Multitouch laptops "not intuitive" according to Fujitsu

Anonymous Anonymous

#1 – 12:15 PM October 2, 2008

How on earth can anyone, particularly Fujitsu, say that "it is not intuitive to reach up and start touching the screen"? Touching what you are interacting with is practically the definition of intuitive. Have you used a touchscreen tablet PC? I certainly find it more intuitive than a trackpad.

You may have been trained to use a mouse or touchpad, but trust me, it doesn't take training to use a touchscreen. Just put your laptop in front of a small child and show them something interesting on the screen (hope you don't mind the smudges on your screen).

It might not be intuitive to senior directors of product management, but that doesn't mean it isn't intuitive.

royaltrux

#2 – 12:27 PM October 2, 2008

It'll be good for coffee tables. But I can't see doing the kind of detail work I do with my fingers on the screen. (Think: blunt instrument).

Alan

#3 – 12:37 PM October 2, 2008

I dunno; I'm constantly wiping my kids' fingerprints off of the screen, and even my dad, who doesn't own a computer nor use one at work, will touch the screen. Then again, the prints are almost always left by the second person at the computer, saying "click here".

mykie

#4 – 1:20 PM October 2, 2008

I don't really agree.

I can see a future where laptops (and other computers) have a touchscreen keyboards instead of a tactile keyboard, something like the Optimus keyboard. Touchscreens, instead of keyboards, can make laptops thinner, and have much more flexible input options. Possibly a full size keyboard in a smaller area that you can swipe to the side to expose a Ins/Del/Home/End cluster, arrow keys, and a number pad off to the side.

Of course, the future I see is probably also errily similar to the future George Lucas saw in Star Trek: TNG.

Marley9

#5 – 1:27 PM October 2, 2008

I can't stand it when someone walks to my work station and points to something on my screen, touching it. I can't imagine the horror of having smudges all over it. I could deal with it being glass, easy to clean...ala Touch, iPhone. Other wise, fail. For uses of public access, such as what AlwaysSoft's table thingy touts, epic fail.

Brandon West

#6 – 1:29 PM October 2, 2008

Of course, the future I see is probably also errily similar to the future George Lucas saw in Star Trek: TNG.

shutz

#7 – 1:33 PM October 2, 2008

Yeah, like adding a touchscreen to a handheld gaming device is only going to be a useless gimmick, or adding motion sensing to game controllers is never going to catch on.

Or that if man was ever meant to fly, he'd already have wings.

Sheesh.

I can already imagine one simple way where multi-touch on a laptop or desktop screen might be worthwhile: it's quicker and easier to just pull at two of the corners of a window to stretch it and position it to your liking, all in one motion, instead of having to move at least two of the corners with your mouse.

I disaggree with the touchscreen keyboard concept that MYKIE brought up, though. You need the tactile feedback of the shape of the keys. A touchscreen keyboard would only work if there could also be some way to generate ridges around the contour of the keys, and some form of tactile feedback to pressing a key. The only way this could work is if someone figured out a radically different input method for text that intuitively works with a touchscreen.

Anonymous Anonymous

#8 – 1:59 PM October 2, 2008

I just tried touching my laptop screen and it's a rather awkward angle to use. Plus, it'd be sort of hard because you don't want to push the screen back. I'm sure touchscreens will become the next big thing, but I think it will have to be different than just switching the screens of normal laptops to touchscreen.

johninsapporo

#9 – 3:06 PM October 2, 2008

"But obviously Microsoft's banking on multi-touch monitors and touchscreens being the future: it's one of the main announced features of Windows 7."

This almost makes it a dead cert that it won't catch on. Look at the string of MS "enthusiasms" that died or need so much life support, they could hardly be described as alive:

The Tablet PC
That watch thingy
Surface
XBox
Windows Mobile
The recent MS ads
PlaysForSure
Zune
Bob
Vista

Also, I don't know about it being "non-intuitive" to have your hands on a touchscreen, but I'm pretty sure it would get very tiring if you had to do it for any length of time. This is in addition to the point made by other posters about how greasy the screen would soon become - especially if one had young children.

BUT a larger touchpad with enhanced features for data entry in addition to a keyboard - that would be interesting.

Looks like the direction Apple is going.

