Technology are evolving day by day and so the way of interaction with technology. Users are no more interested in mouse/keyboard and way ahead in using touch screens, motion sensing, voice & gesture recognition to provide inputs to system.

Interaction with touch screen is one of well accepted technology in HCI these days. Even I have been experiencing touch screen (office, ATM machine, tablets , monitors, Chinese gadgets, smart phones ) from last one year and found it changing from bit frustrating to absolutely helpful in providing quick input on particular screen. Touch screen was not always so intuitive or so quick and even bit discouraging too. But now using touch is one of the most natural way of interaction with digital world. Manufactures are viweing touch screens with more interest and incorporating it in products and surfaces they design.

If we are more digging into its evolution journey, there are couple of way of providing touching ambiances in the product:

• Analog - Resistive: This was the technology, which made debut in touch screen experience for digital world. You can easily recognize the technology in earlier touch screen phones(HTC, nokia or some other), operated with stylus. Resistive touchscreens are still popular because of its low cost and its pressure sensitive input makes it accepting input from any provision(credit acrd, pen , stylus). But the big disadvantage is that the touch screen is not so robust and cannot be standby with harsh condition or operated repeatedly, so shorter life span. Though resistive touchscreens are loosing its popularity among consumers and on the edge of getting lost from market, but still can be used in appliances having small touch screen, whose surface will only be used 2 or 3 times in a day and cost need to be on lower side.

• Projected - Capacitive: Introduced by iPhone, it is has been dominant in touch screen era since 2010. Although, it does not offers unrestrictive input options like resistive but recognize touch from varous objects, delivers beautiful optic, works with flush cover glass design, and have potential of last forever with robustness and multi touch capabilities. Being robust, it will be appropriate for device going to be used in harsh environment where the user touches the device or surface with greasy fingers. Capacitive touc screen supports six touch point upto 23 inches.

  Disadvantage: Cost is not scalable, Interfere with metal, difficult to integrate, can be sensitive to EMI. As more manufactures (aerospace, medical, transportation industry) are moving to projected capacitive technoogy, the technologist are more concern about scaling it to larger size and claiming more market

• Optical: Being cheap, scalable and accurate, this technology can be competitive in future. it provides mutil-touch up to four touch point.

  Disadvantage: Optical based touch screen suffer from occlusion and subject to interferences from sunlight and can result in false touches. therfore this one is not good for mobile ( light falling on touch screen wll constantly be changing).

• Projected infrared: New technology, cost effective, scalability for six and 32 touch point(scale with size of monitor) 40 touch point.

  Disadvantage: all optical ‘s one.

So manufactures are adopting appropriate touch screen as per product’s requirement: better optical; clarity; robust screen; low cost screen.

Though multi-touch capabilities have not been evolved much for large displays but no need to mention that multi touch will be next generation interfaces providing very intuitive experience. Touch screen have already been started becoming crucial part of collaborations in some way. Collaboration surfaces, touch screen tables and touch walls are already playing crucial role in confrences and discussion. Project coffee table, which allows guests to access facebook/or other accounts, sharing pics while having cofee and talking casually, is another area of research. Next big challenge is to support and to see the content required to engage many users in multi touch capabilities on large displays to make big Collaborations/ meetings/confrences/gaming successful. Other investigations are in place to make touch screen water /fire resistant with low toxicity and EMI shielding, so that they can be used in any environmental conditions.

With gesture based interaction has already been landed in digital world, I doubt further evolution in touch screens makes any sense .. :)

…writing inspired by the subject : Ubiquitous Computing.