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Patent For Gesture-Controlled Phones Could Be Nokia's Answer to Touch
Posted by John Mahoney at 12:00 AM on November 22, 2008
Nokia has always held the line that the reason their top-end N-series has yet to see any sign of a touch-based interface was because they were simply waiting to "do it the right way." (The company's first all-touch device, the 5800, was made official only a few months ago). All's fair there, but when I asked Nokia's Chief Designer Alastair Curtis this week in New York what exactly the "right way" entails for Nokia's more internationally focused phones, the answer was, of course, "wait and see!" What did come up indirectly, though, was mention of gesture control for mobile phones--something a recent Nokia patent seems to indicate as well.
The patent, filed in January of this year, shows that Nokia has been cooking up something gesture related for quite some time. The patent calls for an ultrasonic-based system for divining where your fingers were pointing at the screen, and to also detect basic gestures like opening and closing your hand to control a web browser (similar to gesture based interfaces in PCs). While this seems like an incredibly roundabout way to go about something that seems far more natural via touch, especially on a mobile device, I guess I'll reserve final judgment for when I'm surfing the web via jazz hands on a new N-series piece, should that day ever come. [Patent Application]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
The Tie Rule Information Packet Intern
Posted 1:22 AM 22/11/08
@Geisrud: It's actually Escher totally rocking out.
The Tie Rule Information Packet Intern
voltron80
Posted 1:21 AM 22/11/08
@Crickett: Haha, yeah it totally is!
voltron80
Dooosh
Posted 1:16 AM 22/11/08
Dose every company hire the same shitty artist when submitting patents?
Dooosh
Geisrud
Posted 1:16 AM 22/11/08
@Crickett: You beat me to it. And the ideal gesture is apparently the sign for "I love you"
Geisrud
Crickett
Posted 1:06 AM 22/11/08
So Nokia's future touch-done-right device is... a Palm V from 1999?? Color me !psyched.
Crickett
Gann
Posted 1:58 AM 22/11/08
This has serious potential. I'm tired of smudges on my screen, and when I'm playing space monkey my own hand occasionally obscures my view and makes me miss that oh-so-precious space garbage.
Gann
GTgeek
Posted 1:57 AM 22/11/08
@ConfuciusMax: Yeah, that's what I thought...not specifically that model, but I did think it was a palm product.
GTgeek
TechSurfer
Posted 1:47 AM 22/11/08
@ConfuciusMax: Uhh, did you read the first post, and responses to it?
But yeah, look at this:
[www.bcarter.com]
TechSurfer
ConfuciusMax
Posted 1:43 AM 22/11/08
That looks like a Palm V, anyone else see it?
ConfuciusMax
SQLGuru
Posted 1:40 AM 22/11/08
From the Nokia Borg: Capacitive Resistance is futile!
Actually, what they fail to take into account is viewing angle. Where my fingers are in relation to my view isn't depicted in the drawing. There had better be some screen-visible feedback, too.
SQLGuru
ryaninc
Posted 1:40 AM 22/11/08
@Crickett: Wow, throwback to the Palm V. I never had one...I had a IIIxe and I was always jealous of my friend's V. :-)
ryaninc
SewerShark
Posted 2:41 AM 22/11/08
@Crickett: The Patent was related to the tecnology itself, not for the design.
SewerShark
chefgon
Posted 3:21 AM 22/11/08
This is the stupidest idea of all time.
chefgon
jdbaile3
Posted 3:40 AM 22/11/08
This is not the interface you are looking for.
jdbaile3
efenili
Posted 4:15 AM 22/11/08
While some gesture may be used, I can't see Nokia putting out a device entirely controlled by gesture. That just seems stupid.
The browsing the web with jazz hands comment was good :)
Nokia has always put out pretty amazing phones way ahead of anyone else. Some of the Nokia phones were doing things people praise the iPhone and other new phones for WAY before the iPhone was even introduced. Not saying they are better, just that they had all the features (except touch of course) a long time ago.
Too bad they cost $800 bucks :P
efenili
whippa0
Posted 4:11 AM 22/11/08
If it can be a one handed device ...I'm in.
whippa0
Wormfather is Wormfather
Posted 4:26 AM 22/11/08
[insert masturbation joke here]
Wormfather is Wormfather
mikeg1130
Posted 4:19 AM 22/11/08
@SQLGuru: I think the screen visible feedback you are looking for is referred to as the pointers in the pictures. At least that's the way I interpreted it.
mikeg1130
ConfuciusMax
Posted 4:58 AM 22/11/08
@TechSurfer: Nope, i failed pretty badly on this one. I'll get you next time gadget!!
ConfuciusMax
Crickett
Posted 4:46 AM 22/11/08
@SewerShark: M'bad, forgot the <tongue-in-cheek>...</tongue-in-cheek> tags ;-)
Crickett
ChristianAristaeus
Posted 5:57 AM 22/11/08
@ConfuciusMax: Yup thats what I was thinking.
ChristianAristaeus
bagumpity
Posted 8:12 AM 22/11/08
I'm freaking tired of the "touch" and "gesture" interfaces being touted as if they were the best thing since sliced bread.
First of all, have we learned nothing from remote controls? Nobody is going to standardize this crap. I'm going to have to know eighteen different finger-wriggling techniques just to watch my Tivo'd copy of The Soup.
Second of all, what are all the people with arthritis going to do? Gramma can't watch her stories because it hurts her hands to turn on All My Children. What about people with parkinsons? Crap! I think I just told my car to buy me a latte at Michael J. Fox's restaraunt. What about people born with no fingers? They can't do anything, man. That sucks.
bagumpity
Brau
Posted 8:26 PM 22/11/08
Great. Now you can not only sound like some lunatic talking to themselves but you can wave your hands around too.
Brau
tondus
Posted 1:36 AM 22/11/08
@Dooosh: hahahahah... It's the same guy that everyone hires for movie trailer voice overs.
tondus