Touched by Technology
Weekend Update Megapixel Giant Touch Map
Touch interfaces seem to be showing up on more and more products. ATM machines, elevators, GPS navigational devices, airplane seat mounted displays, gas pumps, airport check in kiosks, phones and even television news programming are exploiting this rapidly evolving interaction model. SNL’s Weekend Update couldn’t resist spoofing the use of giant screen multitouch interfaces during the 2008 election. Remember back in the late 70’s when SNL spoofed a newly introduced twin bladed razor by suggesting one with 3 blades? Now you can really shave with one that has 5. Although it’s easy to poke fun at some of the more gratuitous uses of touch, when done right it can be a very simple and useful way to interact with a device.
Was this really a breakthrough design?
My first experience with a touch interface was in an elevator that was sporting some new fangled “buttons” that didn’t move. You just lightly touched the button area and your selection glowed with an eery orange frame. As I recall, they worked based on sensing body heat. Believe it or not they could even be activated by breathing heavily on them. Don’t ask me how I know that. Not too much of a game changer in the user experience department.
Pong would have benefited from a touch interface
The first real “on screen” touch interface I remember using was an early 1980’s ATM machine. It would seem crude by todays standards with it’s green screen larger-than-life pixels, and crude typography; but it did work. There certainly weren’t any 3D rendered icons or complex menu structures to deal with. The user interface wasn’t much more sophisticated than the first arcade video game. If only you could have played pong using touch instead of those cumbersome knobs. It would have been much more entertaining.
Finger sized GPS touch user interface
Touch really got it’s start in public spaces. It’s only been within the last few years that we are purchasing mainstream end user personal devices that have very sophisticated touch interfaces. Many of them are very enjoyable to use. I just recently bought a wonderful GPS unit for my car that only has one button to turn it on or off. Even that button is carefully hidden from view while using it. I’m sure this was not done by accident. It is so simple and intuitive to use that I have yet to crack open the instruction manual. It’s still neatly wrapped in the cellophane. I honestly used the thing fresh out of the package to navigate from the store parking lot to a new distination. Kudos to the designers for sizing the icons perfectly for fingers, considering the user environment, and not cluttering the screen with a million “might as well include them” functions. Simple is the key to success.
With the emergence of touch on Windows 7 it will be fascinating to see how this technology impacts the personal computer. Watch this space carefully.
David Hill
Lenovo Meet the Modder Dean Liou
Lenovo Meet the modder- Chris Blarsky Dairy 2
Lenovo Meet the modder- Chris Blarsky Dairy 1
Lenovo H320 desktop
September 9th, 2009 5:58 pm
I really do think that pong wouldn’t have benefited from a touch interface. It was my first video game (at the age of seven i think) and part of the game was to master the inacuracy of the controls. What fun would it be just to point your finger at the right position?
That also applies to modern games. Some days ago i saw somebody playing a game on his phone (maybe an iphone – i really can’t recall). It was a racing game and he had to move his thumb over the screen to steer the car. It effectively made the game unplayable, because to control where he as driving he had to block his sight from where he was supposed to drive. Buttons or a touchpad of some sort below the screen would have led to a much better gaming experience.
The best “UI” of an elevator i can recall were the “buttons” back from the at my university. They must have been there since the 60s and were recently replaced by something that is easily touched (and easily by mistake). The old buttons were solid an mechanical. You had to push them an inch into the wall, but they were still protruding. If you pushed the wrong button you could pull them out again. With the new buttons you can only watch the doors open and close again at the wrong floor. It’s 14 stories and a pain if someone leans accidently agains them.
Well, i guess, i like buttons (and there’s hardly anything a great as rotary knobs!). That said, i’m also excited how touch UIs will impact the personal computer.
September 9th, 2009 7:42 pm
In my opinion touch technology still needs to solve the age old problem of accumulating fingerprints on the touch surface (think about the touch controls on the Sony PS3 console in piano black). The device will need the ability of differentiating touch activation of a finger from cleaning / wiping action of a cloth. I think my Tissot T-Touch watch is quite good at this but just not perfect since sometimes the wiping action of a cloth can still induce static (which is iirc how the watch senses activation from a finger). The best solution of avoiding accidental activation all these years I’ve seen so far is the HOLD sliding switch from Sony.
One advantage I can think of with touch interface on a computer is the manipulation of several different functions by using the same surface as icons being presented can vary (if it is a screen).
Though I still think only a well manufactured button or knob can transmit the sense of substance and quality (think high end audio equipment – light touch and no wobble).
Just a little off topic but I especially like the lit up mic button on the T400s, an old idea that is often ignored due to cost (i.e. the ventilation controls of old Honda cars had this feature but eventually erased after a decade or two).
September 9th, 2009 8:40 pm
Krayzie, Another argument in favor of anti glare screens. Glad you like the buttons on the T400s. I really like them as well.
September 9th, 2009 10:56 pm
also, when the audio-mute and mic-mute buttons are both on, it provides a visual guide to the volume-switch rocker when it’s dark.
just love the t400s…hope they put the same keyboard on the x210
September 9th, 2009 10:58 pm
touch button maybe useful in areas where dust accumulation is problem. Ultraclean environment like those used in manufacturing of drugs often use touch interface, as it is easy to clean and the electronics are not affected, when harsh solvents are used to clean the room once in a while.
Now the Blackberry Onyx have a touch navigation button instead of the roll ball, which is unreliable due to the accumulation of dirts and stuffs.
September 9th, 2009 11:26 pm
Touch technology is the way to go but it isn’t always better than a standard mechanical buttons. And unfortunately there already are a lot of examples when it is used as a selling point, not as something improving the user experience.
