Ever since the iPhone was launched in 2007, consumers have increasingly become accustomed to touchscreen technology. Microsoft’s touch centric Windows 8 release across tablets, laptops, phones and kitchen countertop computers was met with a mix of delight and dismay. Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have rolled out gestures as the main way to play an increasing number of games on their platforms. Samsung’s Galaxy S series phones allow hand waving gestures to silence calls, pause movies and more, but frustrate users with the lower battery life.
So how are we doing as an interface industry? As touch and gestures rollout to more and more devices and the enabling technology of controller chips and sensors improves, we should see any consumer discussion of touch fade from view as the use of the touchscreen becomes as natural as breathing. The reality is, as cost pressures increase, performance is dropping, and what should be a seamless user experience is becoming pitted with potholes of poor performance, manufacturing quality issues, and nonintuitive integration.
This presentation to the attendees of the IHS 2014 Touch, Gesture, Motion conference discussions the latest consumer experience research of Argus Insights. Covering market segments ranging from Wearables, Tablets, Laptops, Smartphones and more, Dr. Feland details what is working and what isn’t with touch technologies.