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ThinkPads go multi-touch

Sep. 15, 2009 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

I've got a Windows 7-based ThinkPad T400s with multi-touch capabilities here for review, and while I will have a lot more to say about this (hint: "awesome"), here's some info about what Lenovo is doing around multi-touch on its ThinkPad X200 Tablet and T400s notebook:

Available on ThinkPad X200 Tablet and T400s models, our Enhanced Multitouch panels give you an edge: the ability to work more productively. Natural and intuitive finger-based interaction with files, pictures, charts, data and forms and applications designed specifically for mobile professionals simplifies and speeds daily tasks so you can get more done. More comfortably.

Key features of Enhanced Multitouch technology

  • One- and two-finger gesture support, plus same digitizer pen support
  • Improved capacitive touch sensitivity and input accuracy
  • Pen proximity detection technology
  • Improved palm recognition technology
  • Up to 9 hrs. battery life
  • Starts at 3.69 lbs.
  • 270 NIT LED display

One and two-finger gesture support

In addition to familiar digitizer pen input, the Enhanced Multitouch panel supports convenient one- and two-finger gestures:

  • Zoom in by pinching fingers together, and zoom out by moving fingers apart.
  • Pan vertically or horizontally by moving two fingers up and down or left and right.
  • Rotate an image by moving one finger around another.
  • Right-click by holding one finger on an object and tapping another finger.
  • Flick using quick linear pen or touch movements.

Effortless touch

Get a smoother, easier finger-touch experience. Unlike earlier panels that required physical pressure to make a connection, our next-generation digitizer with improved capacitive touch sensitivity can sense a finger touching the screen. No need to apply pressure!

More accurate input

ThinkPad smart touch firmware adjustments enable smarter touch recognition, so screen input occurs where you touch. It even compensates for panel limitations, like the inability to touch a precise spot on the screen, for an easy, no-fuss experience.

Advanced pen and palm recognition

Our intelligent pen proximity-detection technology and improved palm-rejection technology prevent your hand placement from interfering with writing. When the pen comes within range of the sensor, all finger-touch capability is disabled. When you remove your pen and hand, touch capability is re-enabled.

More soon...

