What Synaptics does here is to work together with a variety of technologies from manufacturers from names you’ve very well heard of before on what the team calls “one of the most powerful tablets ever built”. Included in this tablet is Intel with their 3rd Gen (Ivy Bridge) Intel Core processors, NVIDIA with their excellent GeForce graphics galore, and of course Microsoft’s Windows 8. This is all under a lovely 10.1-inch multi-touch display with which you’ll be gaming all night long.

What Synaptics brings to the gadget universe – for Windows 8 in this case – is support for up to 12-inch displays with full tracking of 10 or more fingers at a time with their ClearPad 7300 technology. Synaptics has this tech ready for tablets, PCs, and everything in-between with all of this power contained in a single ACIC. Synaptics pushes this product as what they’re saying is needing the shortest development time to implement while costing the least, as well.

In the Razer Edge you’ll be seeing this technology burst to life starting in the first quarter of 2013. With what Vice President of Synaptics’ Smart Displays Division says about this situation is that “Optimal performance is key to the success of the Razer Edge, and ClearPad 7300 provides the most sophisticated and accurate finger tracking capability, crucial to gaming performance on tablet devices.” Sound pretty good to you? We’ll see this device again up close and personal soon!

ForcePad will rely on pressure tracking instead of traditional mouse clicks, reducing the thickness of the touchpad as a result. Rather than having one set level for finger tracking, ForcePad will constantly adapt and tune itself, allowing the user to get the best performance possible out of the trackpad at all times. The technology is capable of detecting up to five fingers, and Synaptics is adding support for five new gestures that developers will be able to take advantage of in Windows 8 and apps.

Synaptics gave an interesting example for the force detection use: fast forwarding through a movie. Rather than clicking constantly to increase the speed of the fast forward, users could simply press harder on the trackpad to scroll faster through the movie. Once they let go, the movie would resume playing at normal speed.

The company has introduced a new keyboard technology too, designed for ultrabooks and thin notebooks. Synaptics has dubbed it ThinTouch, with the downpress of keys reduced to 2.5mm. Not only that, but the entire keyboard surface is equipped with a capacitive touch sensor, which could open the door for touch gestures on keyboards as well as the trackpad. Because the keys sit closer to the substrate, backlight levels for individual keys should also be much brighter.

Synaptics says that both technologies should start showing up in notebooks sometime in 2013, but didn’t go into details about which OEMs would be making use of the new features. The first ForcePad-enabled laptop should debut at CES 2013, so keep an eye out in January for a demo of the technology.

[via Gizmodo]

The new ClearPad 2200 capacitive multi-touch screen will be the company’s first to use its SignaClarity technology, which boosts the signal-to-noise ratio for improved accuracy in finger tracking and separation. It uses advanced filtering and noise mitigation algorithms so that other components won’t interfere while it can still be flexible enough to support various sensor stack-ups.

Since the latest and greatest smartphones are all measuring at least 4.3-inches in screen size these days, with some going the extreme of tablet-phone hybrids, such as the Galaxy Note, the ClearPad 2200 will target smaller entry-level smartphones. This will give lower-range devices improved touchscreen response and accuracy. The new screen will be shown off at Mobile World Congress next week in Barcelona.

[via Engadget]

That adds up to a smaller interface and, since the integrated display tech itself is thinner, the whole gadget – whether smartphone, tablet or PMP – can be smaller. Synaptics is working alongside display manufacturers and expects to be offering the first ClearPad Series 4 options to OEMs in the first half of 2011.

Press Release:

Synaptics Introduces World’s First Capacitive Multi-Touch Interface Solutions for use with Integrated Displays in Mobile Devices

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Feb. 8, 2011 – Synaptics Incorporated (NASDAQ: SYNA), announced today the world’s first line of capacitive multi-touch interface solutions for use with integrated displays, the ClearPad™ Series 3 and Series 4. With on-cell and in-cell integrated displays, Synaptics makes it possible to seamlessly enable capacitive multi-touch sensing in mobile devices. Both ClearPad Series 3 and Series 4 are on-cell and in-cell display ready.

The ClearPad Series 4’s revolutionary approach combines Synaptics state-of-the-art ClearPad multi-touch technology with the display driver (DDI) into a single-chip solution that delivers the most advanced display noise management and best-in-class capacitive sensing performance. Synaptics’ display integration solutions provide cost effective capacitive multi-touch interfaces for mobile devices and provide the thinnest form factor with the complete elimination of a discrete sensor.

“Display-integrated touch is a whole new paradigm for touch sensor design, enabling our customers to deliver a thinner, higher-performing, multi-touch experience to the end user. ClearPad Series 3 and our new Series 4 solution are the only products on the market that can offer this” said Kevin Barber, senior vice president and general manager of the Handheld Division at Synaptics. “Series 4 further expands the design options with touch-enabled DDI, enabling display manufacturers to develop their display product offerings with Synaptics touch interfaces.”

“Integrating touch into display is the best way to lower cost, reduce components, reduce weight/thickness, and improve performance.” said Dr. Jennifer Colegrove, vice president, Emerging Display Technologies at DisplaySearch. “The worldwide market value of touch screen modules will reach about $14 billion in 2016, from $4.3 billion in 2009.”

Synaptics is actively working with leading display companies to serve major OEMs worldwide. ClearPad Series 3 and Series 4 for display integration solutions will be available in the first half of 2011. For more detailed information contact visit www.synaptics.com.

Unsurprisingly, the company is billing the new touch-panels as offering high accuracy, low latency, a high report rate and precise finger disambiguation.  They should start showing up on various different devices, too, since they support Windows 7 touch together with Linux-based OSes such as Android and, we’re guessing, Google Chrome OS.

Synaptics expects the first OEM products using the ClearPad 7200 Series panels to hit the market in late 2010, though there’s no word on how the new touchscreens compare in price to existing capacitive technology.

Press Release:

Synaptics Enters Large Touchscreen Market with Introduction of ClearPad™ 7200 Series

Technology Positioned to Address Growing Market Popularity of Consumer Electronics Devices with Screens as Large as 10.1”

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – July 27, 2010 – Addressing the growing trend of large touchscreen consumer electronics products, Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA), a leading developer of human interface solutions for mobile computing, communications, and entertainment devices, is announcing its ClearPad™ 7200 Series technology offering. Utilizing the feature-rich capability offered by Synaptics-designed all points addressable full image sensor technology, the ClearPad 7200 Series is ideal for OEMs designing a wide range of products that require multi-finger touch capability, including clamshell notebooks, slates/tablets, and “fourth screen” devices like digital photo frames and electronics readers.

The “fourth screen” category, which includes electronic readers, digital home controllers, and digital photo frames, is providing new ways for end users to create and consume content in a versatile multi-function capable device. These devices shed traditional keyboards and excessive buttons, substituted with a new demanding interaction model that is touch and gestures-based. High-performance touchscreen performance is critical for consumers to fully immerse themselves in the user experience of products.

“2010 will be remembered as the year when the slate category emerged as a compelling new form factor that consumers enthusiastically embraced for digital media consumption and untethered access to the Internet,” said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies. “Touchscreen functionality is becoming a ‘must have’ feature that consumers are demanding to empower their digital lifestyles.”

