10 touch points. The buzzword is “multi-touch”
When we look at the characteristics of a smartphone or tablet, we often see in the description many terms that are previously unfamiliar to us. One such term could be multi-touch. That's what it says opposite the screen - multi-touch. What this means is not disclosed in the characteristics. In reality, everything is much simpler.
Multitouch is derived from the English. Multi-touch, which can be translated as “multiple touch”. From this alone we can conclude that we're talking about about the screen (touchpad), which simultaneously supports multiple touches.
How much exactly? The question is interesting, because multi - many - in in this case does not indicate a certain number of supported touches, which means that a multi-touch screen can be called a touch panel that supports more than one touch.
How to find out exactly how many touches your tablet or smartphone supports? This can be found out using the characteristics of the device, but if you don’t trust them for some reason, it doesn’t matter, you can use special applications, for example, MultiTouch Tester or AnTuTu:
And here are 5 touches:
As you can see, in this case Touchpad supports up to 10 touches.
What is multitouch used for?
Multach allows you to use additional functions. Here are some of them:
- Move your fingers to make it smaller.
- Spread your fingers - enlarge.
- Move with several fingers - scroll up and down, left and right.
- Two-finger rotate—rotate the object.
Multitouch is actively used in applications. For example, games sometimes require more than two touches. This means that if the panel only supports two touches (there are some), you won’t be able to fully play the toy.
The modern world of technology is regularly updated with new gadgets and various technical equipment. Almost everyone has heard such a fashionable word as “multi-touch screen”. However, not all users can evaluate rationally. Let's take a closer look at what a multi-touch screen looks like, what kind of technological innovation is this?
Multitouch represents . He is able to respond to several touches at the same time. There is no keyboard in such a device, and the main tool is light touches with your fingers. If we translate the term from in English, then it means “multiple touch”.
Back in the sixties of the last century, great minds worked on creating a high-tech touch screen. All these innovations were applied at CERN (the center for nuclear research in Europe). The public first saw such screens in New York, and their developer was Jeff Hahn. It was at the beginning of the 21st century that everyone in the world started talking about unreal technologies, when you can control the monitor image with just one touch of your finger. It was a real technological explosion, and a huge step in the world of electronics.
The importance of multi-touch in the modern world
Now that we have become acquainted with this device, the question arises about what a multi-touch screen means in modern world? Maybe there is no point and not everyone is ready to overpay for it? It only seems so, in fact, such touches on the screen not only simplify the task, but also save the user’s time. Of course, you don’t notice how you mechanically try to enlarge the picture with two fingers. Agree, this function is very convenient and it is confusing when a new touch gadget does not respond to this action.
If the average user can live without these innovations in the device, he will face a lot of difficulties. Today, many well-known manufacturers are adapting controls gameplay specifically for a multi-touch screen. They simply abandon button commands and use modern technology to simplify the gaming process.
Using multi-touch in gadgets:
- Manage games and entertainment applications.
- Zoom the image with one touch.
- Easy application management and time saving.
Distinctive characteristics of multi-touch from a conventional touch screen
These two screens should not be confused. An ordinary sensor only responds to one touch, is of particular importance to him. Multi-touch screen control is based on several touches simultaneously.
Engineers regularly develop new combinations that should make it easier to operate and control electronic devices. Smartphone owners have long felt the benefits of the zoom function. Many manufacturers claim that their gadgets are capable of recognizing from 10 to 20 touches simultaneously.
Multitouch display: device and application
Screen design
Almost all modern mobile devices support this feature. What is multitouch on a tablet? Here the answer will be simple - it is freedom of action and time saving when working with many applications. Many laptops also have this feature.
Such a screen can be developed by several technological ways, But the most practical and popular remains resistive. Samuel Hurst is its main developer. The main advantage in this production scheme is . True, this method was popular until 2008. After this, more universal options for creating a multi-touch screen were developed: strain gauge, optical and inductive touchscreens. Today, many creators are working on a projected capacitive touch screen, which is what the famous Apple company in your gadgets.
