subject: Handheld Touchscreen Computing: The Latest Innovation [print this page] In recent years there has been a trend towards handheld touchscreen computing and this trend has developed into a major new market with all the big technology developers scrambling to release their own versions of these touchpad devices. They are the next big thing in the world of computing and they have opened up a whole new world for programmers, developers and users alike.
Such tactile technology enables the user to simply reach and touch the thing they wish to see or utilise and this is a wonderful sensation when you experience it for the first time. It takes you back to childhood memories of wanting touch and taste everything you laid eyes on. Developers must surely have been influenced by the many science fiction movies out there which sought to depict how the future might look. The ironic thing is that the very same developers have created technology which far surpasses the capabilities of some fictional technologies depicted in some of the most famous movies.
Development of touchscreen technology has been in the making for a long time and developers have dreamed of the day when the technology would be at an advanced enough level to deal with the processing demands required by such a device. One of the main factors in it taking so long for developers to be able to release such devices for sale to the general public is that for a long time the hardware was simply not good enough. Processor power to size ratio was simply too stacked in the favour of size to handle the demands of such devices while still being handheld and portable. Battery life was also another factor which has affected the length of the development cycle for such devices as developers were faced with a similar predicament to that of the processor. The amount of power and battery life in relation to the size of the battery required to make the product commercially viable was simply not available until quite recently. Once these issues had been surmounted however it took very little time for developers to produce prototypes and begin honing the software and hardware which make these devices such a joy to use.
There are so many programs one can utilise and developers are constantly pushing the envelope in terms of what can be done with these devices. From art and drawing programs to inventory and ticket sales programs, there are so many degrees of functionality to these machines and they can be both a work tool and a toy; a sure sign of a truly innovative product.
