HTC patents magnetic stylus for capacitive screens
Capacitive screens have received a great reception for their sensitivity to touch, but has left many stylus affectionados who appreciate the precision and other advantages of a stand-off pointing device feeling left out.
As HTC explains:
However, in order to cater to the user’s operation mode of using a finger, icons displayed on a screen must be configured in an appropriate size to prevent the user from miss touching the icons. Furthermore, a part of the screen is often shielded by finger of the user when the capacitive touch panel is used. Moreover, a conventional stylus has a small head, so that a user can click small icons conveniently, but the conventional stylus is only applicable to resistive touch panels, but not applicable to capacitive touch panels.
Not to worry however, as HTC has a solution ready for the market. They have patented an ordinary stylus but with a twist. The stylus has a magnetic head, and due to the current induced by its movement relative to the capacitive screen is able to elicit the same electrical reaction as a finger, but with much more precision.
A solution to the stylus problem is clearly important for HTC, who wishes to address the stylus-centric Asian market, making it likely this is one invention we will see come to market sooner rather than later.
Read the full patent here.
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Don't get me wrong I like finger touch screens.
But there is no keyboard virtual or real that can beat the stylus. Let me prove it: I still have a circa 1999 Palm Pilot and when taking notes beats any 2008 technology writing device. I can take detailed notes with the stylus WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE DEVICE. I don't miss a wink of a visual the presentation nor a word of the dictation..
A good typist can do a fair job with a slider querty, but a virtual kerboard… I don't care what enybody says it just makes me cry.
So put them all together, Touch screen, keyboard, Stylus and Windows Mobile and it can beat the heck out of any IPhone.
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rad Reply:
August 14th, 2009 at 3:11 am
I think it's a lot less clear-cut than that and depends on user preferences.
For example, I went from an HTC slider to an iPhone, and I'm much faster typing on the iPhone's on-screen keyboard than any hardware keyboard I've used since (including the TP2 and such). Since I'm used to the keyboard, I can type without looking at the screen either. The fact that keys change based on context is also helpful to facilitate use.
I have a (jailbroken) app installed that provides some haptic feedback on key press, and I can type about as fast as I can on, say, a netbook keyboard, due to the minimal effort required to press each key on a capacitive display. This is why I personally find the TP2's on-screen keyboard vastly inferior, for example– the resistive membrane just doesn't cut it for fast input, as each key needs to be actively pressed harder to be processed.
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fhsieh Reply:
August 14th, 2009 at 5:45 am
Languages that use non-roman characters (particularly Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) suffer greatly from capacitive virtual-keyboard-only input. Particularly on the iPhone, there is a soft input handwriting recognition for Chinese, but its accuracy is absolutely terrible and makes inputting complex characters a real drag.
The stylus is still a great input method because we write with pencils, not fingers. Of course when it comes to typing we use our fingers, so certainly a stylus-capable capacitive touchscreen would really give us the best of both worlds.
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dr g Reply:
August 14th, 2009 at 7:06 am
No, it is clearcut. The stylus is a unique input method that provides data resolution and analog input simply unavailable on such simplistic interfaces as the dumbed-down iPhone interface.
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rad Reply:
August 14th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Right, so that's why the whole market is shifting to single-touch resistive panels with stylii? lol.
A stylus can definitely be useful for certain types of input, like complex characters (most visibly, East Asian input, as fhsieh points out) or drawing. But to say that it is the best solution across the board is quite ridiculous. There's a reason it took the iPhone to popularize touchscreen phones.
And as for the "dumbed-down" iPhone interface– it's far better designed and more usable than stock WM, even 6.5, which I presume you'd argue is MS' attempt to "dumb down" WM? A graphically consistent, visually efficient, smooth, responsive UI like the iPhone's is something that we've been dreaming about in WMland for a while. But since it's the iPhone, it's "dumb" for WM fanboys. Enjoy the wonders of your 2.8" QVGA stylus-optimized resistive panel!
I'm curious, though– what do you find about WM 6.1's UI to be better than the iPhone's interface?
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dr g Reply:
August 14th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Nobody said stylus is the best input across the board. The lack of it, however, is major fail. It is an input method that allows high data resolution and high precision analog input. Eliminating the stylus requires a UI limited to strictly low-resolution, low-precision input, eliminating a huge amount of device capability and utility. A huge potential for serious use is lost.
Perfect for the iPhone generation that never had that and has no idea what real mobile computing power is, but WM users require more.
Finally, the agumentum ad naseam about capacitive vs resistive may be put to rest.
