The N-trig multi-touch technology will remain confined to mobile PCs, as per N-trig's VP of Business Development, Lenny Engelhardt, according to a Tuesday CNETreport. Currently, the N-trig interface is available in Dell's Latitude XT tablet PC and, more recently, the HP TouchSmart tx2 tablet, with the interfaces sporting some minor manufacturer-specific differences. N-trig uses a thin and transparent capacitive touch sensor with its circuitry located on either side of it. Engelhardt says the technology does not require a specific platform like Intel or AMD, instead integrating via a USB connection, but does not foresee its application in smartphones as their screens are too small to take full advantage of a multi-touch interface.
"Seven- to 17-inches is our sweet spot," Engelhardt says.
He went on to say traditional clamshell laptops will use multi-touch displays in 2009, though he did not name specific manufacturers. There will be changes to the N-trig interface itself as well, with new additions to the current multi-touch gestures, with on-screen keys that perform specific functions within applications.
As for working with Microsoft on Windows 7, Engelhardt says all but one version of the next-gen OS will natively recognize multi-touch data streams. A beta version of N-trig's Windows 7 driver is currently available to developers.
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