It would seem that one of the biggest names behind the touchscreens you use every day, Synaptics, have made the push for a next-generation solution for Windows 8.1 with Active Pen abilities. What this means for future Windows 8.1 device makers is that they’ll be able to say they’ve got pen support right out of […]
Biometric Fingerprint Authentication solutions group Validity have been announced this afternoon to have been acquired by human interface solutions group Synaptics. This acquisition will have the two growing companies aim for a new more solid goal in creating a full, top-to-bottom experience for tablets, smartphones, and notebook PCs. Technology developed by Validity will soon be […]
While Tobii has a peripheral that brings eye tracking to Windows PCs of all sorts, there’s little doubt that an integrated approach would be more elegant. The company agrees: it’s partnering with Synaptics on a concept Ultrabook (seen above) that combines both Gaze UI and Synaptics’ pressure-sensitive ForcePad in a showcase of new input methods. The partners haven’t said just what new tricks they’ll demonstrate, if any, but it’s clear that there won’t be a size penalty when the concept is as slim as the laptops in stores today. Synaptics and Tobii plan to tour the PC throughout the industry during the summer and the fall, and they’re no doubt hoping that a few vendors use the concept as inspiration.
Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals
Source: Tobii
One of the most impressive things we happened upon at CES this year was the Tactus keyboard, a special fluid-filled layer that could be baked into a tablet or smartphone to provide users with a physical keyboard that could recede back into the screen when it wasn’t needed.
Since then the company has been flying under the radar, but it turns out Tactus has been hard at work on a prototype device with help from a prominent player in the touch interaction space. Tactus confirmed to TechCrunch that it has partnered with touch panel experts at Synaptics to create a reference device — a 7-inch Android-powered tablet — that it will begin shopping around to OEMs and carriers at the end of June.
As you might expect, the company was hesitant to name names, but newly-installed sales and marketing VP RK Parthasarathy noted that “multiple tier 1 OEMs” are already waiting for a chance to fiddle with the 7-inch reference design kit, and that the first Tactus devices were still slated to be shown off some time this year… just not around these parts. Instead, Parthasarathy expects the first official Tactus-enabled tablet to make an appearance at a trade show in Asia in Q4 (the tight-lipped VP wouldn’t confirm which) before popping up at CES in early 2013.
Fortunately, it seems as though those Tactus-enabled tablets may able to compete on price just as devices like the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire do right now. Despite the seeming complexity of adding a fluid-filled outer layer to a tablet’s screen, it’s apparently a walk in the park compared to the alternative. According to Parthasarathy, the process of handling and cutting down glass for the traditional cover lenses that sit over tablet displays is cumbersome and pricey enough that implementing a Tactus layer is a viable financial alternative. The fact that the keyboard can be made to work with whatever OS sits below it is an intriguing proposition to boot — there’s nothing stopping Microsoft or Apple from running with these things short of a mismatch in vision.
The move works rather nicely for Synaptics too — the company’s touch layers have become ubiquitous in laptops and smartphones, but short of an appearance in Samsung’s 10-inch Galaxy Tab 2.0 Synaptics hasn’t had much success in cracking the tablet market.
“The tablet market has been evolving, and Synaptics has been criticized for being late to the game,” said Synaptics technology strategist Dr. Andrew Hsu. Granted, the tablet market is still relatively small compared to the handset business — while Synaptics’ presence in tablets has been modest, it hopes that partnering with Tactus can help them pick up steam in an already-crowded market.
It’s an incredibly neat concept and seems to work well enough in practice, but are people really clamoring for a return to more tactile way to interact with their devices? After all, big names in the mobile space like Samsung have been tinkering with ways to users to manipulate their gadgets without the need to lay a finger on them. In short, are touchier keyboards really the way forward? At least one person would probably agree, but as far as Tactus is concerned there’s nothing to stop an OEM from baking a whole host of interaction methods into a single device.
“What we’re seeing is a natural evolution,” Parthasarathy pointed out. “We don’t believe there is a single interaction mechanism that belongs on every device. Users will have a multitude of interface options, but serious content creation requires a physical interface.” We’ll soon see if the Tactus vision ultimately pans out — with any luck, that initial batch of Tactus tablets will go on sale a few months after appearing at CES.
This week the folks at Synaptics are making it clear what they’ve contributed to one of the most decorated gaming products at CES 2013: the Razer Edge Pro Gaming System. This machine has been shown as using none other than the Synaptics ClearPad 7300 Single-Chip Touch Controller, made with technology that’s able to work with not only this device, but a wide variety of devices across the touch spectrum.
What Synaptics does here is to work together with a variety of technologies from manufacturers from names you’ve very well heard of before on what the team calls “one of the most powerful tablets ever built”. Included in this tablet is Intel with their 3rd Gen (Ivy Bridge) Intel Core processors, NVIDIA with their excellent GeForce graphics galore, and of course Microsoft’s Windows 8. This is all under a lovely 10.1-inch multi-touch display with which you’ll be gaming all night long.
What Synaptics brings to the gadget universe – for Windows 8 in this case – is support for up to 12-inch displays with full tracking of 10 or more fingers at a time with their ClearPad 7300 technology. Synaptics has this tech ready for tablets, PCs, and everything in-between with all of this power contained in a single ACIC. Synaptics pushes this product as what they’re saying is needing the shortest development time to implement while costing the least, as well.