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Seriously, was the solution this easy? Why all these talks of this-and-that technology:- such as Stantum?
Seriously, this idea passed through my head, and all this time not a single third party accessory OEM had the brains to patent the idea while designing all sorts of styli for the iPhone?
There must be more to it…
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Genius!
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Thanks HTC! I was worry for that. I love the sylus but dont get me wrong. I can write fast w/ fingers but I get tired of always use the fingers. I fast with my TP2.
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Filed 12/16/08, published 07/02/09. That was quick!
Also, love claim 1: "1. A stylus, adapted to control a capacitive touch panel, comprising a handle and a head, wherein the head is magnetic."
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YES! I will NEVER give up my stylus, even if I rarely ever use it.
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Iphone is for Schoolboys to show in the school. A Business user is a way more ahead that a single Iphone. Iphone should be for 17 yrs or less. A real Man use WM Device.
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Iphone is for Schoolboys to show in the school. A Business user is a way more ahead that a single Iphone. Iphone should be for 17 yrs or less. A real Man use WM Device.
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NuShrike Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 8:54 am
Meantime, WM is for masochists while iPhones are for people that like to be pampered.
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Emre SUMENGEN Reply:
August 18th, 2009 at 8:02 am
Grow up man…
a Business user, a "real man" using a WM device would suffer from being unable to connect to his office using Cisco IPSec VPN, but would need unsecured PPTP. That same real man would seek for a usable mail client with HTML mail support everywhere, but won't find any. (That's what I've been going thru for a while)
Meanwhile, that 17 yr (or less) kid you're mocking would be locked and loaded easily, doing everything you can't do. Well, they won't be able to edit office 2007 documents, right. But, what the heck would you gain by trying to edit that big excel sheet on a 3" tiny display?
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First thing that I thought of was a nice capacitive screen for wm 6.5. A capacitive, finger-only screen would be kinda difficult for wm 6.5. But the addition of a stylus to a capacitive screen really makes it possible to add a capacitive screen to windows mobile. Just my 2 cents.
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a Stylus is the input interface of the future and of future mobile devices, and resistive touch screen technology will continue to improve to meet the demands of the mobile device GUI. Why is this? It is so because a stylus simulates the natural process of
writing and drawing-something that you will never be able to do with your finger tips.
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Emre SUMENGEN Reply:
August 18th, 2009 at 7:59 am
"a Stylus is the input interface of the future and of future mobile devices"… Is that really so? I do think using one can have advantages, but it's definitely not the future, but the past today. Just try to remove those glasses and look behind.
I don't/can't believe you people all live with pens 24/7 in your hands. Yes, we do use pens, but we do use our hands more in daily life. So, future lies on using your hands, your touch. Of course, there may be some positions where a stylus can be used, when required. But it's not and will not be the future…
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Personally,I very rarely don't use a stylus,I like a nice clean screen,not one smeared in oiley,rainbow like smudges,I also like a traditional today screen jammed with plugin's and a really old scott seligmans launcher where I can have a tiny icon for every app on the device,basically one tap to get anywhere…..near impossible to use with a finger…..impossible to duplicate with a stylus free device or interface.
It doesn't really bother me whether it's capacitive or resistive,as long as it can use a fine point stylus, is pixel accurate,and sensitive enough,which the current HTC flush screened model's aren't imo,especially near the screen edge's
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I have been using WM device staring with the 8125 then 8525 then the Tilt and finally laid that unstable OS to rest with my iPhone, it does what i want how i want. I have no complaints with the Mac OS or the screen in fact I believe it was a long time coming, however I am looking forward to seeing what Windows has to offer in the next year. I have been in the cell phone industry for 5 years now and have not see anything like the iPhone and im over 30 so the whole thing with age has nothing to do with anything. For me its the overall performance which i currently get with my Iphone, R.I.P TILT 05/09.
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This is good news!! Have been using Palm Pilot since start and nowadays using a HTC with Win mobile and plugin "Block recognizer" that works like the old Grafitti on Palm. I'm really afraid that the not capacitive screens is disappearing with the popular iPhones and coming Android phones, but this gives me hope! Maybe I soon can buy a iPhone or Android phone? Which I would love to as I don't like the Win Mobile systems so far. Haven't tested the 6.5.1 yet..
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Awesome! So where can I buy one?
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Does anyone know when the newly patented HTC capacitive stylus might become available?
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well in the mean time you can use this stylus
http://www.dagi.com.tw/
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i had an email recently from HTC (UK) saying it would be available mid Devember
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