Designed to support glass-based screens up to 10.1”, the ClearPad 7200 Series utilizes a high-performance, multi-ASIC based architecture that has the ability to distinguish up to 10 simultaneous finger touches and complex multi-finger gestures (such as pinch and rotate) with fine accuracy, low latency, high report rate, and precise finger disambiguation. Because consumer electronics products with large touchscreen requirements, like slates, are increasingly utilizing rich graphical user interfaces, the ClearPad 7200 Series is perfectly suited for products that require advanced power management and highly accurate sensing. The ClearPad 7200 Series, which will implement algorithms that provide accurate gesture detection, will support both I2C and USB interfaces, which is most commonly needed with consumer electronics devices that support Microsoft Windows 7 and Linux-based operating systems like Google Android. In addition, the Synaptics ClearPad 7200 Series will be fully compliant with the Microsoft Windows 7 Touch API for large touchscreens by being fully tested and certified in the Windows Hardware Quality Labs (“WHQL”).

“The ClearPad Series 7200 Series will allow Synaptics to address the tremendous opportunity in the large touchscreen space as users increasingly embrace consumer electronics devices with finger-based touch requirements,” said Mark Vena, senior vice president and general manager of Synaptics PC division. “Synaptics’ incomparable expertise in the handheld category with small touchscreens, strengthened by its TouchPad™ leadership in the notebook category, allows us to provide design, performance, and functionality advantages that go directly to our value proposition with customers.”

Beginning immediately, Synaptics will work with OEMs and ecosystem suppliers on select “alpha” product engagements that will utilize ClearPad 7200 Series technology. Synaptics anticipates that OEM products featuring ClearPad 7200 Series technology will ship in late 2010.

About Synaptics
Synaptics (NASDAQ: SYNA) is a leading developer of human interface solutions for the mobile computing, communications, and entertainment industries. The company creates interface solutions for a variety of devices including notebook PCs, PC peripherals, digital music players, and mobile phones. The TouchPad™, Synaptics’ flagship product, is integrated into a majority of today’s notebook computers. Consumer electronics and computing manufacturers use Synaptics’ solutions to enrich the interaction between humans and intelligent devices through improved usability, functionality, and industrial design. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. www.synaptics.com

Synaptics has been showing off a new ClickPad with interesting innovations in gesture control at Computex this week. Among the innovations is the first multi-finger PC TouchPad-IS family of products. The new touch pad can recognize input from four fingers at once and has SmartSense technology.

This tech prevents accidental activation of the cursor when the users palm contacts the touch pad. That is a huge innovation and one that should be used on all netbooks. Synaptics is also showing off its ClickEQ hinge-less uniform force, uniform click depth ClickPad mechanical design. Basically it’s a track pad with no buttons, the track pad itself acts as the buttons. The tech is aimed at smaller machines like netbooks where a larger gesture area is desired.

Video demo after the cut

The concept behind Fuse is that a touchscreen and/or D-pad is not always the best way to control a mobile device, especially if you’re trying to do so single-handed. Instead, Synaptics have used their various sensor technologies to suggest alternative paradigms for use: the Fuse has a capacitive touchscreen, but it also gets accelerometers, a rear-panel trackpad and side-mounted pressure sensors.

Squeeze the sides, for instance, and then tilt the phone up and down, and it scrolls through the main menu; a quick squeeze flicks from the current app to the homescreen. Alternatively you can run a finger across the trackpad on the back, and the icons bulge to show where you’re virtually touching. Everything is accompanied by haptic feedback, with the Fuse vibrating to let you know when you’re passing a button or on-screen icon.  The side sensors also respond to strokes, too, for more granular control.

There’s some pretty complex rendering going on inside, too. As you move the Fuse from side to side, the lighting pans across the 3D icons accordingly. Thanks to the accelerometers you can tilt the handset 45-degrees and have the widgets tip over as if about to tumble off; a flick on the touchscreen then rotates them round, meaning each widget has twice as much space to display data.

To be honest – and Synaptics agree – the combination is overkill for a single handset. Attempting to hold the Fuse in a way whereby you can effectively squeeze the side-sensors often means your palm brushes the rear trackpad, sending the screen whizzing away, while sometimes there’s a sense that not everything is actually communicating with each other. In a production device you’d probably only have one or two different sensors, and make more use of dynamic rendering and accelerometer response.

It’s pretty tricky to describe in text, so check out the video demo below and the gallery. Synaptics had several prototypes with them, but all were proving pretty buggy at the show; we came across one of the devices while it was going through a stable phase, so some of the motions and gestures you won’t see anywhere else.

Synaptics Fuse demo:

Video demo after the cut

It has 3-axis accelerometers and haptic feedback – both directional, built into the touchscreen, and rotational on the PCB – and there are capacitive scroll strips, proximity sensors and force sensors along the sides and back of the handset.  It’s possible to scroll through lists by running a finger or thumb up and down the side or back of the Fuse, squeeze it to reset or change on-screen view, tilt it to move through different panes and manage open apps using a finger on the back panel.  There’s obviously also on-screen multitouch and gestures, but because you can use the Fuse without touching the display it’ll be useful if you’ve got dirty hands and don’t want to smudge your screen.

Synaptics and the others will be demonstrating the Fuse concept at CES and Mobile World Congress early next year; however there’s no talk of a production version.  Instead they’ll be hoping to license the technology to manufacturers who will integrate it into their own smarter-than-smart devices.

Press Release:

Synaptics Debuts FuseTM Next-Generation Mobile Phone Concept

Synaptics, Texas Instruments, Immersion, TheAlloy, and The Astonishing Tribe demonstrate collaborative design to drive the future of mobile interaction beyond the touchscreen

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – December 14, 2009 – Synaptics Incorporated (NASDAQ: SYNA), a leading developer of human interface solutions for mobile computing, communications, and entertainment devices, today introduced FuseTM, a collaborative mobile phone concept, demonstrating the future of user interaction for handsets. Integrating for the first time multiple interface technologies—including multi-touch capacitive sensing, haptic feedback, 3-D graphics, and force, grip, and proximity sensing—the Fuse concept phone showcases exciting new mobile device usage models. In addition, Fuse demonstrates to device manufacturers the value of ecosystem collaborations providing a model for designing multi- modal interfaces that will optimize the user experience on next-generation handheld device. Every step in the value chain affects and is affected by the end product. A truly collaborative approach takes advantage of each partner’s unique contributions in benefiting the user.

Beyond Today’s Touchscreen
Fuse extends the now-prevalent touchscreen-based user experience first unveiled in August 2006 with Synaptics’ award-winning Onyx mobile concept. With Fuse’s bold lineup of innovative interface technologies, Synaptics and partners tackle the difficulty of single- handed usage and the need to look at the screen—two key challenges faced by on-the-go users in current-generation touchscreen phones.
Fuse’s innovative sensing technologies surrounding the entire device enable quick, intuitive, single-handed navigation. For example, grip sensing achieved via force and capacitive touch sensors on the sides of the phone allows the user to execute common controls such as pan and scroll. In addition to the novel side sensors, Fuse introduces for the first time, 2D navigation from the back of the phone. This feature offers yet another mode of effective and fun single-handed control without obstructing the display or enhanced usability, Fuse combines multiple sensory input and feedback technologies including active 3-D graphics and next-generation haptic effects.
“Consumers have many options when it comes to choosing a smartphone, and though many phones are loaded with applications to simplify one’s life, they often accomplish just the opposite,” said William Stofega, research manager for mobile device technology and trends at IDC. “Synaptics partnering with innovative industry leaders to deliver an intelligent concept device that has the consumers’ lifestyles in mind will help showcase the true potential of the smartphone.”

