Touchless touchscreens may be just a software update away

10 years ago | Posted in: Technology | 625 Views

The next big thing is already here – touchless touchscreens.

Touching a phone’s screen will soon be a thing of the past – so soon the technology is only a software update away for some of the most popular smartphones already on the market.

Touchscreen maker Synaptics unveiled technology Monday that makes it possible to detect fingers from a quarter of an inch away. It’s called ‘Air Touch.’

The technology has the ability to wake up a smartphone, bring a keyboard onscreen or any number of tasks, according to NBC News.

Synaptics demonstrated the new functionality on a Samsung Galaxy S4, but told NBC it could work on a number of recently released devices.

Touchscreens currently work by detecting electrical currents that pass through a fingertip or stylus, and translate that to select links, start apps and scroll.

Devices can also sense the electrical charge generated by static electricity that results in shocking others, as NBC noted, but no devices could take advantage of that until now.

A Synaptics ‘Air Touch’ demonstration viewed by NBC showed to be ‘sensitive, accurate… and very useful,’ but it is for now limited to only one application.

A calendar app easily showed details for appointments and scrolled with ease – without touching the screen. The only thing holding the technology back is developer implementation, Synaptics told NBC.

Fragmentation among operating systems, multiple phone manufacturers and carrier restrictions could make the road to touchless a long one, but at least it’s viable.

Synaptics is not putting all its eggs in one basket, it already produces touchscreens for several electronics companies.

Phone makers have not yet commented on whether it will make it onto devices released later this year.

source: dailymail UK

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