Synaptics

This week the folks at Synaptics are making it clear what they've contributed to one of the most decorated gaming products at CES 2013: the Razer Edge Pro Gaming System. This machine has been shown as using none other than the Synaptics ClearPad 7300 Single-Chip Touch Controller, made with technology that's able to work with not only this device, but a wide variety of devices across the touch spectrum.

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Multitouch gestures on trackpads have become common place on laptops over the past few years, but they’re going to get a serious boost with the release of Windows 8. Synaptics is trying to make sure that the user experience will be up to snuff, today demoing its new ForcePad technology. The tech will not only bring improved sensitivity and multitouch gestures to touchpads, but also add support for force detection.

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Although high-end smartphones are all the rage right now, Synaptics, whose touchscreen technologies are used by Apple and many other major manufacturers, isn't neglecting the mid-range and entry-level markets. The company announced today a new Synaptics ClearPad 2200 touchscreen controller technology aimed at lower-range devices with screens smaller than 4 inches.

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Synaptics has outed its latest range of capacitive touchscreen systems for mobile devices, and the promise is even thinner electronics. The new ClearPad  Series 4 interface works with display-integrated touch panels - which combine the touchscreen layer and the display itself into one pane - and packages together the multitouch driver and the display driver itself.

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Synaptics has announced its play for the tablet touchscreen market, with the new ClearPad 7200 Series of capacitive touch-panels.  Available in sizes up to 10.1-inches, the ClearPad 7200 Series supports up to ten simultaneous points of contact together with the usual multitouch gestures like pinch-zoom and chiral-rotate.

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I think most of us will agree that it is great to see the lowly track pad on the notebook has made some very big changes for the better over the last few years. The track pad has gone from a simple pointing device to something that recognizes gestures and more.

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Synaptics' Fuse concept is starting to look a little prescient, now that we're seeing devices like the Motorola BACKFLIP and Notion Ink Adam putting trackpads on their rear panel despite also having touch-sensitive displays. We caught up with the Synaptics team at MWC 2010 this week to find out what they've been working on, and spend some very literal hands-on time with their Fuse prototype.

Video demo after the cut

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The last Synaptics concept we really got excited about was the Onyx smartphone - in fact we went all the way to the company's head office to play with their prototype - and now they're back with a new smartphone idea.  The Synaptics Fuse takes multitouch capacitive sensing and throws in force, grip and proximity sensing, along with haptic feedback and 3D graphics.  The end result is a squeezable smartphone that spreads its sensors not only across the touchscreen but down the sides, too, so as to be fully usable even with just one hand.  Fuse is a collaboration between Synaptics, TI, Immersion, TheAlloy and The Astonishing Tribe, and is based on a TI OMAP 3630 processor and a 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreen.

Video demo after the cut

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Synaptics invited SlashGear to their headquarters in Santa Clara this week to take a look at their latest capacitive touch-panel technology.  The company has rebranded their existing ClearPad capacitive system to ClearPad 2000, so as to make room for their new flagship ClearPad 3000.  This new panel can recognize up to 10 simultaneous finger touches together with complex multi-finger gestures such as pinch, pivot-rotate and rotate, with reduced latency and increase accuracy over what we've seen from capacitive panels to-date.

Video demo of ClearPad 3000 after the cut

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Jabra have announced two new wireless headset systems aimed more at deskbound workers wanting to cut their phone cords than true mobile users.  The Jabra GO 6400 (shown here) and PRO 9400 use Bluetooth and DECT respectively, and come complete with a base station with an integrated 2.4-inch capacitive touchscreen display.

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Nokia are tipped to begin using Synaptics touchscreen technology in their upcoming cellphones, with the first models using the presumably capacitive panels to launch in Q3 2009.  According to sources at Taiwan IC designers, Nokia is also considering introducing multitouch functionality to their handsets, in a move that could bring them into more direct competition with Apple and Palm.

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When I was asked late last week if the Sony Walkman X was something SlashGear would be interested in reviewing, it took all of maybe a fraction of a second to yell out YES! So am I impressed with the first ever PMP to sport an Organic light-emitting diode (OLED)? Let me just say that the display is hands-down the most gorgeous I’ve seen on any single phone or media player. Is that single factor alone enticing enough for me to give up my iPod touch? No, yes, well maybe no. I’ll have to spend a few days with the Sony Walkman X or NW-X1050 before I can give a definite yes or no.

Jump on over for the walkthrough video and image gallery.

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