Modu may be down, but unlike one Ricky Hatton, it ain’t out. We haven’t heard a whole heck of a lot from the niche handset maker since it handed out pink slips to around one-forth of its workforce, but now that things are looking a bit brighter, it seems as if innovation is back in full force. In fact, a new report on the outfit has it that its next cellphone will pack a touchscreen in order to fit the mold of today’s finger-friendly array. Aside from being “iPhone like” (its words, not ours), little else is known about the forthcoming device, though we’re told that development should be complete in around eight months. So, anyone wagering that R&D accelerates that just a touch to get this thing out by CES 2010?
We thought it’d be a good idea to get all touchy-feely with Dell’s latest — and its most family friendly — all-in-one, the Studio One 19, and while there are things we like, there are certainly a bunch of things that we wish they had done differently. Although it’s already gotten some lukewarm reviews, we decided to put it through its paces and check it out for ourselves. Click on after the break for more of our impressions and what we really thought about this interesting machine.
Evidence continues to mount that Apple will deliver a touchscreen tablet next year, with an analyst laying out solid reasoning for this rumored device to become a reality. It appears more likely to be an oversized iPod Touch, not a tabletized MacBook.
“Between indications from our component contacts in Asia, recent patents relating to multi-touch sensitivity for more complex computing devices, comments from [chief operating officer] Tim Cook on the April 22 conference call, and Apple’s acquisition of PA Semi along with other recent chip-related hires, it is increasingly clear that Apple is investing more in its mobile-computing franchise,” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in a research statement issued to clients.
Apple’s next step in mobile computing will likely be the release of a touchscreen tablet featuring a 7-to-10-inch display sometime in the first half of 2010, Munster predicts.
Apple enthusiasts have been gossiping about a Mac tablet since July 2008, when the first rumor about the fabled device surfaced at MacDailyNews. Since then, a stream of clues, rumors and statements from Apple suggest this product will indeed join the Apple product family soon, as Gadget Lab has been reporting for several months.
Apple itself has steadfastly refused to confirm or deny any hint of an Apple tablet.
While in theory Apple could simply make a larger-screen iPod Touch, Munster believes creating a tablet will be more complex. He speculates the operating system will be a hybrid between the iPhone’s mobile operating system and Mac OS X. Or, Apple could optimize a version of Mac OS X for the multitouch interface.
Price range? Munster is guessing between $500 and $700, positioning this device as Apple’s response to netbooks.
At its recent quarterly earnings call, Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook said the company had no plans to release a netbook, calling the device category “junky.”
“For us, it’s about doing great products,” Cook said. “And when I look at what is being sold in the netbook space today, I see cramped keyboards, terrible software, junky hardware, very small screens and just not a consumer experience … that we would put the Mac brand on, quite frankly.”
Dell’s touchscreen Studio One 19’s been showboating around the States for a few weeks now, so it’s no surprise to see the verdicts start rolling in. Computer Shopper’s just reviewed the unit, and while they give it points for its slim and stylish form factor, and for the implementation of the touchscreen, they take away a few for the cloth-laden accents, and complain that the high-end models are expensive and underpowered. They’re basically fans of the lower-end configurations, but warn that they don’t really think the unit would be very family friendly. There’s one more shot of the 19 after the break, and hit the read link for the full review.
“World’s Lightest*,” says so right in the Panasonic press release. What’s that? It’s a qualified statement? Oh we see it now, it’s the world’s lightest Full-HD AVCHD camcorder. Well, that’ll make Sanyo’s lawyers happy. Anyway, the new Pannys bring SD/SDHC card support, touch-screen control, intelligent auto scene selection and AF tracking along with Panasonic’s optical image stabilization to keep the shake under control while zooming in at a 16x optical max. The TM10 differs from the SD10 in that it records to 40GB of internal storage before automatically switching to SDHC/SD cards of up to 32GB. The cameras also feature a 3 second Pre-Rec function that continuously pre-records content into an internal buffer which is then added to the beginning of the clip as soon as you hit record — never miss a goal again. Pricing in the UK is set at £529.99 for the HDC-TM10 and £499.99 for the HDC-SD10 with June availability.
Asus’ Eee PC T91 has gotten its first review ahead of the reported late May / early June UK launch, and those cats at TechRadar seem quite smitten with the swivel-proficient touchscreen netbook. Battery life is said to be solid, though points are deducted for not being replaceable. Some issues with the resistive touchscreen also plagued the pre-production model, and while the company assures those kinks are being worked out, we can’t help but worry they’ll invariably still find their way into the finished product, and that glossy display will no doubt keep the memories of fingerprints long after you want it to. Despite these concerns, the review gives much love for the overall performance, video playback, build quality, and keyboard. At £449 ($688), it ain’t the cheapest option on the market, but we do appreciate Asus straying a bit from its tried and true netbook formula. Now how about news on a stateside release, eh?