Collaborative Design
The Fuse mobile phone concept is the result of a unique collaboration between Synaptics and four global partners—TheAlloy, The Astonishing Tribe (TAT), Immersion, and Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI). With human interface and digital lifestyle in mind, the Fuse design team created a stunning and functional user interface with innovative new modes of sensing input, and visual and haptic feedback.
Each partner provided valuable expertise and contributions to the project:
• TheAlloy led the user experience and overall product design efforts.
• TAT enabled the effective 3-D environment and lent their extensive user interface
software design skills.
• Immersion made possible the tactile feedback, ensuring an integrated and satisfying
experience.
• TI’s OMAPTM 3630 processor provided the framework and platform to leverage the
enhanced multimedia, graphics and imaging features that consumers crave.

Additionally, Synaptics’ ClearPadTM, NavPointTM, and TouchButtonsTM solutions are used in the Fuse mobile concept to offer unique capabilities—such as two-finger input, proximity sensing, grip sensing, text entry, and high-resolution finger input—providing precise pointing and navigation that can dramatically improve and enhance the user experience with a touchscreen.

Future handset innovation will rely on the relationship between technology design and designers to unlock the potential of mobile phones as an ideal computing platform. Fuse illustrates to OEMs the advances in Synaptics’ sensing technologies and the collaborative effort that will inspire a new wave of multi-modal input design.

“The best touch experience requires the expertise and collaboration of ecosystem leaders to optimize what the user sees and feels,” said Gopal Garg, senior vice president of Synaptics’ handheld business unit and corporate marketing. “The improved sensory experience of Fuse will drive handset innovation to evolve, taking the current generation of touch-based interaction to the next level of human-device interaction.”
“The Fuse project has demonstrated the power of multi-party collaboration to deliver experience-led innovation, said Gus Desbarats, chairman, TheAlloy. “Each partner within the Fuse project has helped to show the effect that leading-edge technology can deliver when applied with design thinking.”

“Exceptional user experience differentiates the best designs,” said Craig Vachon, senior vice president and general manager of Immersion’s touch line of business. “Fuse exemplifies the power of collaboration and realizes what is possible by integrating innovative technology, including Immersion’s next-generation TouchSense solutions. Working with these partners has been gratifying; Fuse is further validation that our haptics technology brings to life the power of touch and makes devices more intuitive, satisfying, and fun to use.”

“Providing our technology in order to showcase user experience paradigms of next generation devices is one of the key ingredients that keep TAT ahead of the trends in mobile user interfaces”, says Charlotta Falvin, chief executive officer of The Astonishing Tribe. “Realizing design ideas that push the limits of technology like the Fuse UI does is one of our passions.”

“The world is changing, and so is the way people interact with their mobile devices. TI is excited to be a part of the innovative Fuse concept that reiterates the significant headway we’re making to advance mobile user experiences,” said Fred Cohen, director of worldwide ecosystem partners for Texas Instruments. “TI’s OMAP platform works in sync with these other impressive technologies to bring big-screen, life-like capabilities to consumers’ fingertips.”

For more information on the Fuse mobile concept, visit http://www.synaptics.com/fuse Fuse will be demonstrated during CES in Las Vegas at the Synaptics, Immersion, and TI meeting areas, and at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February.

About Synaptics
Synaptics (NASDAQ: SYNA) is a leading developer of human interface solutions for the mobile computing, communications, and entertainment industries. The company creates interface solutions for a variety of devices including notebook PCs, PC peripherals, digital music players, and mobile phones. The TouchPadTM, Synaptics’ flagship product, is integrated into a majority of today’s notebook computers. Consumer electronics and computing manufacturers use Synaptics’ solutions to enrich the interaction between humans and intelligent devices through improved usability, functionality, and industrial design. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. www.synaptics.com

About TheAlloy
Based in Farnham in the UK, TheAlloy is a design consultancy with expertise focused on product design, interaction design, and strategy. TheAlloy help organizations deliver excellent user experiences by creating the look, feel and behavior of products and screen based interfaces. With work predominantly focused in the technology sector, TheAlloy are experts in hardware and software design for the telecommunications and convergence markets. We have worked with a wide range of brands including BT, Toshiba, HP, and Thomson.

About Immersion
Haptic (touch) technology is key to the future of user experience in digital devices. Founded in 1993, Immersion harnesses human touch to create user experiences that deliver a more compelling sense of the digital world. Using one of Immersion’s adaptable high fidelity haptic systems, partners can achieve a competitive advantage and greater revenue opportunities with products that are more intuitive, satisfying, efficient, and safe. With Immersion technology, world-class companies can deliver improved user experiences in products such as widely popular video games, leading video console gaming systems, advanced automotive driver controls, and award-winning mobile phones. Immersion manufactures its own line of medical simulators that incorporate touch technology. These virtual reality training tools, installed around the world, enable practitioners to improve their practice of sophisticated life-saving surgical procedures prior to operating on patients. With over 800 issued or pending patents in the U.S. and other countries, Immersion is the leading innovator in touch-enabled user experiences that bring the digital universe to life. Learn more at www.immersion.com.

About TAT
TAT – The Astonishing Tribe AB has added the WOW-effect to mobile user interfaces for more than 300 million devices worldwide. Our products, TAT CascadesTM and TAT Motion LabTM, built on the renowned TAT KastorTM platform, has transformed the way UI design and graphics can be implemented on a wide range of mobile devices. TAT products are recognized for their time-to-market savings, resource efficiency and platform independence, giving users a more dynamic, faster and richer multimedia experience, in a truly astonishing way. TAT is headquartered in Malmoe, Sweden, and with local offices in Korea and USA. Learn more at www.tat.se.

About Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) helps customers solve problems and develop new electronics that make the world smarter, healthier, safer, greener and more fun. A global semiconductor company, TI innovates through design, sales and manufacturing operations in more than 30 countries. For more information, go to www.ti.com.

[via PocketNow and via eGether]

Video demo of ClearPad 3000 after the cut

In fact, touch accuracy on the ClearPad 3000 series is +/- 1mm, with panels available up to 8-inches in size.  As well as recognizing fingertips they’ll also differentiate between fingers laid flat on the panel for broad swipes and the like, together with any conductive material such as keys or pens.

As part of their demo, Synaptics showed us an iPhone-styled reference design which could track pretty much as many fingers as you could squeeze onto the screen.  It also featured a new app-closing gesture, crumpling up the app, together with a more accurate on-screen keyboard which supports two-finger key modifiers such as holding down shift or control while typing capital letters or symbols.

One of the key differences between ClearPad 3000 and rival capacitive systems is that Synaptics technology can treat points of contact and areas of contact differently.  As you can see in the image and video below, the system recognizes shapes and can react accordingly, rather than narrowing touch-points down to simple grid references.

To complete their current range, Synaptics have also introduced a new entry-level multitouch system, ClearPad 1000, which recognizes single and limited two-finger gestures. The company expects ClearPad 1000 to be used in feature and mass-market touchscreen devices, which may until now have used resistive or single-touch capacitive panels. The 1000-series panels are available in up to 4.3-inch sizes and, like all of the Synaptics touch-sensors, work with LCD and OLED displays.

