In Tuesday's class we learned a bit about human/computer interaction. Presently, we do most of our interacting with computers using a keyboard and mouse. And so its been for about 26 years (since the first commercially wide-spread use of the mouse). That's obviously an eternity when juxtaposed with the rapid pace of technological development seen in other areas. In fact, the OS's of the world haven't REALLY changed that much since about Windows 3.0. But that's for another blog post. I'd like to talk a little about the rise of touch interaction.
Touch technology has been rapidly increasing to meet the demands of smartphone users. As more and more people have begun moving to the use of smartphones, the need for high-quality touch interaction has increased, and companies have increased the amount they spend to develop the technology. Some of the largest handset and mobile OS companies have in recent years acquired smaller, start-up businesses that were working to refine the various aspects of touch interaction.
The iPhone was perhaps the first widely adopted computer with a primarily touch interface and was one of the first phones upon which you didn't need to use a stylus. One of the keys to its success is the incredibly intuitive implementation of touch, such that any new user can almost immediately begin using it productively. As development continues, the move is toward more complex gesture-based interactions (think pinch-to-zoom on the iPhone), sometimes referred to as multi-touch because the screen can respond to multiple points of contact (multiple fingers) at the same time. Here is an example of a prototype build for an Android home screen concept that demonstrates future implementations of multi-touch.
The touch technology interface between a computer and a human being has become such a regular thing in today's world that it is hard to remember times without it. I was using my old flip phone to text someone yesterday and a kid next to me cracked a joke about my stone-age phone. I have not had the opportunity to use the IPhone or Droid but I can imagine that they are useful devices. The ability to do so many things from something as small as a cell phone continues to amaze me. Unfortunately, I am somewhat technologically illiterate so I have a hard time adjusting every time a new technology becomes available.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to the day when our home computers become all touch screen or maybe even something like in the movie Minority Report. Have the gloves on and manipulate all the images and information on the screen(s) in-front of you.
I have some friends that are very technologically impaired, and when they try to operate one of my ipods, they can't stand the click wheel. When I present the ipod touch to them, they find it seamless. I find it easier myself. I always found it strange at first when I borrowed somebody's smart phone to make a call, but it grows on you. Some smart phones have a useful feature of vibrating when you press a number for recognition that you just pressed a number. Again, I can't wait to see what happens in the future with touch technology.
ReplyDeleteOn youtube there was a video of a 2-year-old (or 3 I don't remember exactly) using an iphone with ease. His parents kept asking him to perform tasks on the device and the baby would do it no problem. He could even zoom in and out of pictures, pull up applications, and a lot. It was pretty amazing and shows how easy touch screens are to use
ReplyDeleteI saw that video, that was pretty amazing. I think the new generation will be way more technological then we are right now. alot of people say that they can live without technology, and thats not true because its something we use even though we don't know that we're using it, but in the future it will be way harder to avoid it. who wants to avoid technology anyways? ;)
ReplyDeleteI love my iPhone. I have had it for a year and a half and it has been my best friend. The touch interface is very easy to use. It allows for me to have better control of my pictures, internet browser, and games. In my opinion it is the best of its kind because of its design and it was the first of its kind. I think everything will have a touch interface in the near future.
ReplyDeleteI have a touch screen phone right now and I like the interface. The touch screen allows me to quickly navagate through my phone. I'm able to quickly get to texting or to my contacts without scrolling. The phone helps in some areas but lacks in others. I wish it had a reagule key pad. The touch screen makes it hard to get the right letter. I spend a lot of time going back and fixing what I just typed
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