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Posts Tagged ‘Onyx’

Onyx scoops Interaction & Communication award

By Chris Davies on Monday, Jan 1st 2007 1 Comment

Looks like some congratulations are in order!  Our friends over at Synaptics have been awarded the red dot online design concept award for Interaction & Communication for their Onyx prototype, as exclusively featured on SlashGear back in October 2006.  Onyx is a new paradigm in gesture interface, where users control their cellphones via one and two-fingered sweeps, flicks and shapes.

Onyx on-screen volume control wheel

We’re still waiting to see the first commercial application of the technology, which combined Synaptics’ proximal sensor pads and Pilotfish’s GUI design, so let’s hope that 2007 is the year for it!  Congratulations again, guys.

red dot online [via Coolest Gadgets]

Apple Hand-Held Patent leans further towards Onyx

By Chris Davies on Friday, Sep 8th 2006 No Comments

Apple patentIf you can stomach reading something a little more in-depth than the usual ephemeral internet dross, and you’re interested (is there anybody who isn’t?) in the prospect of an Apple-made cellphone, it’s worth taking a look at Neo’s summary of recent Apple touchscreen-related patents over at MacNN.com. 

Regular SlashGear readers might find most interesting the similarities between some of Apple’s patents and the promised functionality of the Onyx concept phone.  Okay, so “Touchscreen” and “Multi-functionality” could apply to any old Treo or Windows Mobile PDA-phone, but when they throw in “differentiating between light and hard touches”, “motion activated input device” and “3-D spatial gestures” they’re obviously talking about a pretty unique hand-held.  Continued »

Analyst says “the iPhone is coming” so look busy

By Chris Davies on Wednesday, Sep 6th 2006 1 Comment

Not wishing to be a sour old minx, but I don’t think it would be to-the-core shaking to say that the last Apple keynote was a bit of an anti-climax. What seems like a billion salivating fanboys (and more than a few interested-despite-themselves Microsofties) now begin taking a very deep breath in the hope that September 12th will see some exciting unveiling. The cynics amongst our ranks – those who haven’t yet been beaten out with birch twigs – might mutter something about Apple needing a big, headline grabbing release to take away the sour taste of exploding batteries and a variety of Intel-powered MacBook woes.

Shaw WuStep forward into the light Mister Shaw Wu, an analyst from American Technology Research, who has decided now is the time to lend his research-clad shoulder to the rumours of an Apple Cellphone. Half-informative details abound: three colours, possibly white, black and titanium (to match the existing core Apple line); a candy-bar form factor similar to the Nano; and the so-called “right blend” of phone and PMP. Wu also suggests that while the branding will be Apple, the FCC filing will be via the OEM manufacturer (as Microsoft has done with its Toshiba-made Zune).

Continued »

Synaptics and Pilotfish Collaborate to Develop Next Generation Mobile Phone Concept

By Chris Davies on Sunday, Aug 20th 2006 11 Comments

After Apple’s drearily uninteresting Bumnote, sorry, Keynote earlier this month, I’ve been waiting for my electronic twiddly bits to get perked up by some exciting tech news. I think today might be the day… Synaptics and Pilotfish Collaborate to Develop Next Generation Mobile Phone Concept

SlashGear has received a press release and an internal document about Onyx, a collaborative cellphone project by touch-sensor specialists Synaptics and industrial design wizards Pilotfish. Unlike many concepts, where a sleek, headline grabbing shell either runs standard software or nothing at all, or a new platform runs on bland reference hardware, part of the charm of Onyx comes from the harmony of the software/hardware interface. In fact it’s this interface – and your interaction with it – that potentially makes Onyx the product of 2006.

Synaptics and Pilotfish Collaborate to Develop Next Generation Mobile Phone Concept
“The real meaning of this product is about opening up the channels between hand, eyes, and device, and giving people access to actions and information in a way not possible with conventional buttons” [Brian Conner, Pilotfish]

Continued »