Jogja Ponsel

Up until now, cell phones have always looked pretty much like, well, phones. But Synaptics is out to change all that with ClearPad, their next-generation mobile phone interface that replaces the traditional button layout with a smooth, touch-screen interface. Instead of punching away at function keys, ClearPad-enabled phones -� like the Onyx concept phone that Synaptics introduced -� will allow users to place and receive calls “with the touch of a cheek.”

It’s all in an effort to reflect the way people are using their phones today, explained Synaptics vice president Clark Foy.

“Mobile phones are no longer used just for making calls -� they have become a single access point for critical day-to-day information,” he said. “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.”

Touch and Go

And ClearPad isn’t just your standard touch-screen interface. With mobile phones now being used for everything from MP3 storage to video playback, this technology was designed to enable one phone to do everything.

Want to scroll through your digital music collection? ClearPad will display the folder menu and of all the controls you need to do that. Want to place a call? No problem; the system will call up the dialing menu. How about texting? ClearPad makes it possible to send and receive texts in many different languages. And, since everything is done via the digital menu system, the phone can even have multiple applications running at once.

The interface can also recognize more than just taps. Its touch screen will also respond to “shapes, complex gestures, and proximity to the user�s finger or cheek.” According to Synaptics, “this creates new possibilities such as assigning functions to two-finger taps, closing tasks by swiping an ‘X’ over them, sending messages by swiping them off the screen, or answering a phone by holding it up to your cheek.”

Albert Lin, an analyst with American Technology Research, is excited about the new technology. “I think it’s great, especially for the Asian markets, which are the leading growth markets of the world right now,” he says. “To be able to do character-based messaging is a barrier that needed to be addressed, so I think it’s a great technology. It’s probably got a long way to go, but it certainly addresses the bulk of the growing part of the world right now.”

Plus, he says, the interface is flexible enough to do almost anything. “I think over time you could see other uses for it, as an input device for games, for drawing, for navigating the Web, and other things you may ask your phone to do in the future.”

Synaptics developed the ClearPad touch-screen technology and then collaborated with Pilotfish, a European design firm, on the user interface. At this point, ClearPad and the Onyx phone are just proof of a concept, but Synaptics plans to market the phone to carriers by the end of this year.

Tim Sprinkle, newsfactor.com

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