Yours sincerely,

John Davis

kaosmonkey

#10 – 3:54 PM October 2, 2008

The Xbox is dead? For shame.

Synthaks

#11 – 4:03 PM October 2, 2008

Xbox "hardly alive" ?

Epic fail!

Synthaks

#12 – 4:05 PM October 2, 2008

Or Apple fanboy....

Apple Bandai Pippin
Apple Bandai Pippin
Apple Bandai Pippin
Apple Bandai Pippin
Apple Bandai Pippin
Apple Bandai Pippin

That´s like garlic for them

stratosfyr

#13 – 4:32 PM October 2, 2008

I have a tablet laptop with a pen screen, and while the pen is not quite ideal for some interactions, it's a heck of a lot better than a touchpad for most things. Even when it's open like a standard laptop, it's great for web browsing. The only irritating thing is picking up the pen all the time.

Touch is a nice feature. I'd love to see it in netbooks. I've had problems with it on a few UMPCs, but that was because they were running standard Vista and had such high-resolution tiny screens that the buttons were too small to hit.

Daemon

#14 – 4:33 PM October 2, 2008

Unintuitive? No. Useless and/or aggravating? Almost certainly.

I mean, touch screen technology has existed for over a decade, and the only things that use it (for the most part) are systems with hyper-symplified controls: kiosks, portable electronics, etc.

canadianalien

#15 – 5:51 PM October 2, 2008

How odd to hear Fujitsu say this!

I've been using a Fujitsu P1510 laptop/tablet for about 1.5 years.

It is 8.9 inch touch screen (can use finger, stylus etc) ... I am constantly using my fingers or stylus on this machine.

As a result, I often find myself reaching out to my office monitor (which is not a touchscreen). It is very natural and entirely intuitive.

I recently was showing someone photos of an event on my Fujitsu P1510 at a bar and I was dragging the image application around on the screen with my finger and zooming in and out. The other person was amazed that this was possible.

michaelportent

#16 – 7:13 PM October 2, 2008

This incredible insight brought to you by experts, Fujitsu, who are constantly on the bleeding edge of... undoubtedly the front runner in... arguably the penultimate with regards to...

Wait... Why should we listen to Fujitsu again?!

jeffjonez

#17 – 7:28 PM October 2, 2008

As I read this article, I kept waiting for the knowing wink, the subtle snark to indicate the inherent absurdity of this Fujitsu spokesdrone's statements. It looks like many of us are still waiting...

Saying that touch interfaces can't work because it's awkward on our WIMPy hardware is like saying compact discs sound awful on a turntable.

iRoy

#18 – 7:52 PM October 2, 2008

I've been using my IBM Transnote now for years. It's amazing watching how fast people take to using the touchscreen, (unlike the A4 digitising tablet).

This device has been around since 2001. It's p3-600 was looking slow and jaded until the latest mini laptops arrived.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/transnote/

dougrogers

#19 – 8:02 PM October 2, 2008

I don't know.... when I had my Palm Neo, with the stylus... I found myself absent-mindedly touching the screen of my Wall Street Powerbook... and for a moment - every time - startled that it didn't do something.

overunger

#20 – 10:39 PM October 2, 2008

I think illustrators and graphic designers would strongly disagree there, Fujitsu. Electric sketchbooks are the future of the art industry. And how.

Anonymous Anonymous

#21 – 7:15 AM October 3, 2008

Touchscreens on laptops may not be ideal for most typing or data entry, but seriously, when all you want to do it hit the OKAY button on a web site, do you really need to swirl your finger around on the touchpad until the arrow points to the button on the screen, the click the hardware button below the touchpad? Wouldn't it be so-o-o much easier to, um, touch the button on the screen?

Likewise with things like a calculator or calendar widget. It's so much easier to just touch the calculator buttons than to fumble around at the top of the keyboard and shifting for the + or * signs. Or just touch the calendar day you're interested in and the day's appointments pop up.

As an exclusive input - never. As another easier way to do simple things right on the screen where you need to - absolutely! Sign me up!

Chrs

#22 – 7:48 PM October 4, 2008

Major reason why a multitouch laptop makes sense:

Convertible tablet.

I mean, really, we're not talking about a wildly different interface between the two, and a tablet profits greatly from multitouch. If you're going to have a laptop with a touchscreen at all, it's not a big step to have it operate as a tablet.