It’s much easier to show how the ClearPad 3000 works than explain it, so check out our video demo to see the Synaptics reference design and how the new technology might change how we interact with future mobile devices. Synaptics expect the first products using ClearPad 3000 to reach the market by the end of 2009.

Press Release:

Synaptics ClearPad™ 3000 Series Takes Multi-Touch to a New Level

Market Leader Expands Portfolio of ClearPad Touchscreen Solutions

SANTA CLARA, CA – July 22, 2009 – Expanding its portfolio of market-leading ClearPad™ solutions, Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA), a leading developer of human interface solutions for mobile computing, communications, and entertainment devices, today introduced its advanced multi-touch ClearPad™ 3000 Series capacitive touch sensor solution. Building upon the success of Synaptics’ patented, flagship ClearPad touchscreen solution, the new 3000 Series offering combines Synaptics’ best-in-class ClearPad sensing technology with the company’s exclusive end-to-end solution stack to make it easier for OEMs and ODMs of mass-market mobile handsets and other handheld devices to integrate high-resolution capacitive touchscreens with basic gesture capability into their products, bringing them to market faster and with less risk.

Synaptics’ currently shipping ClearPad solution – now branded the ClearPad 2000 Series – and its Enhanced Gesture Suite (EGR™), has achieved tremendous success in bringing the power of touch to mid- and high-end mobile phones. In its effort to offer a complete portfolio of capabilities to its customers, Synaptics has also introduced the 1000 Series, a low-cost solution with single-finger and limited two-finger gestures. Leveraging years of delivering a solution that leads in optical clarity, reliability, and power management, with today’s 3000 and 1000 Series announcements, Synaptics has expanded its touch sensor portfolio to serve the growing touchscreen market with a complete portfolio of touch solutions. OEMs can now select from a full range of touch and gesture capabilities, from single-finger touch with simple gestures to multi-finger touch with complex gestures.

“By enabling more devices to have multi-finger gesture capabilities, our premium ClearPad 3000 Series opens the door for innovative software developers to push the edges of the user interface envelope by creating exciting new classes of applications – such as multi-user gaming – not possible before, giving OEMs greater flexibility to differentiate their products,” said Tom Tiernan, Synaptics president and COO. “Synaptics’ leadership is built on leveraging our industry-leading complete solution stack, driving innovation and best-in-class R&D, and enabling our customers with powerful and easy-to-use interface solutions to differentiate their products. The 3000 Series is the latest demonstration of our commitment to providing our customers with complete touchscreen solutions.”

With its ability to distinguish up to 10 simultaneous finger touches and complex multi-finger gestures (e.g., pinch, pivot rotate and rotate) with fine accuracy and low latency, the ClearPad 3000 Series sensors are ready for the next generation of 3D graphical user interfaces on a broad array of handheld consumer electronics devices. The ClearPad 3000 Series is based on new, proprietary Synaptics technology that features 48 sensing channels and advanced power management, allowing for larger screen sizes up to 8 inches diagonally with more accurate sensing and low power consumption. Engineered to be nearly borderless with best-in-class edge performance and high noise immunity, the ClearPad 3000 Series offers a thin, low-profile design that enables OEMs to create sleeker, more compact, and stylish product solutions, optimizing industrial design while using any industry standard LCD display.

ClearPad3000 Series touch sensors feature an accuracy of ±1 mm, are only 0.400 mm thick, offer full multi-finger tracking and are available in sizes up to 8 inches diagonally. ClearPad 3000 Series solutions offer low power consumption with 5 mA in full active mode, 150 µA nominal, and 12 µA in deep sleep mode for extended battery life.

“While other vendors may be able to show a slick demo of their multi-touch sensor solutions, only Synaptics understands the complexities of making them work in the harsh, challenging environments of real-world products,” said Gopal Garg, senior vice president of Synaptics’ handheld business unit and corporate marketing. “We have the experience and expertise to help customers get to production quickly, with products that not only work as per expectation, but also offer advanced functionality.”

Synaptics provides an industry-leading and comprehensive suite of software tools with an easy-to-use interface for the ClearPad 3000 Series that enable manufacturers to rapidly transition from design to development to prototyping stage to mass production. Synaptics also offers its customers PC-based pre-production and production test support hardware and software optimized for speed and full coverage of sensor manufacturing defects, which includes software limits to optimize yield.

As with all ClearPad solutions, the ClearPad 3000 Series is supported by Synaptics’ exclusive solution stack and engineering services from its worldwide customer design centers to address the multi-dimensional engineering challenges customers face when creating and implementing advanced human interfaces. The Solution Stack delivers a broad range of services and deep knowledge in the multiple engineering disciplines required to create reliable products that go far beyond standard chip offerings, and integrates these key capabilities to help OEMs create reliable, highly intuitive human interfaces that meets their design and usage requirements.
A Complete Solution Stack
Synaptics’ market leadership is built upon its Solution Stack, a complete and reliable design process which includes systems engineering and system integration, firmware/software design, module design, mixed-signal ASIC development, gesture/character development, human factors/usability, supply and support, concept prototyping, and testing and qualification. The Synaptics Solution Stack addresses multi-dimensional engineering challenges customers face when creating and implementing advanced human interfaces – challenges best solved at specific steps in the design process. Synaptics delivers a broad range of services with deep knowledge in multiple engineering disciplines that go far beyond standard chip offerings, and that integrate these key capabilities to deliver a reliable, highly intuitive human interface that meets customers’ design and usage requirements.

“Multi-touch lays the foundation for a better user interface. DisplaySearch forecasts that the market for touchscreens with multi-touch capability will grow from $0.8 B in 2008 to over $4B in 2015,” said Dr. Jennifer Colegrove, director of display technologies at DisplaySearch. “OEMs welcome touchscreen suppliers who can provide the whole multi-touch solution with low risk, reliable manufacturing, design flexibility, and a seamless production ramp.”
Availability and Pricing
Synaptics ClearPad 3000 series engineering samples for general release will be available in November 2009. For pricing and more information about Synaptics and its ClearPad product line, please visit http://www.synaptics.com/solutions/products/clearpad

About Synaptics
Synaptics (NASDAQ: SYNA) is a leading developer of human interface solutions for the mobile computing, communications, and entertainment industries. The company creates interface solutions for a variety of devices including notebook PCs, PC peripherals, digital music players, and mobile phones. The TouchPad™, Synaptics’ flagship product, is integrated into a majority of today’s notebook computers. Consumer electronics and computing manufacturers use Synaptics’ solutions to enrich the interaction between humans and intelligent devices through improved usability, functionality, and industrial design. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. www.synaptics.com

Press Release:

Synaptics Debuts ClearPad™ 1000 Series Touch Sensors for Mass Market

Expands Portfolio with Value Solutions that Promise Broad, Global Adoption of Capacitive Touchscreen Technology
SANTA CLARA, CA – July 22, 2009 –Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA), a leading developer of human interface solutions for mobile computing, communications, and entertainment devices, today introduced its ClearPad™ 1000 Series capacitive touch sensor solution, expanding its portfolio of market-leading ClearPad offerings to address the growing worldwide demand for mass-market touchscreens, and to provide customers an easy and competitive transition from legacy resistive screen applications. The ClearPad 1000 Series solution combines Synaptics’ patented best-in-class ClearPad sensing technology with the company’s exclusive end-to-end solution stack to make it easier for OEMs and ODMs of mass-market mobile handsets and other handheld devices to integrate high-resolution capacitive touchscreens with basic gesture capability into their products, bringing them to market faster and with less risk.