In the Razer Edge you’ll be seeing this technology burst to life starting in the first quarter of 2013. With what Vice President of Synaptics’ Smart Displays Division says about this situation is that “Optimal performance is key to the success of the Razer Edge, and ClearPad 7300 provides the most sophisticated and accurate finger tracking capability, crucial to gaming performance on tablet devices.” Sound pretty good to you? We’ll see this device again up close and personal soon!
Razer Edge Pro Gaming System touts Synaptics ClearPad touch technology is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Synaptics may have designs on becoming a keyboard company, but at heart, it’s a touch and sensor company. It’s realized that as tablet bezels get smaller, the greater the chance you’ll suffer unintended touches from the meaty parts of your paw. We’ve just spent time at a behind-closed-doors demonstration of Sensa, a grip-sending tablet that can work out which hand is you’re using to hold the device and therefore ignore its commands. Interested? We called it a read more link for a reason.
Continue reading Synaptics Sensa grip-sensing tablet concept hands-on
Filed under: Tablets
If you recall, Synaptics is looking to branch out from touchscreens and touchpads and break into a another kind of navigation device: keyboards. The company announced several months ago that it was working on the so-called ThinTouch keyboard, whose slim profile might make it an ideal fit for Ultrabooks and other lightweight laptops. Back when it was first announced, we got to play with small wooden tiles, each of which had a single key affixed to it.
More than anything, the idea was to demonstrate the unique key design, in which the buttons move diagonally, as opposed to up and down. That was an interesting exercise, but it obviously wasn’t the same as typing away on a full QWERTY layout. Here at CES, though, we finally got our chance to do just that: the company is demoing a full-sized keyboard, which has been retrofitted into an older Lenovo laptop. Follow past the break for some impressions, a demo video and a quick recap of the various features it’ll have once it’s actually ready for prime time.
Continue reading Fingers-on with Synaptics’ ThinTouch keyboard for Ultrabooks (video)
Filed under: Laptops
Everyone who regularly deals with cold winters knows the pain of using a smartphone in January — you’re usually forced to take your gloves off and risk frostbite if that call just can’t wait. Nokia’s new Lumia 820 and Lumia 920 phones bring in a Synaptics ClearPad Series 3 sensor whose responsiveness will keep those hands toasty. Super Sensitive Touch, as Nokia calls it, lets the capacitive surface react to more than just direct skin contact: it can recognize input through gloves, as well as from those with long fingernails. You’ll want to spring for the Lumia 920 if you envision updating Twitter during a sunny skiing trip, however. On top of that extra-large 1,280 x 768 resolution, the 920’s PureMotion HD+ display is reportedly about 25 percent brighter than its next-best rival. We’re looking forward to a real field test — not to mention preserving all the feeling in our fingers.
Filed under: Cellphones, Displays, Mobile
Nokia Lumia screens tout Synaptics tech for gloves-on use, 920 adds outdoor-friendly brightness originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 12:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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If you’ve been complaining about the thickness of your trackpad, Synaptics has something to show you. Their new Forcepad trackpad technology is wafer thin and uses a capacitive force sensor to register clicks and taps. The new trackpad offers 64 levels of sensitivity and can sense five fingers at once. There is no physical switch inside the trackpad so you won’t be able to “click” the pad anymore, but a sharp tap should get the job done.
Because there is no switch, the touchpad is far thinner than previous models and you can do a few clever tricks including controlling the scroll speed based on touchpad pressure. The technology should start making its way into hardware in 2013 so expect to see thinner, lighter laptop chassis in the next half year or so.
In addition to the touchpad technology, Synaptics is also working on ThinTouch capacitive keyboard keys. Unlike current keyboards that use “scissor” springs to pop back up when you touch them, these use capacitive controls that push the keys back up and can register the force of the keypress.
Anandtech notes that this could reduce the width of a keyboard by 50%, a great potential space savings for ultralight laptops.
Multitouch gestures on trackpads have become common place on laptops over the past few years, but they’re going to get a serious boost with the release of Windows 8. Synaptics is trying to make sure that the user experience will be up to snuff, today demoing its new ForcePad technology. The tech will not only bring improved sensitivity and multitouch gestures to touchpads, but also add support for force detection.
ForcePad will rely on pressure tracking instead of traditional mouse clicks, reducing the thickness of the touchpad as a result. Rather than having one set level for finger tracking, ForcePad will constantly adapt and tune itself, allowing the user to get the best performance possible out of the trackpad at all times. The technology is capable of detecting up to five fingers, and Synaptics is adding support for five new gestures that developers will be able to take advantage of in Windows 8 and apps.
Synaptics gave an interesting example for the force detection use: fast forwarding through a movie. Rather than clicking constantly to increase the speed of the fast forward, users could simply press harder on the trackpad to scroll faster through the movie. Once they let go, the movie would resume playing at normal speed.
The company has introduced a new keyboard technology too, designed for ultrabooks and thin notebooks. Synaptics has dubbed it ThinTouch, with the downpress of keys reduced to 2.5mm. Not only that, but the entire keyboard surface is equipped with a capacitive touch sensor, which could open the door for touch gestures on keyboards as well as the trackpad. Because the keys sit closer to the substrate, backlight levels for individual keys should also be much brighter.
Synaptics says that both technologies should start showing up in notebooks sometime in 2013, but didn’t go into details about which OEMs would be making use of the new features. The first ForcePad-enabled laptop should debut at CES 2013, so keep an eye out in January for a demo of the technology.
[via Gizmodo]
Synaptics ForcePad aims to improve laptop trackpads is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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