One example from my desk – a monitor with touch sensitive areas under the display instead of normal buttons. When I’m changing the brightness and have to “press” repeatedly while looking at the display, my finger slowly moves away because I can not feel the button under the finger. So after a few presses I have to look away and reposition my finger by finding the marking. And don’t even ask how do I do it when it’s dark.
So I’m looking forward for the new applications of the touch technologies with hope that it won’t become a selling gimmick seen everywhere.
September 10th, 2009 1:41 am
Dave, do you really not mind fingerprints on your screen? Even if it’s matte, i still get irate if i find some.
This is the main point keeping me from tablets.
If there were no marks on the screen from touching it, i would like touch displays a lot.
Currently i do not yet see that many improvements over a precise trackpoint and the offerins by a multitouch touchpad. The touch on the screen would replace the mouse and make window handling and basic image editing more intuitive.
OK, and gaming, but i’m not into this.
Therefore i’m very curious, what ideas exist to use the possibility to take lets say ten finger positions simultaneously as controlling input to the computer.
cheers
Hecke
September 10th, 2009 7:55 am
So, is lenovo going to release a tablet with wacom’s multi-touch & pen sensor, like the newly announced fujitsu tablet? that’s what i want.
September 10th, 2009 7:57 am
Touch screen interface is really something. But I have to agree with the fingerprint issue, still, I don’t see much fingerprints on my T43 very matte screen.
Handling Windows 7 with touch screen is really an alluring thought… with the Aero Snap doing all sorts of good things by just drawing the windows around and about on the screen.
And come to think of it, only thing I’ve tried so far with a touchscreen that I liked is the iPhone / iPod touch. And that is all because the responsiveness in the screen and the graphics. I believe this is a must for a touch interface to be succesful.
But that iPhone, as most Apple products, is really super-glossy. I like the fact that they have done it full out, I don’t think semi-something is good. Either really matte or really glossy. But when given the choice, I’ll always go with the first. Except for car paint!
But on the other hand, here is a hybrid I like. http://www.soundcraft.com/prod.....px?pid=147
It’s a high end live sound console (mixer), from a rather well-known brand. But the interesting thing is the Vistonics II interface. It’s a touchscreen, with rotary knobs on it! The mapping of the controls is shown at the controls, there are real knobs, they can do mulitple tasks. Talk about best from both worlds!
Talking about UI:s we may mention the Lenovo website. Crap. What to do? Well, we can at least complain about it…
September 10th, 2009 7:58 am
oh, and in addition, i’d like that wacom multi-touch & pen screen in at least 144DPI, and in a slate form factor. 9-10 inch screen, though 12 inches would be fine if the slate was nice and thin.
September 10th, 2009 8:09 am
Acutally I’ve seen recent stainless steel finish kitchen appliances where they apply some sort of coating to achieve fingerprint-free. Certainly a similar solution can be applied to touch screens?
Oh I gotta revised what I said about Honda ventilation control buttons it seems that they still have lit ones now just that the indicator light on each button isn’t as big as before, rather very very tiny.
September 10th, 2009 9:49 am
I think the first instance of a touch button on a product was in a vinyl record (LP) player made by Philips in the early seventies. The player had somewhat limited distribution in the USA but made a splash in Europe and South America. Disregarding the fact that one sets the speed and turns on and off the player before and after putting needle to vinyl, it was easy to market these buttons as a feature that would not disturb the record while playing! Nevertheless, it was an excellent product.
Going back to touch screens, what I don’t like is the fact that manufacturers will often latch on to a new gimmick at the expense of improving the alternatives. In some cases a manufacturer will even refrain from offering two input methods in the same device for fear of it detracting from “featured” input method. One case in point is the touch screen-only Viliv S5. This is a device I would have bought without hesitation had the manufacturer chosen a digitizer that would accept both a stylus and touch.
I do like the touch screen on my iPod Touch. It is quite amazing and sufficient for the uses Apple initially envisioned for it. Some apps available for it that enable things like draw with your fingers, write a note with your fingers, etc, makes me wonder what it could’ve been though. There is an app I like a bit that emulates my trusty HP-41C calculator. It does the job in a pinch but if you used a real 41 with its wonderful tactile feedback you will never he able to adjust.
September 10th, 2009 12:36 pm
@MarceloR
I think the feedback is a very important point in even the tiniest button. It’s an interesting point, that I think the iPhone / iPod Touch is the best so far in using a touchscreen. And that is, because the feedback, though purely graphical, is instant. When you do something, the UI respond.
And the feedback of the keyboard is one thing I love with my ThinkPad. I have only one other device that is in the same league – and wins it! This is my calculator – an HP 50g. Those buttons makes almost everything else feel ridiculously sloppy! And especially a few other calculators – I wont call them competitors.
September 13th, 2009 4:53 pm
Please if designing a tablet, consider 4:3 again. Also make resolution more than 1280×800. This is why I’m typing this on X61t with 1400×1050 instead of X200t.
September 15th, 2009 3:11 am
I see there is a T400s with multi-touch now. Will there be inking capabilities on this type of screen? Is this capacitive multi-touch going to be transferred to the x200t also? Thanks and keep up the good work on the designs
September 15th, 2009 5:32 am
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September 15th, 2009 8:29 am
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September 15th, 2009 12:03 pm
David, I’m in the market for a GPS, so can you say the brand and model of the unit you recently purchased?
September 22nd, 2009 5:18 pm
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March 28th, 2010 10:26 pm
Let the debate start now!