Synaptics’ currently shipping ClearPad solution – now branded the ClearPad 2000 Series – and its Enhanced Gesture Suite (EGR™), has achieved tremendous success in bringing the power of touch to mid- and high-end mobile phones. In its efforts to provide a complete portfolio of capabilities to its customers, Synaptics has also introduced the 3000 Series, an advanced solution offering powerful multi-finger gesture support. Leveraging years of delivering a solution that leads in optical clarity, reliability, and power management, with today’s 3000 and 1000 Series announcements, Synaptics has expanded its touch sensor portfolio to serve the growing touchscreen market with a complete portfolio of touch solutions. OEMs can now select from a full range of touch and gesture capabilities, from single-finger touch with simple gestures to multi-finger touch with complex gestures.

“Our ClearPad 1000 Series brings our value to the mass market, and creates the opportunity for our capacitive touch technology to reach worldwide markets through the wave of mobile expansion occurring in BRIC and other emerging regions,” said Tom Tiernan, Synaptics president and COO. “Today, Synaptics is again demonstrating its leadership by providing a full range of touchscreen solutions that go far beyond standalone chip offerings, with the multi-dimensional engineering knowledge, software, services, and support needed to ensure our customers’ success.”

The ClearPad 1000 Series solution is uniquely designed for single-gesture performance and offers the best-in-class edge performance, high accuracy, design flexibility, and manufacturing reliability OEMs need to drive additional value in feature and mass-market touchscreen phones, and other consumer electronic devices. Solid state, durable, and resistant to wear, ClearPad 1000 Series capacitive touch sensors deliver a compelling user experience not possible with legacy touchscreen technology, which is prone to clouding, poor gesture performance, and loss of sensitivity. ClearPad 1000 Series sensors can support single-finger gestures (i.e., tap, double tap, tap and slide, pinch, press and flick) with Synaptics’ Enhanced Gesture Recognition (EGR) option.

“The more sophisticated applications and usage models now appearing on mobile devices require a more sophisticated touchscreen technology to create a better user experience than what legacy technology can offer,” said Tiernan. “ClearPad is an ideal upgrade to existing and competing solutions because it delivers a more responsive, more durable interface with the advanced gestures needed to support modern touch- and gesture-based user interface designs that give users access to a broader range of mobile services and applications.”

ClearPad 1000 Series touch sensors feature an accuracy of ±3 mm, are only 0.300 mm thick, have been engineered to require no side borders, and are available in sizes up to 4.3 inches diagonally. ClearPad 1000 Series solutions offer low power consumption with 1.2 mA in full active mode, 150 µA nominal, and 12 µA in deep sleep mode for extended battery life.

The new ClearPad sensors feature best-in-class edge performance and superior optical clarity, and require a minimal border width, allowing OEMs to maximize the display interface area and optimize the performance with any LCD technology, especially when using crystal clear OLED displays. High noise immunity, advanced power management, and thin, low-profile designs all promote sleeker, more compact, and stylish product designs.
A Complete Solution Stack
Synaptics’ market leadership is built upon its Solution Stack, a complete and reliable design process which includes systems engineering and system integration, firmware/software design, module design, mixed-signal ASIC development, gesture/character development, human factors/usability, supply and support, concept prototyping, and testing and qualification. The Synaptics Solution Stack addresses multi-dimensional engineering challenges customers face when creating and implementing advanced human interfaces – challenges best solved at specific steps in the design process. Synaptics delivers a broad range of services with deep knowledge in multiple engineering disciplines that go far beyond standard chip offerings, and that integrate these key capabilities to deliver a reliable, highly intuitive human interface that meets customers’ design and usage requirements.

“Handsets today are integrating multiple complex technologies which can and often do interact and interfere with each other, posing significant challenges for design engineers who may lack the specific domain expertise to anticipate and mitigate these issues,” said Amy Leong, research director for Gartner. “OEMs increasingly are relying on technology vendors to provide complete solutions for integrating these products into their designs much more quickly and effectively and with lower risk.”
Availability and Pricing
Synaptics ClearPad 1000 Series engineering samples will be available in August 2009. For pricing and more information about Synaptics and its ClearPad product line, please visit http://www.synaptics.adamlondon.com/solutions/products/clearpad

About Synaptics
Synaptics (NASDAQ: SYNA) is a leading developer of human interface solutions for the mobile computing, communications, and entertainment industries. The company creates interface solutions for a variety of devices including notebook PCs, PC peripherals, digital music players, and mobile phones. The TouchPad™, Synaptics’ flagship product, is integrated into a majority of today’s notebook computers. Consumer electronics and computing manufacturers use Synaptics’ solutions to enrich the interaction between humans and intelligent devices through improved usability, functionality, and industrial design. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. www.synaptics.com

That display allows for calls to be switched between, volume adjusted and numbers redialed.  Each unit can handle a combination of landline, cellphone and VoIP calls, with the Synaptics-sourced display use to flick between them.  The Jabra GO 6400 has the regular Bluetooth range, while the PRO 9400 range is up to 450 feet.  Each use dual-microphones for noise reduction and have active sound-spike cancellation.

Caller ID is supported, and the headsets dock magnetically to recharge.  The two new wireless systems will be available in the US from September, priced from $199.

[via Gear Diary]

Nokia has been criticized for choosing resistive touchscreens for its 5800 XpressMusic and upcoming N97 smartphone, over the more fashionable capacitive technology.  Its response – similar to that of Microsoft regarding Windows Mobile’s need for resistive panels – has been that capacitive displays do not allow for the on-screen character recognition desired by Asian markets.

Given that Synaptics do not have a resistive range, however, it seems that distinction is now less of an issue for Nokia.  According to the leaks, Synaptics will only supply the touchscreen panels, with related modules and glass coming from other vendors.  The first Nokia devices to use a capacitive touchscreen are described as a “high-end handset and smartphone”.

Touchscreen Nokia concept by Fabien Nauroy

Jump on over for the walkthrough video and image gallery.

The Walkman X was announced earlier this year at CES and recently hit the market in Japan, so if and when it’ll be available in the US is still unknown. To the best of my knowledge, the unit I got only support Japanese, making it rather difficult to review. The walkthrough video below shows what the menu structure looks like, along with other cool features available on the Walkman X.

Being an iPhone 3G / iPod touch owner, I really miss the basic features like auto rotate between landscape and portrait mode. There’s no multi-gesture, only single gesture for moving around the menu system. There’s an image gallery but zooming in and out isn’t very intuitive. Moving between songs is relatively easy (see video / image below). There’s a web-browser from Access, and yes there’s YouTube.

Loving a gorgeous display and having a great listening experience might not be enough for me, especially when my Nokia N85 also has an OLED display and a decent audio and video player. Make sure to check back in a couple of days for a more in depth review and comparison.

While it’s not uncommon for IP-holders to take on Apple over supposed patent infractions, Elan claim to have prior form with their case.  The company says it has previously won a similar action against Synaptics, who make both trackpads and multitouch panels used in displays.  Elan have not revealed how much compensation from Apple they have in mind.

