 21:56:00 GMT

Without a doubt the hottest Windows Mobile handset for the next couple months will be the HTC Touch. A 2.8 inch touch screen takes center stage, allowing you to navigate the device’s media features with your oldest and most favorite input device; your finger. The standard set of Bluetooth 2.0 with AD2P support, 802.11b/g, 2.0 megapixel camera, and microSD expansion slot are all powered by WinMo 6 professional. We’re certainly curious about how useful a device without some sort of dedicated text input will become, and when we’ve had some time with one you’ll hear our verdict.