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Iphone Apple

Apple Working on Touchless Control and Curved iPhone Screen (bloomberg.com) 74

Posted by msmash from the up-next dept.
Apple might be working on touchless gesture control and curved screens for future iPhones, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. From a report: The control feature would let iPhone users perform some tasks by moving their finger close to the screen without actually tapping it. The technology likely won't be ready for consumers for at least two years, if Apple chooses to go forward with it, a person familiar with the work said. Apple has long embraced new ways for humans to interact with computers. Co-Founder Steve Jobs popularized the mouse in the early 1980s. Apple's latest iPhones have a feature called 3D Touch that responds differently depending on different finger pressures. The new gesture technology would take into account the proximity of a finger to the screen, the person said. Apple is also developing iPhone displays that curve inward gradually from top to bottom, one of the people familiar with the situation said. That's different than the latest Samsung smartphone screens, which curve down at the edges.
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Apple Working on Touchless Control and Curved iPhone Screen More

Apple Working on Touchless Control and Curved iPhone Screen

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  • Apple knows what you are thinking.

    Now it will act on it.

  • Oh wait, just another stolen idea.

  • What's the advantage of not touching your display? I mean, aside of fewer greasy fingerprints.

    Sorry, I don't see the huge advantage, could anyone clue me in?

    • What's the advantage of not touching your display? I mean, aside of fewer greasy fingerprints. Sorry, I don't see the huge advantage, could anyone clue me in?

      Had to think about it myself. Presuming the touchless version implies a move away from capacitive touchscreens, this new tech means it can be used with gloves and in wet conditions.

    • Sorry, I don't see the huge advantage, could anyone clue me in?

      Getting to make hand gestures to dismiss a phone call while doing Obi-Wan impressions seems like something I obviously need in my life. I'm sure there's probably other stuff you could do as well, but who cares about any of that?

    • Douglas Adams foresaw the pros and cons forty years ago in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy:

      A loud clatter of gunk music flooded through the Heart of Gold cabin as Zaphod searched the sub-etha radio wave bands for news of himself. The machine was rather difficult to operate. For years radios had been operated by means of pressing buttons and turning dials; then as the technology became more sophisticated the controls were made touch-sensitive--you merely had to brush the panels with your fingers; now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components and hope. It saved a lot of muscular expenditure, of course, but meant that you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to keep listening to the same program.

      Zaphod waved a hand and the channel switched again.

    • Samsung users didn't see a huge advantage to it in the S4 [youtube.com], either. The feature died with the S6.

    • What's the advantage of not touching your display? I mean, aside of fewer greasy fingerprints.

      Assuming the sensing technology can penetrate, you'll be able to put it in a completely water-tight case. Lots of other case and mounting options become possible actually.

      • I could already do that with a normal touch display. I actually have touch sensors (more like proximity sensors, actually) behind the tiles in my bathroom. All that takes is a relatively large electromagnetic field you can disturb, which is of course harder to do for smaller structures, but then, the glass of a phone cover is thinner than the average tile.

  • Will Apple also be working on the ridiculously high pricing of their iPhone models?
  • He predicted this! I can't find the quote but something about radios removing knobs and buttons from the radio so you have to hold your hand in one place for it to work. I for one am thrilled to enjoy the ambiguity of gesture interpretation.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Megane ( 129182 )
      He also said something about people thinking that digital watches were really cool. If he had lived longer, he would have seen the error of his ways; the real problem was people thinking smartphones are really cool.
  • I like it. This way I can tell what UI element I am about to touch before I actually perform the finger press. This is genius.

  • Meanwhile... (Score:3)

    by Kenja ( 541830 ) on Wednesday April 04, 2018 @11:19AM (#56380753)
    Siri still bites, no workstation level computer (mac pro), iOS is getting bloated and the Home Pod is a flop. But sure, curved screens, work on that...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Megane ( 129182 )
      You forgot to add things breaking in every Mac OS release, like security and external display drivers.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dj245 ( 732906 )

      Siri still bites, no workstation level computer (mac pro), iOS is getting bloated and the Home Pod is a flop. But sure, curved screens, work on that...

      None of the things you listed will have a huge impact on profitability if they are improved. Curved screens are more likely to break and should increase sales.

  • Apple is also developing iPhone displays that curve inward gradually from top to bottom, one of the people familiar with the situation said.

    Wow! A handset with a convex face so your check doesn't press into the screen/keypad! Just like the Nexus S from 2010 [pocketnow.com] (and pretty much every phone prior to touchscreens). I hope they are granted a patent for this truly revolutionary new idea.

  • Apple might implement features long present on competing products, stay with us for 24/7 coverage on tech blogs.

  • The new gesture technology would take into account the proximity of a finger to the screen

    You mean like the Air Gestures feature Samsung had at least as far back as 2013 [youtube.com]? They died with the S6 because nobody used them, I'm sure Apple's "innovative" solution will be different.

  • I guess from the summary it is concave - and only in the length, not in the width.

    Is it cuved at the back too? (convex)

    If so when you lay it on a desk it would rock

    BTW I gave up Apple products in 1988

  • My Galaxy S4 with its hover controls called and would like it's innovation back.
    And while my none of the Galaxy S series curve inwards from top to bottom I'm sure LG has something to say about Apple's innovation.

  • When I get a telemarketer, I can just flip him the bird, and the phone will hang up on him.

  • The control feature would let iPhone users perform some tasks by moving their finger close to the screen without actually tapping it.

    So basically, Samsung's Air View [samsung.com] which they introduced in 2013.

    (I don't think they're really copying, given that proximity is a basic universal concept and thus an obvious choice for an interface. But I figured I'd use the term in honor of Apple fans throwing "copying" around at everything and everyone who does anything remotely similar to what Apple does, even if they d [dw.com]

  • Facial recognition would actually DO something valuable beyond unlocking your phone for after you're found dead or criminally arrested.

  • Welcome Apple fans (Score:3)

    by AbRASiON ( 589899 ) * on Wednesday April 04, 2018 @06:42PM (#56384059) Journal

    Now you too can join the misery of curved phone displays some of us Samsung fans have been offered!

    I for one, will not purchase ANY phone with a curved display, period. When my Note 5 dies, I'll be sadly leaving Samsung, who I've been very happy with. If they can't have the common sense to offer the option, they lose the money.

    Easier to break, harder to replace, virtually impossible to get one of those thin glass screen protectors.
    Nope.

  • Anyone else here remember Douglas Adams' short story Young Zaphod Plays it Safe?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

    The story, set in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe universe, includes reference to a radio that is tuned by waving your fingers it. And it drove Zaphod nuts because any accidental movement would tune it to another station. He would often just throw things at it.

    Adams was ahead of his time.

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