Elan Microelectronics has previously denied that Apple’s contentious multitouch patents impact on the Taiwanese company’s own multitouch IP.  That patent, awarded to the Cupertino firm back in January 2009, has cast a shadow over many other mobile devices using capacitive touchscreens; Google reportedly withheld multitouch support from their Android mobile platform at Apple’s request.

If the 480 x 360 touchscreen wasn’t enough to make the Storm special, the wireless bands it supports are the finishing touch.  Verizon heralded the Storm as a true worldwide handset, and for once they’re not joking: as well as being dual-band CDMA 800/1900 with EV-DO Rev.A support, for use in the US, it also has 850/1900 GSM/GPRS and 2100 UMTS/HSPA support, for use in Europe and Asia.  What that means is that Verizon users no longer have to leave their phones switched off if they travel abroad.

Elsewhere, the Storm is equally capable.  Internal storage amounts to 1GB, expandable via microSD card, plus there’s 128MB of flash memory.  While there’s no WiFi (thanks to Verizon’s veto) you do get Bluetooth 2.0 supporting the mono/stereo headset, handsfree, phone book access and serial port profiles.  A standard 3.5mm headphone jack is a happy inclusion, as is the 3.2-megapixel camera with flash that, although lacking in megapixels compared to the HTC Touch HD, at least exceeds that of the iPhone 3G.  The Storm also has integrated GPS.

Moving around the device, on the top there are the lock and mute buttons on the top left and right sides, respectively, hidden as capacitive controls in the black screen surround.  On the left there’s a dedicated voice-dial button, while on the right there are volume up/down keys and the camera shortcut key.  The headphone jack is also on the right side.  Finally, from left to right on the front, there are call, menu, back and end-call buttons.  Holding down the menu key brings up a task list from which you can switch between running apps.  The Storm measures 4.43 x 2.45 x 0.55 inches and weighs 5.5oz.

Persuading loyal business users that they can be just as productive with a touchscreen as with hardware keyboard takes some doing.  RIM’s answer to this is ClickThrough: developed with Synaptics, it’s a brand new type of interface, a hybrid of haptics, capacitive touch and tactile sensors that mimic physical buttons while still offering the infinite flexibility of onscreen controls.  ClickThrough works on two levels: to highlight a menu option, say, you give the sort of light tap that you might on an iPhone.  To press a key, or select an option, you press down harder and the haptic sensors “click” to give physical feedback of your press.

That might sound complicated, but in use it’s a straightforward concept to grasp.  Gestures, scrolling and highlighting are just as smooth as on the iPhone, but there’s also the physical feedback from the rest of the BlackBerry range.  If anything, we’d compare it to the click of the BlackBerry trackball, it really does feel as though there’s a layer of hardware buttons just beneath the display.  The Storm also supports multitouch input, including simultaneous input for two-finger typing.

OS is RIM’s latest, v4.5, with the new BlackBerry GUI and the same updated iconography and menus as seen on the BlackBerry Bold.  The controls have had a slight size update, however, to better suit them to finger input, and the general layout is predictable and straightforward.  As with the Bold, the hardest thing to get used to is the reworked icons; if you’re a long-standing BlackBerry user, factor in some time to get used to the new, streamlined pictures.  Ironically, new users will probably find it easier than the old OS, to whom the massed menu pages full of tiny detailed icons could be intimidating.

Preloaded applications include RIM’s usual messaging suite, here with support for HTML email, attachments and inline images, their organizer and SMS/MMS.  Much of the email rendering is done off-handset on the BlackBerry email servers, and while we say HTML it’s not exactly full support.  Still, basic formatting (such as bold, italic and underline) and included images are arguably all you need on a mobile device, and the rendering speed benefits are pleasant.

Attachment handling is courtesy of Documents to Go, from DataViz, offering compatibility with Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.  RTF and PDF files are also supported, though only as attachments, but all can be edited on-device.  The Professional edition of the app, a roughly $70 upgrade, offers spellchecking and advanced formatting options, among other things, but we can’t exactly see ourselves doing major editing on any smartphone.

The browser is also the same as on the Bold, with a dedicated search box to query Google, Wikipedia and Dictionary.com, and better access to bookmarks.  Navigation is certainly more straightforward than using a trackball, but to be fair we’re still playing with the browser and will come back to this important feature in part two of our review.  Right now, though, we’re less than impressed with the accelerometer responsiveness: it takes 2-3 seconds to transition between portrait and landscape orientations.  BlackBerry Maps, the new media player and the camera/video app are all present, together with a new Facebook for BlackBerry program and a Flickr browser.  We’ll also be covering these applications in part two, but we can say now that the Facebook app doesn’t seem as comprehensive as that on the iPhone, and the Flickr software is very much bare bones in terms of features.

What we do want to touch on now is, ironically, the touchscreen.  More importantly, our key concern with it: text entry.  Our issue is in maintaining accuracy using ClickThrough; in landscape mode particularly, it can be difficult to both aim at the correct key and simultaneously press straight down on it without your thumbs sliding to the left or right.  After typing pretty much consistently for the first fifteen minutes or so, we found our accuracy was slipping; down, perhaps to 85-percent.  Compounding that, the auto-correction suffers from being less stringent and responsive than that on the iPhone.

In short, it’s proving to be an acquired taste.  While ClickThrough does make sense for those familiar with hardware keyboards, having to physically press the whole screen simply to confirm an URL or dismiss a dialog box gets tiring.  At this early stage – and we recognize that we could get better used to things over the next couple of days – we find ourselves wishing that RIM had given us the option to turn ClickThrough off, at least under certain circumstances.

Where the BlackBerry Bold scored well on battery performance, it looks as though the Storm could be a victim of its beautiful display.  Having unplugged it from the charger at 7.30am this morning, it’s been receiving email all day, used for a tiny amount of surfing and no instant messaging, and for two or three short phone calls (all of great quality); the battery meter is already down to a single bar.  To be fair, Bluetooth has been switched on throughout, but considering it’s now a staple of business life that doesn’t exactly fill us with confidence.  We’re hoping that a few more charge/discharge cycles – which at this rate will happen soon! – will stretch some more life out of the battery.

In part two of our Verizon BlackBerry Storm 9530 review look at the media functionality, including the music and video players, together with camera and GPS performance.  We’ll also been exploring the browser and comparing it with that other multitouch marvel, Safari on the iPhone 3G.  Finally, we’ll be looking at how the Storm performs as a phone, in voice calls and general sound quality.  You can find part two of the SlashGear Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Storm 9530 review here!

Unlike any other capacitive-based touchscreen handset currently on the market, the Storm has multi-finger simultaneous input capacity meaning that it can be used for two-finger typing. It also supports copy & paste, unlike Apple’s iPhone.

ClearPad technology has already been used in the LG Prada cellphone, will be used in T-Mobile’s upcoming G1 Android-powered smartphone.  It’s also responsible for the interface in the Samsung Tocco and Sharp SH906i touchscreen phones.

Now, Synaptics is introducing new gestures for laptops. There’s the ChiralRotate, wherein you make a circular motion with one finger, which rotates the screen. There’s also the Two-Finger Flick, which can make for sideways scrolling, flipping pages or what have you.

These functions are described as “drop-in driver upgrades” for the Synaptic trackpads that are already “multi-touch aware.” This is really cool because a lot of laptop trackpads are made by Synaptics, which means you might have one right now, which means you could download the driver and start using gestures right now!

