Thanks to Apple and the iPhone (or iPod Touch) we’re familiar with the multi touch concept on mobile phones and devices. Nokia, the foremost company in the mobile phone industry, is yet to come up with a multi touch screen phone though… We found out last week that this might all soon change. Nokia patented a new technology allowing multi touch UIs with pressure sensing (ie sensing how hard you press on the screen), allowing 3D gestures on a phone’s screen to be interpreted as commands.
This has quite a few implications. Firstly, and most obviously, Nokia seems to be preparing to develop multi touch enabled devices in the near future. Secondly, I would interpret pressure sensitive screens as Nokia sticking with resistive touch screen displays, as opposed to capacitive ones preferred by Apple and some other brands.
I, personally prefer resistive screens, as they offer a wider array of input options. Additionally Nokia seems to be upping the ante by adding pressure sensing and re-interpreting the multi touch technology. Lets all wait and see what this will bring upon us!
