If bigger is better then HP's new Spectre X360 15", a larger version of its coveted X360 convertible, is onto a winner. Scaling up the touchscreen Windows 10 notebook from 13.3- to 15.6-inches, the new Spectre still keeps the machined aluminum body and clever hinge design, but now offers up to 4K resolution.
A lot of laptops these days are moving toward having a touch screens. It's nice to have that functionality for certain tasks, but if your notebook doesn't already have that technology built-in, you're left out in the cold. However, Neonode has announced a new device that can bring touch technology to virtually any computer.
Researchers at Qeexo, a spin-off of Carnegie Mellon University, have developed a technology for interacting with touchscreens that easily rivals Apple's 3D Touch and its pressure-sensitivity features. It's called FingerTouch, and instead of relying on display hardware, it's an algorithm that can determine the exact angle at which a finger is making contact with the screen. Because it's software based, it can work with the existing display hardware that's widely available.
Samsung has updated their line of ATIV notebooks with a couple of hard-hitting devices made with extremely sharp displays. The ATIV Book 9 Pro works with a 15.6-inch 4K display (that's 3840 x 2160 pixels) with touchscreen abilities. The Samsung ATIV Book 9 Spin works with a 13.3-inch display with QHD+ resolution (that's 3200 x 1800), touchscreen, and the ability to fold back over itself 360-degrees to achieve several display modes. Both machines will run Windows 10 and will be released very soon.
Is it a big tablet or a portable all-in-one PC? Lenovo doesn't particularly mind which classification the YOGA Home 900 falls into: the important thing is that the 27-inch touchscreen surface finds a spot in your home, no matter what you figure on doing with it.
Clever hinges are in fashion this month, but Lenovo is more confident than most that it has the right way to flip a convertible notebook 360-degrees with the YOGA 900. The latest iteration of the form-factor switching ultraportable, as well as an Intel Skylake upgrade the 1.29kg convertible promises more touchscreen stability as well as greater runtime.
Microsoft won't launch the much-rumored Surface Mini, so along comes HP to fill the gap with the unusual ENVY 8 Note. An 8-inch tablet paired with a 10-inch keyboard, the Windows 10 slate slides into its QWERTY companion for easier transportation, and also includes a digital pen for note-taking and sketching.
Apple introduced the idea of a new way of interacting with touch gestures, first with Force Touch and then with 3D Touch on the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. Naturally, it will become the next trendy technology that everyone will vie for. Luckily for everyone else, Synaptics has come out with some new touch controllers that could give smartphones like those running on Android exactly that. Calling it ClearForce, Synapitics is introducing a new way to interact with smartphones and expanding the current gesture beyond the current tap, swipe, and pinch.
The new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have been out for a full weekend now, meaning users have had a fair amount of time to play with the screen's new 3D Touch feature, which basically adds pressure sensitivity. In addition to Apple's own pre-installed apps, there are a number of third-party apps already taking advantage of 3D Touch. But there's one way to use it that hasn't been promoted, and is mostly buried deep in the settings: a screen zoom feature.
Today the iPhone 6s will be in the hands of thousands of new users, and with it, Apple's newest hardware feature: 3D Touch. This piece of technology senses how deeply a user presses the iPhone's display, also giving the user real-time feedback with the device's new Taptic Engine. Today we have a list of the first set of 3rd-party apps that'll be working with 3D Touch functionality, right out the gate.
It's iPhone 6s day, and as the first devices arrive in the eager hands of customers, 3D Touch is likely to be the hottest feature. Apple's upgraded touchscreen technology promises not only to recognize your fingertips but how hard they're pressing, courtesy of 96 new sensors baked into the display.
3D Touch on the iPhone 6s is, if you believe the early impressions, about as big a change to touchscreen phones as capacitive multitouch was eight years ago. Having tried it myself, earlier this month when Apple officially unveiled the 6s and its iPhone 6s Plus sibling, I certainly agree that it's an intriguing mixture of new and familiar: something you acclimatize to almost instantly, but the potential of which for shaking up interface design is vast. What intrigues me is how it could contribute to the evolution of one of the iPhone's most consistent design elements.