[via Gadget Lab at Wired]

The gestures join the three other advanced touchpad controls – Pinch, ChiralMotion and Momentum – that the company announced earlier on this year. As well as moving between photos, Two-Finger Flick can also, when enacted vertically, maximize or minimize windows.

Interestingly, all recent Synaptics touchpads will, technically, support the new gestures. They’ll require a new driver update, and then the different gestures can be turned on and off in the Control Panel.

Press Release:

Synaptics Adds Two Innovative Advanced Gestures to its Growing Library of TouchPad™ Gesture Recognition

Synaptics TouchPads Enabled With ChiralRotate™ and Two-Finger Flick Make Notebooks and Peripheral Keyboards More Intuitive and Easier to Use

TOKYO, Japan –Sept. 30, 2008 – Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA), a leading developer of human interface solutions for mobile computing, communications and entertainment devices, today announced the availability of two new advanced gestures— ChiralRotate and Two-Finger Flick. These gestures join the company’s expanding portfolio of gesture recognition capabilities for Synaptics TouchPads used in popular notebooks and peripheral keyboards.

• ChiralRotate lets users move one finger in a circular motion to rotate images and graphics within applications, quickly and easily.

• Two-Finger Flick enables users, depending on the application, to either use two fingers to flick horizontally to navigate back-and-forth through images, documents and objects, or to flick vertically to minimize and maximize an application.

Consistent with previous Synaptics gestures (ChiralMotion™, Pinch and Momentum) announced earlier this year, ChiralRotate and Two-Finger Flick are compatible with hundreds of Microsoft Windows applications and offer tremendous value and productivity to any notebook or peripheral keyboard that integrates Synaptics’ industry-leading TouchPad™ touch-sensitive interfaces. The ChiralMotion gesture has gone through multiple usability tests, which have consistently demonstrated that continuous circular movement of the finger on the TouchPad is the most desirable, natural gesture for users to perform.

“The addition of ChiralRotate and Two-Finger Flick are the most recent examples of Synaptics’ ongoing commitment to driving innovation and improved usability to all types of PC applications,” said Mark Vena, vice president of Synaptics’ PC Business Unit. “Consumer and business users alike are always looking for ways to do things faster and more intuitively on their notebook systems and PC peripherals, and these new Synaptics gestures are aimed at delivering just that.”

Working with photos and graphics becomes much more efficient when using a TouchPad enhanced with ChiralRotate or Two-Finger Flick. Users can review images quickly with Two-Finger Flick and rotate them within popular Windows applications with ChiralRotate, all without taking their fingers off the TouchPad. These gestures join other gesture options, such as Synaptics ChiralMotion™ technology – an advanced gesture that provides an innovative alternative to conventional scrolling. As an added convenience, all Synaptics TouchPad settings, including gesture functionality, can be turned on or off with the highly intuitive Synaptics Control Panel that is incorporated into most OEM notebook systems.

Availability: These new enhanced gesture options are available now on Synaptics TouchPads for PC notebook and keyboard devices. For more information on Synaptics’ ChiralRotate and Two-Finger Flick, visit www.synaptics.com/technology/chiral.cfm.

The system could improve usability in products where manufacturers are attempting to minimise control clutter.  For instance, Lenovo’s recent IdeaPad U110has a number of touch-sensitive controls, including a volume strip, which illuminate when pressed; some reviewers, however, have highlighted the fact that this leads to poor usability in the dark.  With the Synaptics system, the controls would be lit when the user’s hand approached, guiding them in; that would have the same net effect of conserving battery life through avoiding needless constant backlighting.

According to Synaptics, the range within which users are identified can be varied by the OEM designer.  The system is available now, although it seems unlikely that Synaptics would market the photo frame design themselves. 

Press Release:

Synaptics Adds Proximity Sensing Solution to Expansive Product Line, Offering OEMs a New Mode of Interaction for Devices

Proximity Sensing Proves ‘No Touch Necessary’ for New Interface Technology

TAIPEI, Taiwan – June 3, 2008 – Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA), a leading developer of human interface solutions for mobile computing, communications, and entertainment devices, today announced the general availability of its Proximity Sensing solution, a sensor for presence detection that will redefine the way users interact with their devices.

Synaptics’ proximity sensor detects a user’s presence, which then activates functions such as LED illumination for discoverable button locations or waking devices from power-saving mode. Proximity sensing technology offers exciting interface design options for OEM/ODM customers.

Proximity sensing can serve several major applications, solving both industrial design and usability challenges. Some of the most obvious applications are LCD monitors, LCD TVs, digital photo frames, and remote controls where industrial design demands a simple and clean appearance. Proximity sensing can also make it easy to find and operate a remote in the dark. When the hand approaches the remote, the LEDs illuminate.

Synaptics’ first Proximity Sensing solution was incorporated into Microsoft’s Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000 keyboard. The keyboard intelligently powers on and off its LED backlighting for standby (power saving) and active modes, depending on whether the user is within close range.

“This new capability from Synaptics offers a compelling new user experience for mature products that would benefit from new and attractive interface solution,” said Synaptics general manager, Tom Tiernan. “Synaptics’ strength in innovation and R&D allows us to bring advanced technology, such as proximity sensing, to the market to enable new modes of interaction with future devices.”

Availability: Synaptics’ Proximity Sensing solution is now available to all electronic device manufacturers. For more information, visit http://www.synaptics.com/products/proximitysensing.cfm.

About Synaptics

Synaptics (NASDAQ: SYNA) is a leading developer of human interface solutions for the mobile computing, communications, and entertainment industries. The company creates interface solutions for a variety of devices including notebook PCs, PC peripherals, digital music players, and mobile phones. The TouchPad™, Synaptics’ flagship product, is integrated into a majority of today’s notebook computers. Consumer electronics and computing manufacturers use Synaptics’ solutions to enrich the interaction between humans and intelligent devices through improved usability, functionality, and industrial design. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. www.synaptics.com

Now touchscreen-based universal remotes aren’t new – Philips’ Pronto has been around for years – but having multitouch and gesture support in them certainly is.  Synaptics describe the interface as using “direct cursor-control”, where users can navigate to every surface of the remote, and the trio of Pinch, ChiralMotion and Momentum gestures for commands such as volume, zoom and scrolling are all available. 

“Today, most universal remotes allow control of standard home equipment such as TVs, DVDs and stereos – Boomerang goes one step further to control equipment and functions, such as pausing a TV show to purchase an item shown on the screen and transferring data between multiple devices” Mark Vena, VP PC Business Unit, Synaptics

Boomerang is fitted with haptic feedback as well as the more traditional audio and visual indications of touchscreen use, and proximity sensors bring the remote to life – powering it on and ramping up the backlight – when a user approaches, and then doing the reverse when they move away.  The DualMode function includes a visual representation of the different areas of home entertainment controlled by Boomerang, to avoid pages and pages of sub-menus.

It’s not clear whether this is an implementation of Synaptics’ OneTouch toolset, intended to fast-track OEMs in adopting multitouch-capable capacitive controls, but the company is clear that the technology is ready and waiting for inclusion in – likely high-end – systems.  As anyone who has used an iPhone or iPod Touch will likely have surmised, capacitive touchscreens are very much the future, and I imagine the first consumer product to use the functionality Boomerang demonstrates will be released very soon.

We’re hoping to have some hands-on time with Boomerang very soon, so keep reading SlashGear for our first-impressions!