What does this high-tech screen consist of? A glass panel covered with a resistive layer is called a capacitive monitor. Four electrodes are placed in the corners of the display, which transmit AC voltage. As soon as your finger touches the monitor, current leaks instantly. How larger sizes display, themes more points touch is recognized by the device.
Additional features
Buyers all over the world are buying gadgets that contain . It is not surprising that Apple is actively introducing such screens into all of its mobile devices. Surely everyone who has held such a device in their hands can understand its advantages over others. But still let's pay attention to additional features for those who doubt the functionality of such equipment:
- Simple operation, time saving.
- It is convenient to use such devices, as they fit harmoniously into a person’s everyday life.
- The device can be used by several users, but before doing so, you must ensure that it is present.
- Control occurs on an intuitive level, so not only children, but also pensioners can handle the devices. Buttons are always confusing, and their absence makes the workflow easier to understand.
Application area
The capacitive multi-touch screen is understandable to almost everyone, which is why it is being implemented not only in computers and mobile devices, but also in household appliances. Even children can easily figure it out. The equipment has an additional advantage if control occurs through a sensor with several touches. Various multi-touch panels are especially popular in in public places: educational establishments, medical centers, shopping pavilions and children's entertainment centers. They are often used to provide necessary information and as advertising panels.
Visitors can easily move around electronic map and get acquainted with product catalogs. Such systems are equipped with a microphone and speakers, which also simplifies the process of perceiving the necessary information for potential buyers and visitors. It is very important that the display image is always bright and contrasty, while the monitor is protected from scratches and other possible mechanical damage. Every entrepreneur wants to purchase such a multi-touch panel, as it increases the level of perception and adds prestige to any company.
How can you tell if a device has multi-touch?
It is very important to be able to recognize the presence of such a screen before purchasing.. Today there are many scammers who give out ordinary touch devices for the high-tech multi-touch screen:
- While still in the shopping pavilion, turn on your device and go to the Google Maps menu. If the device has multi-touch, then scaling in this program will occur with two finger touches. Otherwise, it means that the seller is giving you incorrect information, so purchase another model.
- Before making a purchase, visit the manufacturers' websites. There you will find information about each device.
- The resistive screen in tablets and smartphones is not equipped with a multi-touch function, however, there are users who vehemently prove the opposite. It’s just that on such screens you can only implement the function of rotating and zooming with two fingers, but that’s where its capabilities end. you will not be able to play, which will certainly upset every user who was counting on an enjoyable gaming experience.
Today, monitors are not large enough to operate with two hands, but in the near future, every gadget will have such technological multi-touch screens. Everything that was once shown in science fiction films is being implemented today and is actively being introduced into people’s lives. Great minds regularly include new functions in gadgets and use multi-touch screens for control, while new combinations are developed and the technology itself is improved. The touch screen is the face of current technology and behind it, undoubtedly, lies our entire future.
Modern electronic devices are increasingly equipped with new features that are designed to make them easier to use. Each characteristic has its own name. For example, you can find in technical description tablet or phone the word "multi-touch". What it is?
Meaning of the term
First of all, it's worth noting that this is the name of a touch screen. This monitor responds to light finger pressure and does not have physical keyboard. Translated from English, the term means “multiple touches.”
History of origin
First experiments in creating touch screens were carried out back in the 1960s. Later they found their application at CERN. They were equipped with a particle accelerator. In the 1970s, the touchscreen was introduced at the University Modern technology, which once seemed like a fantasy, appeared in New York. It was designed by Jeff Hana. This happened eight years ago. We can say that new possibilities for creating “multi-touch” touch screens arose precisely at the beginning of the 21st century. The inventor founded his own company, which he called Perceptive Pixel. Very quickly she joined Microsoft and began developing programs included in the Office suite.
What commands does the touch screen perform?
First of all, let's define the features of multi-touch: what it is and what is the difference between the usual and it. The first is capable of recognizing the coordinates of a point of one touch, and the second - of many. This circumstance allows you to make working with an electronic device more comfortable and productive. Many special gestures have been developed to control the device. If you have a smartphone, you must remember that with just two fingers that converge or diverge on the monitor of an electronic gadget, you can set the command to zoom out or zoom in on the image. They also allow you to open folders, files, collapse, move them, rotate, scroll pages. You can enter text using virtual keyboard. Mobile manufacturers electronic devices(in particular, smartphones) indicate that their screen is capable of recognizing up to twenty touches. To check the multi-touch screen for the accuracy of this statement, there is a special test program. It is free and located in free access in the Internet. It is often used by owners of devices with the Android operating system.
