TG Daily is at Computex, a Taiwanese consumer electronics tradeshow, and uncovered this prototype multi-touch monitor from small-time vendor Albatron. The big news? Albatron thinks they can sell these monitors for just 20% over the typical price of an LCD panel. Multi-touch, first widely seen on the iPhone and Microsoft’s Surface tables, will be one of the key features of the upcoming Windows 7 operating system. (And probably Max OS X 10.6, although that’s just speculation based on the limited degree of multi-touch integration in 10.5.)
Albatron integrated the technology into a 22″ LCD providing a resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels. According to Doncevski, multi-touch is not affected by typical touch-screen limitations. Screen sizes of 24” and above simply require a third sensor on top of the screen. That’s it.
Windows 7 multi-touch LCD demonstrated [TGDaily.com]
I’m pretty excited at the idea of touchscreens being priced more in the range for average consumers, here’s hoping they can do it!
Great! My new monitor will be stained and dirty within a few days while for my current one it takes a few weeks (or I have to find a way to keep my colleagues with their sweaty tentacles in a safe distance…)
Is the iPhone’s display truely multi-touch? There are a few gestures that require multiple fingers, but they are pretty basic, not much more exciting than two-finger scrolling. Well, OK, maybe my expectation that a multi-touch display lets me use at least ten fingers simultaneously is unreasonable; that monitor probably can’t do that either.
Either way, its standard LCD monitor form factor means that it’s only useable for short tasks. You won’t be using this for web browsing or photoshopping, unless you have robotic arms controlled by your mind or trying idiotically hard to be hip. Otherwise, wait for a device with a tablet form factor.
NextWindow has been offering sensors like this for over 3 years, nothing new here. The HP Touch Smart uses the a NextWindow sensor in it’s 22″ AIO which is now in stores. Cost is $1299. It is multi-touch ready.