Synaptics

Overshadowed a little perhaps by both the iPhone and LG’s own legal case against Apple disputing the originality of that very handset, the KE850 has a respectable feature-set operated via a very interesting UI.  Its 12mm thin chassis packs tri-band EDGE, a 2-megapixel camera (with LED flash), microSD memory expansion of the as-yet-undisclosed internal storage, office file viewer, a DAP supporting MP3, ACC, ACC+, WMA and RA, as well as a video player compatible with MPEG4, H.263 and H.264 formats.  All of the above are accessed through a Flash-based interface developed by Pilotfish, who partnered with Synaptics to create the Onyx concept cellphone SlashGear covered last year, and whose DNA is very much present in the PRADA phone.

Synaptics’ ClearPad capacitive touch-screen is used to great effect, with both touch and gesture supported and intuitive call and data handling.  Based on the feature-set of the Onyx, functionality like conference calling can be handled by simply dragging multiple contacts together.  The only real disappointment could be battery life, with LG managing only to squeeze an 800mAh li-ion pack in there; whether this will be sufficient for a full day of calling, audio and video duties will remain to be seen.

Second-quarter 2007 will mark Korean availability, but those in the US will be disappointed to hear that so far no Stateside release is scheduled.  It’ll be priced at around €800 ($1,035), significantly more than the iPhone; will the cachet of the PRADA name be enough to justify the price-tag?

LG Press Release

Synaptics has always produced custom solutions for manufacturers, but OneTouch will fill a market niche where in-house development is a time-driven necessity:

“The Synaptics OneTouch toolset has been built specifically to help Synapticsí customers design capacitive interface solutions that will enhance the usability and industrial design of their products.  The simplified design process encapsulated in the Synaptics OneTouch solution will enable customers to explore the possibilities of capacitive sensing quickly and more autonomously” Synaptics Press Release

Many consumers are using Synaptics products daily without realising it – over 65 percent of laptop computers use the company’s TouchPad technology and their scroll strips have been featured in Logitech mice and Apple’s iPod DAP – and this can only mean increased penetration into the mobile electronics market.  Initial OneTouch systems will consist of button and scrolling applications, supporting up to 16 discrete capacitive buttons, scroll strips, or a combination of the two.  Proposed implementations could include remote controls, portable media players and navigation on keyboards, mice and handheld electronics, all product areas Synaptics currently serve but with the added OneTouch benefit of rapid development and stable, secure technology.

UI is undoubtedly one of the primary battlegrounds amongst manufacturers at the moment, and Synaptics are obviously hoping that their history of innovative interfaces and long-term conceptual design can only be benefitted by catering for the mid-to-low end applications that make up so much of the market.  In time, OneTouch will borrow from the so-called flagship products, meaning that features currently seen in advanced implementations such as multi-touch responsive controls and gesture-driven GUI touchscreens will filter down through product lines.  Synaptics are yet to announce the first industry partnerships, but further information about OneTouch is available at their site.

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]

It’s the Synaptics sensors that give the keyboards awareness of a user’s presence, allowing seamless and automatic transition from active to standby modes. Synaptics have developed the NavPoint interface, which allows users to toggle between navigation modes; cursor mode, for full two-dimensional cursor control or scroll mode, which disables the 2D cursor capabilities and allows navigation through menus and windows with a 5-way rocker switch. Finally, LightTouch gives a very useful seventeen illuminated quick-access buttons for user-set applications.

“The Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop keyboards exemplify how the application of Synaptics’ core capacitive technology can offer new and compelling experiences in the digital home. By working with market leaders such as Microsoft, we are able to illustrate the advanced capabilities of our technology, such as proximity sensing, to help define new modes of interaction in the digital home” Tom Tiernan, Synaptics General Manager

Microsoft will also be marketing the Desktop 7000, which lacks the proximity sensing capability.

The slim-hipped lovelies over at Gizmodo have already scored some hands-on time with the 8000, and have posted a bevie of photos and opinions:

“All in all, it’s a fully-functional, fun-to-use, high-end interface package that is efficient and pleasing to the eyes and hands” Gizmodo

Microsoft Ultimate Keyboard [thanks Tara for the tip!]

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.

“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]

To call the Onyx touchscreen-based is to do it a disservice; in fact, it uses Synaptics innovative ClearPad technology, the first transparent touch-sensitive capacitive sensor. ClearPad is capable of recognizing not only points and taps but also shapes and complex movements, together with multi-point input. At 0.5mm thick, the sensor layer can recognize touch and gestures through up to 1.6mm of plastic, making it far more durable and optically clear than traditional multi-layer touchscreens. And above and beyond those touchscreens it can recognize one or two finger contact, a finger used on its side, or even different body parts; a phone call to Onyx can be answered by simply holding it to your cheek, messages sent by swiping them off the screen with the whole finger.

Clever stuff, but the joy of Onyx comes from the cutting-edge industrial design and user interface design package provided by Pilotfish. Working closely with Synaptics to eke out the best of ClearPad’s capabilities, Pilotfish have followed the philosophy that hardware and software are not two separate fields but rather interrelated parts of the overall experience of a product.

“The design statement of the physical product itself is very simple: it’s all about the living, interactive surface that presents itself to the user and everything else is secondary. The main display and interaction surface is a curved optical panel over the large LCD display. The life underneath the surface is housed in a one-piece aluminum housing” [internal document]

A system of simultaneously running, dynamically inter-communicating applications that, rather than being static menu-based, are task-oriented, the joy of gesture control is that it removes the unnecessary interruption of buttons and icons. Tasks can be closed by gesturing an “X” over them, for instance, and blowing a kiss to the screen can speed-dial your partner (or lover).

Onyx is, of course, a concept for future phones rather than a market-ready product. Don’t assume that means it doesn’t work, however. SlashGear has been granted an exclusive briefing and live demonstration of the Onyx concept in September, and Synaptics let slip that the first real phone using this technology is due out later this year. For those of you thinking that this all sounds surprisingly similar to SlashGear’s iPhone concept stories pre-Keynote, you’ll be relieved and maddened in equal measure that, when asked, Synaptic would not comment on Apple being involved or not. They did, however, recognize the benefits ClearPad will have on the future UMPC models.

“The Onyx phone is a breakthrough illustration of how advances in interface technology and collaborative design will drive the future of mobile interactions and services” [Clark Foy, Synaptics]

Synaptics and Pilotfish see Onyx as a tool assisting OEMs in visualizing a fundamentally new form of user interface. They might not put it in so many words, but they’re part of a new breed of technology company that recognizes that as functionality in mobile devices expands then the interface by which we access it must evolve too. The pool of power-users willing and capable of deciphering endless menus and sub-menus remains a minority amongst normal consumers, and if the latter are to be persuaded to upgrade for reasons other than “world’s thinnest” then it’ll take more than redesigned iconography to do it.

As a Tablet PC user I’m well aware of the added intuitiveness that more naturalistic methods of interaction with a device brings; that ClearPad apparently harnesses the accuracy of an active digitizer with the convenience of a passive one, coupled with multi-touch recognition, hints at even greater involvement between user and machine. I’d go so far as to say that advanced touch and gesture technology will be the interface that so many futurologists have promised speech recognition would be: less socially intrusive than speech and capable of discrete haptic feedback. It’s a lot to live up to, and SlashGear will be first in line to tell you just whether Onyx – and the technology behind it – can manage it.