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Touch screens to be obsolete within a year or two - "Gesture Recognition"

iphones4evry1

iphones4evry1

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Bill Gates thinks he's going to one-up Apple by making touch screens obsolete. Hmmm. Sure, you could flick left and right on your phone or computer by waving your finger in the air, or play video games by waving your hands in the air... but if you want to click on a specific button on the screen, you can't just point to it. The margin of error would be huge. I think touch screens are always going to be required for certain tasks. Maybe a hybrid concept will be implemented. For certain commands, you can just wave your finger...for others, you will need to actually touch the screen.

Video of the new technology:
http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/playback/playback-63/1334841
 
iphones4evry1 said:
Bill Gates thinks he's going to one-up Apple by making touch screens obsolete. Hmmm. Sure, you could flick left and right on your phone or computer by waving your finger in the air, or play video games by waving your hands in the air... but if you want to click on a specific button on the screen, you can't just point to it. The margin of error would be huge. I think touch screens are always going to be required for certain tasks. Maybe a hybrid concept will be implemented. For certain commands, you can just wave your finger...for others, you will need to actually touch the screen.

Video of the new technology:
http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/playback/playback-63/1334841
Click to expand...

I think that look great for the xbox, I dont see any mention of wanting it on phones though, or did i miss that bit on it
 
That might work for menus on eg. DVD/blu ray players or games consoles, but I can't see it working on handheld phones..
 
isaaclimdc said:
Project Natal sounds totally kickass. Can't wait for it to come out!
Click to expand...

Agreed.. There wasn't any mention that touch screens would be obsolete, just keyboards and mouse..mice, mousi,whatever...

Natal does look awesome and it's definitely one up on Wii.

Though as far as integrating it on your computer, if you noticed you have to be pretty specific with your gestures...

Either way, it is very exciting.
 
I don't see what's so special about Project Natal. It looks to me like it's just a more advanced implementation of the PS2 EyeToy. Then again, I haven't looked into it that much, so by all means prove me wrong.

About the technology, I don't really think it will replace touch-screens. I'm sure there will be something that will replace them, maybe some kind of neural connection technology, but this seems to inaccurate to perform everyday tasks.
 
Sorry to say but this tech has been out since the Playstation 2 with the Eye-Toy. Rather old news. And no its not for phones.
 
I can just picture it now. Tons of people walking down the street waving their hands like crazy trying to use their phones. 😀
 
isaaclimdc said:
Project Natal sounds totally kickass. Can't wait for it to come out!
Click to expand...
Agree. Looks nice to me.

I didn't see where they said the touch interface was going to be obsolete in a year or two. Keyboards and mice, maybe.

Of course the demo was game focused which requires very little keyboard or mouse input.

I don't see this type of interface for a phone, PDA or other handheld devices.
 
Very few innovative technologies (like touch screens) are obsolete in that short of a timespan. The adoption rate simply isn't fast enough.

Even if the first phone came out WITH gesture recognition today, it wouldn't be for several years that it would be widespread enough for people to give up touch screens.

Also - gesture recognition wouldn't be appropriate for so many scenarios - business meetings for casually checking email, etc. And if you care the phone in your inside pocket - how would you answer a call, send to voicemail etc efficiently.

I liken gesture recognition more to voice dialing. It might get adopted as a cool added function. Perhaps for app control/gaming. But for day to day adding contacts, typing, making calls? Not so much.
 
Microsoft has a lot of R&D projects going on that the public rarely hears about. Like the way their Surface table was only revealed in response to Apple bragging about touch.

They came to secretly demo some handheld stuff to my research group about ten years ago, and it was way ahead of its time. Too far, actually. The right kind of mass produced hardware wasn't available yet.

Vision-based UIs are one large area they're interested in. From the Surface table, to Project Natal, to patent applications for vision based gestures on phones. (One version had camera chips along the sides of a phone, so it can "see" your orientation and movement without needing an accelerometer.)

What's needed is seamless integration between all kinds of input, just as we humans use daily. Vision, voice, touch.

Btw, where the heck are some smart Microsoft and Apple home robots? I'm getting older now, and the future isn't coming fast enough 🙂
 
Technology comes and make our life easier.Touch screens are now a days undoubtly the most attracting and popular technology.
I like Bill Gates as a pioneer of software industry.But i don't think he can make so easily touch screens obsolete.Some real problem arises here.But his ambition is appriciateable.
 
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