Foretelling a touchscreen future

Touchscreens are everywhere. From iPhones and the brand new BlackBerry Storm, to the latest Eee Top PCs and Microsoft’s next-generation Surface computers. But where will the latest touchscreen infatuation end? Are finger-friendly gadgets here to stay, or just a passing fad?

It’s easy to see why they should take over the world. Touchscreens have become ultra-advanced. They don’t just rely on the prods and pokes of single fingers any more. Apple’s multitouch iPhone, iPod Touch and latest MacBook laptops will accept instructions from up to five fingers at once, and even recognise gestures, such as pinching or rotating.

What’s more, Microsoft’s Surface computers will recognise an unlimited amount of presses, making them perfect for group activities, or sharing a single device with a range of different users, approaching it from different directions, and with different needs.

Surface computers wil even interact with objects, recognising credit cards, gadgets and even cocktail glasses – Microsoft’s installing them in bars and casinos, letting customers order new drinks from the table, and allowing the table itself to recognise whose drink should be served to which seat, and then take payment itself.

And then there’s the ability of touchscreens to communicate with users like never before. The days of staring blankly at a display are long gone. Modern touchscreens aren’t just there to be touched, they’re there to be felt.

BlackBerry just introduced its first touchscreen mobile, which not only lets owners prod on-screen icons, but even ‘clicks’ physically when pressure is applied.

The screen, which is slightly flexible, is the ultimate in ‘haptic’ technology, which gives physical feedback to a touchscreen, so it feels just like a physical button.

It’s logical to assume, therefore, that touchscreens have secured themselves a guaranteed place in the future of gadgetry. The button is dead. Isn’t it?

Far from it. The button might be under pressure, but it’s not beaten yet.

See, there’s still plenty of tech that’s doing fine without touchscreens, and for which a finger-driven on-screen interface just won’t work.

Digital cameras are a prime example. For most users, it’s quicker to choose a function quickly with a switch or dial, before hitting the shutter button to snap away. At present the few touchscreen cameras on the market are fiddly affairs, with the interface serving solely as a marketing ploy to make them seem more advanced. When it comes to the functioning of the camera, they add little.

Home entertainment kit is similarly indifferent to touchscreen’s talents. There’s yet to be much interest from the digital radio, Blu-Ray player or even TV sector. And the reason is simple.

If a device has a single purpose, it’s likely that buttons will do the job faster, cheaper and just as effectively as a touchscreen. There’s simply no need to adopt a touchscreen, since their functions will never change. What’s more, it’s difficult for manufacturers to get a button “wrong,” whereas a poorly-implemented touchscreen can make a device almost unusable. At the moment, the risks are just too great.

So for the time being at least, buttons are here to stay. That’s not to say their days aren’t numbered, but while touchscreens continue to evolve, they’ve got plenty more years left to run.

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