Thursday, September 17, 2009

Fujitsu's "Dual Digitizer" tablet PC display

The phrase "multi-touch" can be confusing when you're talking about tablet PCs. Windows 7 has some new features that will only work on tablets that allow you to control certain functions by placing two (or more) fingers directly on the screen. This is being called "multi-touch" or "multitouch" by many companies, but Fujitsu is calling this feature a "dual digitizer" function.
The tablet PC world is getting very complex and I hope we soon settle on all this terminology.

Here's how Fujitsu describes the screen option on the new LifeBook T5010 Tablet PC:
  • 13.3" WXGA display with Dual Digitizer (pen input plus touch screen)
Now, this is going to get really confusing fairly soon. Touch screen is starting to mean many things.
  • Passive touch? (can use any inanimate object, like a plastic pen)
  • Capacitive touch? (fingertips, no plastic pens) - allows for multi-touch gestures
  • Active digitizer? (Wacom or Penabled pens only)
You've probably seen some of these multi-touch features on the Apple iPhone or iPod touch. You can zoom  out by spreading two fingers on the screen. You can zoom in by pinching your fingers together. etc.

2 comments:

  1. Fujitsu is not considering "multi touch" and "dual digitizer" to be synonymous. "Dual digitizer", as stated by Fujitsu, means the combination of active digitizer and multi-touch interface.

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  2. but is there a level of function that combines active digitizer with a passive [finger] touch i.e. less than multitouch but finger can still for example "click" on one of two boxes to choose "yes" or "no", or scroll down a page?

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