Synaptics and several partners on Monday introduced a new mobile-phone concept to demonstrate future possibilities for user interaction. Dubbed Fuse, the phone offers multi-touch capacitive sensing, haptic feedback, 3-D graphics, and force, grip and proximity sensing.
Fuse tackles an acute challenge for smartphones today — single-handed usage and the need to look at the screen. Sensing technologies surround the device so a single hand can execute commands such as pan and scroll. Fuse also introduces the concept of 2-D navigation from the back of the phone so users don’t have to obstruct the display.
Fuse uses Synaptics’ ClearPad, NavPoint and TouchButtons solutions to offer two-finger input, proximity sensing, grip sensing, text entry, and high-resolution finger input. Synaptics says the technologies offer navigation that can dramatically improve and enhance the touchscreen user experience.
“The best touch experience requires the expertise and collaboration of ecosystem leaders to optimize what the user sees and feels,” said Gopal Garg, senior vice president of the Synaptics handheld business unit and corporate marketing. “The improved sensory experience of Fuse will drive handset innovation to evolve, taking the current generation of touch-based interaction to the next level of human-device interaction.”
The Power of Partnership
The Fuse mobile-phone concept is the result of a collaboration between Synaptics and four global partners: TheAlloy, The Astonishing Tribe, Immersion and Texas Instruments. The partners believe future handset innovation will rely on the relationship between technology design and designers to unlock the potential of mobile phones as an ideal computing platform.
“The Fuse project has demonstrated the power of multiparty collaboration to deliver experience-led innovation,” said Gus Desbarats, chairman of TheAlloy. “Each partner within the Fuse project has helped to show the effect that leading-edge technology can deliver when applied with design thinking.”
Craig Vachon, senior vice president and general manager of Immersion’s touch business, said an…