Essay on Multi-touch Devices

Submitted By lucasscaceres
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Pages: 5
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The Power of Multi-Touch For decades we have been looking into the future, hoping, dreaming and fantasizing about what we could do with technology. Scientists, computer programmers, engineers and visionaries have all envisioned what could be possible in the future and teased us with the notions of these visions. Many movies over the past thirty to forty years have been the perfect way for these visionaries to put their dreams into a sort of reality, a way to view what they have thought up in their mind. Though, of course since they were only visions of what could be, most times they used SF (special effects) and/or CGI (computer generated imagery) to show off what they had created. In only the last 10-15 years have some of these science fiction dreams finally become a reality. This is because technology is moving so quickly these days. Every three to six months we have something new being developed that years ago would be more like five to ten years apart if not more. A great example of one of these technologies would be multi-touch. It is a very simple idea that has taken decades to go from idea to reality to something we can now use everyday. The definition of Multi-Touch is in the name it self, multi, meaning multiple and touch, meaning something that can be interacted with a simple touch on a computerized surface. There are many more things that can be done with multi-touch over a regular single touch interface. For years we have had screens and the software for single touch technology. Single touch can be very limited, one might say just as limited as a point and click mouse set up is.
For example, when using an ATM the user touches the screen to make a selection of the available options. This exact function could be done with a simple point and click interface with a mouse. Using basic single touch technology makes this process a bit faster and more convenient, but has no significant advantage. On the other hand, with multi-touch technology, there are many more tasks that can be done other then simply touching to click or select an object or field on a screen. What multi-touch devices offer is a sort of “less is more” ideology. A single device that can transform itself into whatever interface is appropriate for the specific task at hand. Multi-touch greatly expands the types of gestures that we can use in interactions. We can go beyond simple pointing, button pushing and dragging that has dominated our interaction with computers in the past. In terms of pointing devices like mice and joysticks are concerned, we do everything by manipulating just one point around the screen. There is no need for this limitation. Now the possibilities are endless. Not only can you have more than one finger in use on the screen at a time, you can have more than one person manipulating the screen at one. In February of 2006 Jeff Han’s demonstrated his new “Minority Report” style multi-touch screen in Monterey California. The crowd went wild during his presentation. Each and every gesture he made moved them; they could not believe their eyes. It was as if what they were seeing was straight out of a science fiction movie. Those dreams that we spoke about earlier were finally coming into fruition. No more science fiction; this was now reality. He spoke about how the “interface just disappears”. It is something that the end user after switching to one of these devices wouldn’t even notice. The fact is that it just works, what you need is there only when you need it. A great example of this would be the Apple iPhone or iPad. The iPhone can be viewed as the first mass-produced commercialized multi-touch device that ever went to market. Before the iPhone multi-touch was not very popular or even well known. Since 2007 when the first iPhone was introduced the iPod touch and iPad have been released. The iPad has now become the most popular tablet. All three devices use multi-touch. They are a great example of that “less is more” ideology.
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