Just a hunch, call us crazy, but these latest numbers from LG and Samsung seem to indicate that touchscreen phones are pretty popular — both companies have sold over 20 million of ’em. That’s somewhere around 1.6 million touchscreens a month for the past two years, and with new Samsung sets like the i7500 and LG’s massive array of Windows Mobile devices set to hit this year, we doubt things will slow down anytime soon.
It’s not exactly as impressive as a touch panel with unlimited points of input, but this new resistive touch panel with 9-point detection from Touchpanel Laboratories is still a cut above most and, better still, it seems to actually be ready to head into production. Unfortunately, details are otherwise a bit light, but the company does say that they’re able to make panels ranging in size from four to 15 inches. Touchpanel Labs didn’t stop there, however, and also took the opportunity to show off a touchpanel that can be installed on curved surfaces, as well as a touchpanel-based ordering system specifically designed for use in restaurants, which it intends to install in “bars located around the company.”
Memorex’s TouchMP MP3 player may not exactly do much to stand out from the pack of PMPs, but it does only cost $99, which is no doubt enough to earn it some serious consideration from at least some potential customers. According to the folks at CNET, however, while they likely won’t find themselves too disappointed by the player, they also shouldn’t expect something that rivals ones costing twice as much. On the upside, while the touchscreen interface isn’t much to look at, it apparently does get the job done fairly effectively, and the player itself boasts a pretty impressive battery life of 50 hours for music or 3 hours for video. Then again, while the PalmPilot-esque design is nice enough, CNET says that the player “feels as cheap as its price,” and that its sound and video quality is merely “acceptable.” Hit up the read link below for the complete rundown, plus a quick video overview of the player.
BlackBerry and iPhone users might argue endlessly about which keyboard is better, but a new prototype display could bridge their divide: It combines touchscreen technology with physical buttons that appear or disappear, depending on the application.
Two doctoral students at the Carnegie Mellon University have developed a screen with three functions: pop-up buttons and keypads can appear and disappear, the user can touch input and the screen can render graphics.
“It is rare to be able to do all three in a single display,” says Chris Harrison, a Ph.D. researcher at the Human Computer Interaction lab at CMU. Harrison, along with Scott Hudson, published a paper last month explaining how the displays would work.
“It is tough to create a physically deformable surface that can still do graphics pretty well,” he says.
It is a “thought provoking” project that plays into the emerging field of dynamic tactile displays, says Johnny Lee, a researcher at Microsoft’s Applied Sciences Group, who read Harrison’s paper early on but otherwise not connected with the research. “It’s a really, really interesting and stimulating idea,” he says.
“As humans we are very tactile individuals,” says Lee. “Touch is our primary sense as we navigate the world but touchscreens don’t allow us to use it.”
Despite the popularity of touchscreens, many users still prefer physical buttons. Physical buttons offer a low-attention way of interacting with display. And they are especially useful in situations where users don’t want to completely concentrate on a task on the screen. For instance, in cars, drivers have to take their eyes off the road to change the volume on a radio with a touchscreen. Physical buttons, especially if they could change dynamically depending on task, would let the driver touch something and keep her eyes on the road, says Harrison.
Harrison’s research is sure to gnerate interest among companies ttrying to bring more tactile feedback to touchscreens. Research In Motion attempted to bring the physical feel of clicking on a keypad to its BlackBerry Storm touchscreen. The move fell short of many users’ expectations. But it has left the door open to other attempts that can more successfully mimic the sensation of hitting a real button on a multitouch display.
The latest prototype display uses rear projection for the visual display and infrared lighting and a camera setup behind the display for the multitouch input.
In its simplest form, the prototype involves creating an air chamber by layering several specially-cut pieces of clear acrylic. A thin sheet of translucent latex is draped on top of this to act as a deformable projection surface. The air chamber is then negatively or positively pressurized to create small pop-up buttons that mimic the feel of real physical ones.
“The tiny conduits of air actuate the display to create the different button options for users,” says Harrison.
Though the early prototype allowed it to work only in large installations, the researchers have been able to miniaturize it for screens as small as mobile phones. But they still face some major limitations.
“Using pneumatic pumps to do the actuation is a little bit power consuming,” says Lee. “That limits the environments it can be used in.” The latex material also used in the displays can be damaged or punctured, especially with repeated use, says Lee. But those roadblocks can be overcome with use of different materials and pressure mechanisms, he says.
“As a proof of concept the idea is very interesting ,” says Lee.
Photo: Prototype ATM display shows different pop up buttons it can offer/Chris Harrison
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