Electronic devices with multi-touch
As a rule, such technology is supported by many modern mobile electronic devices: smartphones, telephones, e-books, iPads and even laptops. They are released popular companies, for example, companies such as Apple, Dell, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and others. There are several options for making touch screens. Resistive technology was the most popular. It was designed by Sam Hurst. Its biggest advantage is its low production cost. This continued until 2008. Other options for creating such displays: optical, strain gauge, inductive touchscreens. Now they are being created. The Apple company uses them in its iPhones and iPads.
Display device
What does a multi-touch screen consist of? Capacitive monitor is a glass panel covered with a resistive layer. There are four electrodes at the corners of the display. Alternating voltage passes through them. When a finger touches the touch screen, leakage current occurs. Large screens with multi-touch support the function of tracking multiple touches of several users simultaneously. Displays created using various technologies. IR frames are being developed and put into production - screens with different diagonals, using infrared illumination and a camera. Special touch films, as well as glass, are in demand among electronics users. They cover displays; their sizes can range from seventeen to fifty inches or more.
Where are touch screens used?
What are their advantages?
Apple used multi-touch technology in its phones and iPhones. As a result, gadgets equipped with touch screens have become very popular among buyers. Microsoft uses multitouch on its desktop operating systems and considers this direction the most promising. If you use devices with a multi-touch display, what is it and what is its advantage, you will soon be able to answer for yourself. First of all, it is convenient to control with a few touches of your fingers. Typically, the screen electronic gadgets big. Their absence physical buttons does not interfere with their operation. On the contrary, it allows you to do electronic devices the most comfortable, it’s a pleasure to use the Internet, play audio or video files. In the presence of special programs It is possible to use the device simultaneously by several users. This interface makes operation intuitive. Therefore, touch screens are suitable for children, advanced youth, and the elderly.
Who invented multi-touch, you ask. It is impossible to answer this question. One can only assume that the pioneers were musicians who tried to use touch sensors to influence sound effects. Then all fingers were used, and such a touch could be called multiple.
What is the difference?
How does a screen equipped with a multi-touch function differ from a regular and already familiar touch screen?
A touch screen is a screen that can determine the coordinates of only one touch point. A screen with a multi-touch function can simultaneously determine coordinates from two or more points.
To put it simply, everyone in clear language, information is entered using several fingers simultaneously. With this state of affairs, the user can work more productively, quickly and comfortably. Objects can be moved anywhere, changed their size, rotated, grouped. And all this with the help of standard gestures. Another advantage of this technology is the ability for several users to work simultaneously. This is carried out if there is a special software. Developed a large number of special multi-touch gestures. Such gestures greatly simplify the work. With their help, control is quite complex functions becomes convenient. So, if you bring your fingers closer together on the touch screen, the image on the screen will decrease; if you move it away, it will increase.
The implementation of the idea of “multi-touch function” began in the 80s. Yes, it is very difficult to imagine now! Around 1982, Canadian scientists were able to develop the new technology in detail. But putting the idea into practice was still very expensive at that time. And the dimensions of the then version were very large. Such an idea could not be implemented en masse.
The 21st century was a breakthrough. The first gadgets with similar technology began to appear precisely from the beginning of the new century.
For the multi-touch system to function, special software is required. It is included in some modern operating systems, such as: Windows Mobile 6.5, Windows 7, Mac OS X. The following technologies are currently popular for working with multi-touch: projected capacitive (PCT) and optical (IR, SAW.
The word “multi-touch” refers to touch screens. Apple touchpads (such as PowerBook) can also recognize multi-finger gestures. In PowerBook there is a special meaning, scrolling, parallel movement of two fingers, and in MacBook, MacBook Pro And MacBook Air there is already a function for recognizing two finger turns, spreading and closing fingers, and multidirectional movements with three and even four fingers. One can cite, as an example, new mouse from Apple: Magic Mouse and separate touchpad: Magic Trackpad.
