Touch screens that became common in 2009 were thought to be the only viable method of contact with the smart gadgets. However, as the mobile technology evolved, new methods such as voice and gesture navigation were introduced to interact with smart gadgets. Scientists are even working on a more direct connection such as mind control to converse on a personal level across all mobile devices. Let’s have a look at the methods of communication that are available or would be accessible soon, in addition to the conventional Touch system.
Touch screen as a Communication Point
Touchsreens have become reasonably powerful since their inception. Today, you can enjoy a powerful 3D touch in Apple iPhone 6. In addition, Fujitsu’s Fingerlink interaction system also uses advanced touch functionality even on curved surfaces with ground breaking components and high tech image processing software to allow changing gestures of computer animated objects, as shown in 3D games. Touch is definitely one of the key input methods we have available at the moment.
Stylus and Air Gestures
According to Steve Jobs, tablets smaller than iPad’s screens would not offer a good touch experience and he was quite right. The Samsung S pen and gesture navigation are input methods available beyond the conventional touch screen system. The S pen is a beneficial partial solution for those not comfortable to tap on small screen sizes. In addition, touch less navigation for playing, scrolling and pausing videos is also available. Work is underway to make zooming and tapping possible through gestures without using touch screens. These features will soon be made available across all the Android and iOS devices.
Voice Recognition to Break Language Barriers
Apple’s marketing push with Siri pressed Google to unveil its voice recognition system which they were working on quietly, implementing it into what is known as one of the best voice-controlled mechanisms available in smart phones. Known as Google Voice Search combined with Google Now, anyone with jellybean and above can install the system to begin using its dominant interactive features on their devices.
The system already allows searching and running anything from apps to games on your phone through voice. However, direct machine translation is also being honed to enable fast processing.
Microsoft Research is another voice recognition system based on the technology called “Deep Neural Networks.” Patterned after the human brain actions, it translates a user’s words into different languages, booting with the user’s own voice. It is not completely flawless with a false word ratio of 1/8. The software requires several hours of recordings at first, analyzing the intricacies of vocal cords to be able to learn the users’ language. The process is quite similar to the first voice recognition system introduced for computers, which also required several hours of speaking at the start.
Mind Control
Mind control is all about accessing and even controlling your phone with your thoughts. It is also known as the brain-computer interface. The concept does sound a bit farfetched, but the research worth millions of dollars is ongoing. Machines are connected to a user’s brain during the lab tests to prove this technology works. So far, Brain Gate research center of Brown University has been successful in introducing the first ever “wireless, rechargeable, brain-computer interface” and this is only the beginning.
A mix of substitute input techniques have appeared with more on the prospect going ahead of the touch screen-only interaction mechanism with our smart devices. From the latest tech updates we have right now, the way we communicate with our personal devices is going to change pretty soon.
