My Blog: Synaptics ClearPad 3250 capacitive touchscreen hands-on (video)

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Synaptics ClearPad 3250 capacitive touchscreen hands-on (video)

In the grand scheme of things, one millimeter may not seem like a lot, but in the smartphone arms race toward ever-slimmer devices, measurements like that matter. Synaptics, best known for building laptop touchpads, has ventured into the capacitive touchscreen realm with a new panel that promises to save exactly that much space: 1mm. But that's only the start. You see, the thinner display profile is the result of Synaptics melding the touch-sensing layer and the display into one, using what it calls in-cell technology, with the result being something roughly comparable to Samsung's Super AMOLED implementation. The benefit of going with Synaptics, however, is that the company's tech is compatible with all display types, meaning that everything from garden variety LCDs to high-density IPS panels can be infused with a bit of touch sensitivity. Additional benefits include extra brightness, as there is one fewer layer for light to get through, and significantly higher sensitivity than on most current generation touch panels. You can see a pretty compelling demo of that on video just past the break. The ClearPad 3250 should find its way to shipping devices over the next nine months, with its current iteration capable of being fitted to screens up to five inches in size and a subsequent model scaling all the way out to eight inches.

Gallery: Synaptics ClearPad 3250 capacitive touchscreen hands-on