Synaptics will bring pressure-sensitive screens to Android phones

Posted on 07/10/2015 by Jon Fingas

Right now, the only way to get a pressure-sensitive screen in a smartphone is to snag an iPhone 6s or wait patiently for the Force Touch version of Huawei's Mate S. You won't have to be quite so picky in the near future, though: Synaptics has unve...

Synaptics to exhibit at CES 2015

Posted on 03/01/2015 by bijon

The 2015 version of the International Consumer Electronics Show is less than a week away and the anticipation is already starting in the host city of Las Vegas. Nearly 4,000 exhibitors are set to...

Galaxy Note 4 to sport Synaptics’ Natural ID tech

Posted on 26/08/2014 by ahmed

The Galaxy Note 4 is getting a lot of details since the past one month and only a week earlier we were presented the detailed analysis of the camera featured on the upcoming Samsung phablet. Along...

Tobii and Synaptics team on eye-tracking Ultrabook concept

Posted on 21/06/2013 by Jon Fingas

While Tobii has a peripheral that brings eye tracking to Windows PCs of all sorts, there's little doubt that an integrated approach would be more elegant. The company agrees: it's partnering with Synaptics on a concept Ultrabook (seen above) that combines both Gaze UI and Synaptics' pressure-sensitive ForcePad in a showcase of new input methods. The partners haven't said just what new tricks they'll demonstrate, if any, but it's clear that there won't be a size penalty when the concept is as slim as the laptops in stores today. Synaptics and Tobii plan to tour the PC throughout the industry during the summer and the fall, and they're no doubt hoping that a few vendors use the concept as inspiration.

Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals

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Source: Tobii

Synaptics launches a pair of mobile touchscreens at MWC 2013

Posted on 25/02/2013 by Daniel Cooper

If Synaptics has a favorite song, we'd assume it'd be Touch Me, after all, the touchscreen maker does want customers to get handsy with its products. The company is launching a pair of mobile touchscreens here at MWC that we can expect to see laminated to some Gorilla Glass on a bunch of handsets at next year's Spanish smartphone shindig. The ClearPad 3400 is a capacitive touchscreen designed for flagships that offers a greatly improved signal-to-noise ratio for devices of up to six inches.

It's also announcing ClearPad Single-Layer On-Cell (SLOC) Multitouch solution, an interface for budget devices that eliminates the touchscreen sensor and border while still offering five-finger touch. Thanks to its simplified manufacturing process, it's much cheaper than competing inputs, and is currently being toted 'round Chinese OEMs. Interested in the finer detail of this human interface system? The release is after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Synaptics Sensa grip-sensing tablet concept hands-on

Posted on 09/01/2013 by Daniel Cooper

Synaptics Sensa gripsensing tablet concept handson

Synaptics may have designs on becoming a keyboard company, but at heart, it's a touch and sensor company. It's realized that as tablet bezels get smaller, the greater the chance you'll suffer unintended touches from the meaty parts of your paw. We've just spent time at a behind-closed-doors demonstration of Sensa, a grip-sending tablet that can work out which hand is you're using to hold the device and therefore ignore its commands. Interested? We called it a read more link for a reason.

Gallery: Sensa Concept Tablet Hands-on at CES 2013

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Filed under: Tablets

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Fingers-on with Synaptics’ ThinTouch keyboard for Ultrabooks (video)

Posted on 07/01/2013 by Dana Wollman

If you recall, Synaptics is looking to branch out from touchscreens and touchpads and break into a another kind of navigation device: keyboards. The company announced several months ago that it was working on the so-called ThinTouch keyboard, whose slim profile might make it an ideal fit for Ultrabooks and other lightweight laptops. Back when it was first announced, we got to play with small wooden tiles, each of which had a single key affixed to it.

More than anything, the idea was to demonstrate the unique key design, in which the buttons move diagonally, as opposed to up and down. That was an interesting exercise, but it obviously wasn't the same as typing away on a full QWERTY layout. Here at CES, though, we finally got our chance to do just that: the company is demoing a full-sized keyboard, which has been retrofitted into an older Lenovo laptop. Follow past the break for some impressions, a demo video and a quick recap of the various features it'll have once it's actually ready for prime time.

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Filed under: Laptops

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Nokia Lumia screens tout Synaptics tech for gloves-on use, 920 adds outdoor-friendly brightness

Posted on 05/09/2012 by Jon Fingas

Everyone who regularly deals with cold winters knows the pain of using a smartphone in January -- you're usually forced to take your gloves off and risk frostbite if that call just can't wait. Nokia's new Lumia 820 and Lumia 920 phones bring in a Synaptics ClearPad Series 3 sensor whose responsiveness will keep those hands toasty. Super Sensitive Touch, as Nokia calls it, lets the capacitive surface react to more than just direct skin contact: it can recognize input through gloves, as well as from those with long fingernails. You'll want to spring for the Lumia 920 if you envision updating Twitter during a sunny skiing trip, however. On top of that extra-large 1,280 x 768 resolution, the 920's PureMotion HD+ display is reportedly about 25 percent brighter than its next-best rival. We're looking forward to a real field test -- not to mention preserving all the feeling in our fingers.

Continue reading Nokia Lumia screens tout Synaptics tech for gloves-on use, 920 adds outdoor-friendly brightness

Filed under: Cellphones, Displays, Mobile

Nokia Lumia screens tout Synaptics tech for gloves-on use, 920 adds outdoor-friendly brightness originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 12:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia Lumia screens tout Synaptics tech for gloves-on use, 920 adds outdoor-friendly brightness

Posted on 05/09/2012 by Jon Fingas

Continue reading Nokia Lumia screens tout Synaptics tech for gloves-on use, 920 adds outdoor-friendly brightness

Filed under: Cellphones, Displays, Mobile

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Synaptics enters the keyboard market, announces the ThinTouch keyboard aimed at Ultrabooks

Posted on 20/08/2012 by Dana Wollman

More likely than not, when you think of Synaptics you think of its touchpads. Or maybe, if you're a mobile aficionado, you know it for its touchscreens, used in phones like the HTC One X and Sony Xperia P. Now, though, the company is about to start making another kind of tactile product: keyboards. That thing you see up there is ThinTouch, a keyboard Synaptics will supply to PC makers looking for ways to make their Ultrabooks even thinner. Indeed, the keyboard is said to be up to 50 percent thinner than its competitors, and Synaptics' big pitch to OEMs is that a thinner keyboard allows for slimmer PCs, with room for larger batteries (now that we need). The company is also promising stronger backlighting, since the keys sit close to the substrate and there aren't rubber domes blocking the light source. Lastly, there's a capacitive sensor underneath the keyboard, allowing the laptop's touchpad to be disabled automatically while you're typing. (Naturally, this works best if the trackpad is also made by Synaptics.) The company is also developing a feature in which the space bar could be a touch sensor in and of itself, with support for functions like autocomplete.

Perhaps our biggest question is how much travel these keys will have -- after all, the last thing anyone needs is another shallow Ultrabook keyboard. Synaptics reps told us the company isn't yet ready to share such technical details, though we did get to compare Synaptics' keys with its competitors (see the image after the break). At first blush, it seemed just as flat, but not flatter, but we'll reserve full judgement until we can use the keyboard for an extended period of time. Also no word on which PC makers will take a chance on the ThinTouch, but Synaptics says the keyboard will start shipping sometime in 2013.

Gallery: Synaptics ThinTouch keyboard