Three More Hot Technologies That Could Profoundly Change Handhelds

[Ed Hardy]

Inventors and scientists are always working on handheld-related research, and Brighthand is comitted to keeping its readers informed about technologies in development that could significantly impact handhelds in the future.

Read more at http://www.brighthand.com/article/Th...ologies_Part_4

[Andyvan]

I think you meant that the little drive can store 2-3 GigaBytes of data.

-- Andyvan

[Ed Hardy]

Originally posted by Andyvan
I think you meant that the little drive can store 2-3 GigaBytes of data.

Fixed. Thanks.

[Bulverde]

One of the design goals of most smartphone manufacturers is to enable one-handed operation and eliminate the need for a stylus.

It seems odd that Wacom would be working with Symbian to enable a new type of stylus/digitizer for use with next-generation smartphones.

Instead, I prefer to believe that Nokia may be readying a new version of their 9xxx wireless PDA line that will make use of this capability.

i for one, hate with a passion the wacom input on a tablet pc. i hate the floating pointer.

I hope this never comes to pocketpcs. Using a special stylus is a pain, not being able to touch the screen with anything but that special stylus is a hinderance for when you just dont feel like taking out the stylus for a quick tap with your finger or fingernail (w/ screen protector of course )

it would further render programs like spb full screen keyboard useless, as well as many games/ emulators that rely on the screen for various inputs.

As long as those hardrive are cheap, reliable, dont skip much, and dont have much power draw i think they will do fine

[crass]

I love this kind of news. I love them even more when they are actually marketed. Strangely though, I have the impression that when interest is relatively low in the tech market, news for extra terrestial battery technologies and miniature hard disks, pop up.
Coincidence? No offense for the author. He did write a very nice article. Just some thoughts...

[adamz]

I'm not sure the advantages of the Wacom style electromagnetic digitizer out-weigh the advantages of a touch senstive screen. Sure, you can use tilt and pressure input, but that's not as important as being able to use your fingers. On a Tablet PC however, tilt and pressure input are definitely important.

What we really need is a screen that can extrude buttons for tactile input.

[Ed Hardy]

Originally posted by adamz
What we really need is a screen that can extrude buttons for tactile input.

For those who may have missed this article over the summer:
http://www.brighthand.com/article/Ta...oming_to_Clies

[ipaqgeek]

Batteries:
I'm curious what the Watthours are for a given volume of sugar (biological) vs. methane (fuel cell) vs. lighterfluid (microengine) for the 3 respective alternative battery technolgies. Of course, it seems Sugar would be the easiest to replenish. One thing is for sure - regardless which is the best you can bet the licensees of the technology will package it so you have to use their refills, and NOT be able to refill it yourself with a bucket of sugar, methane, or lighterfluid.

Microdrives:
It's neat they can make such small microdrives, .but I can't believe that any memory device with moving parts will be mainstream. That is, unless the moving parts are on a micron scale where the physics are different and fatigue doesn't occur.

Pen-computing:
My guess is that touchscreen development will continue at the same rate as or faster than pen-based development - so that any pen-based advantages will be quickly erased.

[altema]

"Still, this pen doesn't need a battery or any sort of power running to it."

That is odd, the tablet PC's I tested for our IS department all had watch or AAA batteries. Wonder what type of technology they went with instead.

One of the problems we had was if the stylus battery went dead or you lost the stylus, the whole device was as useless as a screen door in a submarine. If they got rid of the battery, then that is a very good thing.