Use your hands, AND your feet!
Back in January we saw 3M's multi-touch panel--the 22-inch M2256PW--on display at CES 2010. At the time, it only allowed for ten simultaneous inputs using the company's Projected Capacitive Technology. However that's all changed, and now the LCD is hitting the market with 20+ finger support. What this means is that the display will accept multiple users collaborating on a single panel at the same time.
Outside the 20+ finger support, the M2256PW has a 6 millisecond response time for 20 touches, and palm accommodation which allows for "interface manipulation with one or more hands resting on the screen." The display also has 3358 touch points for precision drawing and edge accuracy, and a smooth and natural draw response thanks to the display's "anti-stiction" touch surface.
Although the actual screen size wasn't specified in the press release, the product page indicates that the size hasn't changed since its debut back in January, measuring 22-inches. Other bells and whistles include a 1680 x 1050 resolution, DVI and VGA video inputs, a USB and serial-based RS232 dual-mode communications protocol, and an anti-glare surface. The device is also Windows Touch AQ tested for 20+ fingers, making it compatible with Windows 7 and requiring no additional drivers.
"With the release of the M2256PW multi-touch display, 3M is helping realize the full potential of the multi-touch ecosystem," said Chris Tsourides, business manager, 3M Touch Systems. "With 20-plus finger multi-touch capability, the M2256PW display offers software developers an important development tool that they’ve been missing until now."
3M's online store indicates that it will cost $1,549 USD, however it appears that the company is providing discounts for specific quantities.
Why?
playing a game with two people?
And touch points? You mean my fingers are simply activating various points on a detection grid (like buttons or switches)? I suppose the detection had to be reduced to a discrete number at some point, but only 3358 touch points? That's 73x46 points. That's what, 3 every 2 centimeters or something? That's not a very precise surface. Maybe I'm just confused.
Now, put this on a 60" display, and hang it up in a board room with multiple windows open so folks can work on different things at once.... maybe I can see it. But even still, then you'd have at least two people standing in front of the display to manipulate it...
^ this.
Not on 22" ... what the heck, what can you do with 2-20 hands on a 22" lcd? One is the driver, the other one looks and points, not work too. It'll be weird.
I believe you're thinking of the 20+ touch in a linear fashion rather than simultaneous. A lot of touch-screen devices can only track one touch at a time. If you touch with two fingers, it tends to jump back and forth. Multi-touch devices have started to become more common, and these can track, well, more than one touch at a time. Of course, 20+ is beyond their capacity.
So what are the potential applications of something like this? A touch-screen keyboard that could actually keep up with a proficient 10-finger typist. A collabortive screen where multiple people could input information or maninpulate objects all at the same time.
A lot of times, stuff like this will come out and people will treat it like a solution in search of a problem. That's not entirely untrue. Often times, the next great gadget is only possible once certain technological breakthroughs have been achieved. In fact, there was an article that came out when the iPad debutted pointing out that an iPad prototype was actually invented a decade or so earlier. However, it would not have been possible to create THE iPad because the technology did not exist yet.
I agree with this. An application on a conference table could be useful. Introducing a 20 touch display on a 22" is kind of silly. I guess you have to start somewhere...