Modern large multi-touch screens have an operating principle that is based on projection. Infrared (IR) frames have been developed. They are capable of tracking multiple touch points simultaneously. Interestingly, they can be used with any type of display. Currently on globe There are many manufacturers who have already launched mass production of multi-touch IR screens. Screen sizes vary: 32”, 40”, 42”, 46”, 50”. They use cameras and infrared illumination. And in last years began to use in great demand touch films and even glass! They cover screens different sizes: 17” to 50” and even more.
Small screen size is a common occurrence. Readers may be interested in the following figures: The number of phones with multi-touch screens has increased from 200,000 units sold in 2006 to 21 million in 2012! Agree, the numbers are impressive! Yesterday's fiction becomes everyday reality! Older people look with surprise at young people masterfully working with all their fingers on screens different devices. But older people still remember wooden abacus!
This modern look user interface is becoming very popular and in demand, as the reliability and comfort of multi-touch solutions are evident. The quantity and quality of understood gestures is growing.
Choosing a device with multi-touch
Therefore, before choosing, for example, a tablet, you should ask about this issue and find out information from several sources.
Attention: in smartphones and tablets with resistive screens, the multi-touch function is simply not available! If the type of touch screen is a projected capacitive screen, then the presence of multi-touch technology takes place. There is a function with which you can implement scaling on a resistive screen, as well as rotate the image with two fingers. But this is achievable by calculating the change relative position touch points, that is, the coordinates of each finger are unknown. For example, you won't play Super Mario!
How to test the multi-touch function in practice?
Can be produced Google launch Maps. Google Maps Zooms using two fingers only if multi-touch is available.
What is multitouch on a tablet or phone?
It supports two-point or more touches. Most people have this feature. budget tablets and smartphones, as well as middle-class solutions. For most of the tasks assigned to these devices, this is quite enough.
It is worth purchasing tablets with multi-touch support, because the cost of a device that has this function is not too different from its predecessors that do not have the function. But you will get a lot of additional amenities. For example, the ability to embed a modern “reader” - reader. Thus, you get the advantage of being able to quickly increase or decrease the font size if necessary while reading a book or web page, or increase or decrease any images and pages in programs for PDF reader and DJVU, and even in the browser.
Analysts predict that soon the vast majority of electronic devices that will be sold on the market will be equipped with this option. You and I will benefit from this!
Again, explain in simple language What is multi-touch 5 touches is very simple. For example, two taps will give you a limited number of actions. These are: scaling and rotating the screen.
Five touches or multi-touch 5 points - this is more universal, while for each gesture there are more features. So, the “kopeck piece” has the option of one or two touches: any action you take is multiplied by two. And there will be exactly twice as many management functions. At “five” the number of such touches increases to five. You can use two, three, four fingers and the commands will be different.
For the average person there is no difference. But the one who uses graphic editors or CAD on touch screens, it will be very, very convenient! And a simple user gets the opportunity to play together on one screen. Why not?
There are also disadvantages. So, the five-position one is not very convenient to use in smartphones. The smartphone screen is small, the technology is expensive and unprofitable for screens of this size. It turns out that often the cost does not justify the presence of a five-position touchscreen. The exception is perhaps the Galaxy Note.
What does multi-touch capacitive mean?
This is a frequently asked question. There are many myths and confusion surrounding it. There are two types of capacitive screens that differ in principle: capacitive and projected-capacitive. The iPhone and iPad use projected capacitive ones, because on a regular capacitive screen multitouch is simply impossible, just like with a resistive one.
What does multi-touch screen mean? This is a touch screen or touchpad that can simultaneously detect two or more touch points.
The prophetic words spoken at the Intel presentation are interesting. They go like this: “In 2013, the personal computer will be reinvented.”
The words referred to ultrabooks fourth generation. But without touch screens with multi-touch technology, Intel no longer plans to create new mobile phones. personal computers! PC. What can we say about tablet and smartphone developers!
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