Discuss this Article 39

lotsamystuff
on Sep 15, 2009
Sweet. Glad to read about it first here on The SuperSite For Press Releases.
lazysquirrell
on Sep 15, 2009
Sometimes i really hate you......ps got any spare.
lazysquirrell
on Sep 15, 2009
and the links are down
roteague
on Sep 15, 2009
I've got an HP TouchPad running Vista Ultimate with all the Multi-Touch stuff. I love it, and wished I had got one earlier.
resplendent
on Sep 15, 2009
It'll be nice when multitouch screens are put in mid-range notebooks. It's clearly great for some (albiet usually limited) applications, but not enough that I'd be willing to pay for a $1500+ notebook over a $700 one. It would be a shame if its high price prevented wider adoption.
roteague
on Sep 15, 2009
resplendent ... it's already there. I paid less than $900 for my HP TouchPad with Multi-Touch at BestBuy. AMD x64, 4GB RAM, 360GB HardDrive, 12.1" screen.
lazysquirrell
on Sep 15, 2009
Ive worked on the hp touch and it was nice but id like to try the multi.. is it responsive. was thinking of the hp tx range but not too keen on the amd chips.
roteague
on Sep 15, 2009
The new HP TouchPad is multi-touch. It supports all the gestures written about in this article.
nutmac
on Sep 15, 2009
With Apple's tablet speculated to cost between $799 and 999, X200 multi-touch's starting price of $1654 seems awfully high. Especially given mostly entry-level configuration (yes, I realize it has multi-touch and outstanding battery life).
hamiltonstallings
on Sep 15, 2009
nutmac, Apple doesn't have a tablet. I assume you don't know this, because there is no way anyone with half a brain would compare a rumor to something that is already out... Oh, I see what you did there. You were joking.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Sep 15, 2009
hamiltonstallings I'm afraid that the appropriately self-named "nutmac" was actually seriously comparing the price and features of a rumor of a product that has no actual specs, no actual pricing and no actual announcement of even an intent to produce with a released product. Sad, isn't it.
Logjamming
on Sep 15, 2009
Hey..that's a pinch, directly derived from the Apple iPhone. Another copycat product, based on something that's been out > 2 years. What a bogus product; so sad to see companies copying almost everything that comes out of Cupertino. On the other hand: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Btw: Hi, Mike. How's treatment for your disorder going?
mikegalos@msn.com
on Sep 15, 2009
log Actually the two finger pinch/expand motion long predates Apple's use of it but, hey, in your little world...
lazysquirrell
on Sep 15, 2009
Multi-touch technologies have a long history. To put it in perspective, my group at the University of Toronto was working on multi-touchin 1984 (Lee, Buxton & Smith, 1985), the same year that the first Macintosh computer was released, and we were not the first. Furthermore, during the development of the iPhone, Apple was very much aware of the history of multi-touch, dating at least back to 1982, and the use of the pinch gesture, dating back to 1983.. Cant be true, Apple invented it http://www.billbuxton.com/multitouchOverview.html
lketchum
on Sep 16, 2009
touch and multi-touch go all the way back to practical implementations for use with moving target indicators ((MTI) first deployed aboard the USS Ranger in the 60's) - they were dual screen workstations to top it off. The stations were later converted and used as communications terminals supporting email and more formal methods of secure defense and related administrative communications throughout the 1980's and into the early 90's when they were replaced with a windowing GUI in 1990 - which until well into Windows 95's release had not been surpassed in function. I worked with all of these systems and I am delighted to see how the technologies advance. They are not however, "new."
weedmonk
on Sep 16, 2009
The Worlds Most Advanced OS aka Snow Pussy has a big gigantic click-everwhere touchpad support that's so much better than this true multitouch gimmickery. As nutmac pointed out....when Steve Jobs finally births the iPad in his special chambers these products will become irrelevant and outdated. If its only 2 finger multitouch the "elegance" and single-tasking will more than make up for it,
Logjamming
on Sep 16, 2009
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/09/hp-envy-hands-37.jpg LMFAO!
Dipsh t Admin
on Sep 16, 2009
"X200 multi-touch's starting price of $1654 seems awfully high" Two things. First, the X200 is shipping now, and is a convertible laptop designed for a business user. I'm not sure how that compares to an imaginary tablet. However, comparing the price to a MacBook Air, it sounds like a bargain. Second, wait, what? Now that Apple is *rumored* to have a device coming out that is in that price range, suddenly a lower price is the arguing point?
shark47
on Sep 16, 2009
@log: "What a bogus product; so sad to see companies copying almost everything that comes out of Cupertino." All companies copy from each other and I'm glad Apple's minimalist design has inspired PC makers. But to say that a tablet that is available now is a copy of a mythical device that no one outside of Apple has seen is stretching it.
de Silentio
on Sep 16, 2009
@Logjamming: "What a bogus product; so sad to see companies copying almost everything that comes out of Cupertino" Why is that sad. If there is a good, useful technology why should other companies refrain from implementing, and sometimes improving that technology. I think Mike is correct on the copy thing, and, frankly, you made yourself look like a fool with that comment. (note, I am not calling you a fool, but when you slam another company for copying when in fact Apple copied, that is a foolish move.)
lotsamystuff
on Sep 16, 2009
"I'm afraid that the appropriately self-named "nutmac" was actually seriously comparing the price and features of a rumor of a product that has no actual specs, no actual pricing and no actual announcement of even an intent to produce with a released product. Sad, isn't it." For once, Mikey, I totally agree with you. Good lord, what's next? Dogs and cats living together in harmony?
de Silentio
on Sep 16, 2009
@lotsamystuff: http://images.evalu8.org/images/dog-and-cat-hugWoofstock2004-320.JPG
mikegalos@msn.com
on Sep 16, 2009
On top of it the idea of a tablet form factor is hardly new. A few examples: 1968 - Alan Kay's Dynabook proposal 1992 - Go Computing's PenPoint OS 1992 - Microsoft Windows for Pen Computing (used Windows 3.11) 1993 - Apple Newton 1995 - Microsoft Windows for Pen Computing 2.0 (used Windows 95) 1996 - Microsoft Windows CE Handheld PC (small form factor devices with touch support) 2002 - Windows XP Tablet Edition 2006 - Microsoft Windows UMPC (Origami) Touch Pack 2006 - Windows Vista (includes full tablet support) 2009 - Windows 7 (includes full tablet support)
Logjamming
on Sep 16, 2009
@ Mike Good ideas have a bad reputation, especially when they come from Microsoft. Leave it to Apple to blend these ideas into a wonderfully designed and working piece of software/hardware. Didn't they teach you that at your MSCE-certificate fresh up course? I do see that you got the "call out Microsoft Windows as often as you can, even if it makes no sense at all because these were hideous and non-functioning devices" grade. What'll the next fresh up course focus on? Calling stuff HD when it actually isn't or comparing Windows Live with MobileMe (I especially love the push functionality in Windows Live) or bending the truth a bit about Linux vs. Windows... Again, in the land of the blinds....you guys are hilarious.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Sep 16, 2009
Log I listed Apple's (as you would call it) "wonderfully designed and working piece of software/hardware" in that list. Note the Apple Newton back in 1993. That was, of course, before it was orphaned by Steve Jobs on his return so he could focus on what color plastic to use in the iMac.
EricoF3
on Sep 16, 2009
Logjamming said: "I do see that you got the "call out Microsoft Windows as often as you can, even if it makes no sense at all because these were hideous and non-functioning devices" grade." Non-functionning devices grade?... hmmm... hideous? Could you give some examples of hideous and non-functionning microsoft things?
EricoF3
on Sep 16, 2009
@Logjamming: The best would be an OS with a GUI design by Apple on a Kernel design by Microsoft...
Ocean
on Sep 16, 2009
>>so he could focus on what color plastic to use in the iMac<< I don't think shareholders have been disappointed by anything that's come out of Cupertino recently.
EricoF3
on Sep 16, 2009
I Said: "@Logjamming: The best would be an OS with a GUI design by Apple on a Kernel design by Microsoft..." Apple is just more good for finishing details on a GUI and Microsoft is just more good and have the knowlegde to develop rock solid OS Kernel... Not that Microsoft is not good to do GUI but they less linger for details when talking about GUI ... They are now really best than before with Windows 7 but it is not as smooth as I expected of OS GUI... Apple always do really smooth GUI but they are unable to develop an OS Kernel ... We can see that in OSX, they cancel the developpement of their old OS platform, which was really really bad, and they develop their MacOS GUI shell on a Unix Kernel... Its true to say Apple did not have a lot of choice when is was time to choose a OS Kernel... They have to choose between Unix or Linux, which are the two Worse OS Kernel on the market ...
Waethorn
on Sep 16, 2009
"What'll the next fresh up course focus on? Calling stuff HD when it actually isn't" Oh, I'm sorry, but does the iPod touch play HD video out over HDMI? Does it allow HD video content to play on screen without being converted? No? See, there's this thing called a Zune HD that was only released yesterday. Seems you haven't heard of it. "or comparing Windows Live with MobileMe (I especially love the push functionality in Windows Live)" Push functionality, you say? Oh yes, that was around in Exchange Server 2003. I was using that on my Windows Mobile phone long before MobileMess too. "bending the truth a bit about Linux vs. Windows" *nix is easy to hack actually. Having the source code helps. Hackers often use *nix as their environment because they tweak the source code of their hacking tools so as to modify it to accomodate different types of targets. Unix certainly hasn't helped OS X to reduce its hackability either.
Waethorn
on Sep 16, 2009
"I don't think shareholders have been disappointed by anything that's come out of Cupertino recently." I would disagree when you look at the last Macworlds that Apple put on. The last few years of shareholder-focussed presentations show a sudden decline in stock price immediately after the showing.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Sep 16, 2009
EricoF2 "Apple always do really smooth GUI but they are unable to develop an OS Kernel ... We can see that in OSX, they cancel the developpement of their old OS platform, which was really really bad, and they develop their MacOS GUI shell on a Unix Kernel... " Actually, it's even worse than that. Apple tried to replace their old OS with "Pink" and that failed and with "Gershwin" and that failed and with "Copland" and that failed. Then they finally realized they didn't have the skills to produce a modern operating system so the partnered with IBM and Motorola to produce "Taligent" and it failed. When they finally realized they couldn't produce a modern OS they decided to buy what they couldn't build. They had the choice of which 3rd party OS to buy and it came down to two nepotism choices; BeOS or NeXTstep. They ended up using NeXT's implementation of 1970s technology and then promptly threw out all the modern innovations NeXT had built on top of Unix. But it got them Steve Jobs which has gotten them great PR value. In the end, they decided to stop competing seriously in the personal computer system software business where history had shown they were way out of their league and put most of their resources into becoming a peripheral maker for Windows based PCs such as the iPod, producing boutique Windows compatible PCs and leaving the heavy lifting for Microsoft.
Waethorn
on Sep 16, 2009
"They had the choice of which 3rd party OS to buy and it came down to two nepotism choices; BeOS or NeXTstep." Keep hope alive: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/haiku-alpha-1-available-now-beos-love... LOL!
mikegalos@msn.com
on Sep 16, 2009
Waethorn "Push functionality, you say? Oh yes, that was around in Exchange Server 2003. I was using that on my Windows Mobile phone long before MobileMess too." And for consumers without Exchange access, MSN Mobile and later Windows Live Mobile offered push for Windows Mobile users long before Apple even had a phone.
Waethorn
on Sep 16, 2009
LOL! Leo actually said in MacBreak Weekly that the Zune HD doesn't have graphics capabilities for games, specifically Open GL, *ahem* "like the iPhone". He doesn't have a clue!
roteague
on Sep 16, 2009
"I do see that you got the "call out Microsoft Windows as often as you can, even if it makes no sense at all because these were hideous and non-functioning devices" grade. " Hmmm.... I've been developing software for Windows CE based devices since 1998 ... still doing so as of this summer. They have their uses. I also have a Multi-Touch Tablet PC, running Windows Vista Ultimate ... which I absolutely love. Wish that I had bought one earlier. I don't see anything "non-functioning" in any of these.
EricoF3
on Sep 16, 2009
Big Deal Open GL ... It support Direct X which is way better!!
EricoF3
on Sep 16, 2009
roteague said: "Hmmm.... I've been developing software for Windows CE based devices since 1998 ... still doing so as of this summer. They have their uses. I also have a Multi-Touch Tablet PC, running Windows Vista Ultimate ... which I absolutely love. Wish that I had bought one earlier. I don't see anything "non-functioning" in any of these." This is exactly what I insinuate!!
Waethorn
on Sep 16, 2009
"Big Deal Open GL ... It support Direct X which is way better!!" True. I was just saying is all. Leo said it doesn't support Open GL, when it does. It supports Open GL ES 2.0 fully. I would confidently say that NVIDIA's implementation of Open GL support in hardware is going to be vastly superior to what PowerVR offers. One just has to look at the history of Open GL support in NVIDIA and compare that to PowerVR to justify that statement. Before DirectX surpassed Open GL in functionality (long ago), NVIDIA was optimizing their hardware for Open GL, while ATI was targetting DirectX. That dates back to the early Radeon hardware, even back when 3Dfx was around. XNA exposes DirectX too. There is also a DirectX layer for Windows Mobile as well, but AFAIK it's not as advanced as what is supported by XNA, since Windows Mobile is a more general purpose embedded computing OS than what the Zune was meant for. Windows Mobile's current revisions has very loose hardware specification requirements too, so gaming and extensive multimedia isn't a pillar of the existing incarnations because the flexibility in hardware platforms is harder to target with gaming development. There have been some good games brought out for Pocket PC OS and Windows Mobile though. I remember SimCity 2000 and a C&C clone running on a Pocket PC 2000. Someone even made a Warcraft 2 port to Pocket PC at one point.

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