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Need your opinion on PadKite, the first multitouch mobile mouse...shoot

padkite.com

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Re: Need your opinion on PadKite, the first multitouch mobile mouse...shoot

#11

Post by JoseVigil »

maerek wrote: post #3

There was a really interesting panel at SXSW this year regarding the 'Future of Touch User Interface' by two guys from Microsoft ( http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP5984 ). I think trying to create a mouse interface on a touch device is almost a regression, not a step forward. I'd much rather see improved touch w/ voice integration, better multitouch, etc.

Its great to see the article on the future touch interface maerek.

As leader of RoamTouch and creator of its vision I can tell that we did not decide to simulate a mouse at all. We saw the picture of the future (five coming years) in 2006, the household and we are not improvising. Today PadKite is a mouse and playful kite, its also the hook for a new type of integration that aims to run on top of other applications and video, grow not only on the tablet and smart phone but also to grow to be remote controlled in a living room scenario (coming decade arena). PadKite is the proxy or bridge between today and the future.

In my opinion the future of computer is tactile. It is the most effective way to interact with a computer with the less energy consumption. The future is not in voice and body movement recognition technology. I do not imagine a working day (6-8 hs non stop) jumping or speaking, even moving arms to do 3D stuff. Its all about energy consumption and the most effective way to use our brains are with out hands, and millions of years have passed for that to be in such way.

PadKite and the GestureKit are an approach to start thinking about the big picture to come. It will be fun!.

Re: Need your opinion on PadKite, the first multitouch mobile mouse...shoot

#12

Post by JoseVigil »

Tekahera wrote: post #2

I wouldn't really call it a mouse, but it's a good idea to decouple the cursor on a touch-screen from the point of finger contact, for visibility reasons. Somehow, I don't seem to have this problem with the iPhone, it clicks the right links almost all the time, but it used to drive me nuts on Android. Maybe the screen is physically more precise on the iPhone, but this is definitely solving a pain point for Android de…

Hi Tekahera, how would you explain that to your grandma?. We decided to go colloquial and massive. Its a bet but certainly has arguments to say its a multitouch mouse.

Cool comment, appreciate much.

Re: Need your opinion on PadKite, the first multitouch mobile mouse...shoot

#13

Post by JoseVigil »

RK wrote: post #9

While it is somewhat descriptive, I'm not a fan of the name.

Oh that is nice. You know I thought the name cuase its playful and in a way you are controlling something that is flying. But the most important thing is that when you dont use it you leave it aside flying like a kite while you continue working.

When you leave it aside you can do stuff as you already know, click, pan zoom. But when you bring it in you fly.

BTW, the kite concept will be enhanced when you control it remotely in the near future.

Re: Need your opinion on PadKite, the first multitouch mobile mouse...shoot

#14

Post by darren_ »

It looks fiddly for constant use, but if it were toggleable, provided it's quick to invoke (and difficult to accidentally invoke) it'd be great for the situations where small links are a pain. Note that in this case it has to be less effort to invoke than a zoom action.

I'm not sure how much people hate animated gifs but you might want to consider adding a larger one, because I didn't get how the basic operation of the mouse cursor worked until I watched the video (the descriptions and static graphics didn't really explain much to me).

Also maybe make it a bit more obvious that it's android-only on the front page.

Re: Need your opinion on PadKite, the first multitouch mobile mouse...shoot

#16

Post by JoseVigil »

pedalpete wrote: post #10

I really like the idea, but it seems from the video that the cursor is really quite a distance from the users finger. I agree that we may want a small degree of improvement, but I think it is important to keep the simplicity of touch. Can you maybe give some insight into why you decided to have such a large distance from the users finger to the cursor? as opposed to just having a cursor be an pointy extension to our…

Hi pedalpete,

BTW, the video is a spot and not meant to be accurate but highly communicative.

We did that to make it wide opened to all sizes. We thought that the user was the one who should decide, therefore the opened distance. After using the mouse a couple of times, the user should adjust the finger to the best distance according to his/her size. Now a very big finger fit and a small one too. In the future you will be able to shrink the circle or enlarge it and tune it best.

On the other hand there is a visible area factor that made us leave that amount of size avalable to see. For example, when you are selecting content, you need to know what is below, the same when you are just viewing the different elements below the cursor.

A cursor in a point extension of your finger is a good solution but cannot work alone, its not enought to create a real solution. You need to execute, select, mark, etc. We could have stopped there like for example this project did http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkoFlDArYks. They found the offset but stopped there and didn't follow that great discovery, they kept on searching. We, on the other hand focused on that point, the the two regions that now are the mouse buttons allowed us to work on selection.

Hope I answered your question.

Cheers.

Re: Need your opinion on PadKite, the first multitouch mobile mouse...shoot

#17

Post by JoseVigil »

darren_ wrote: post #14

It looks fiddly for constant use, but if it were toggleable, provided it's quick to invoke (and difficult to accidentally invoke) it'd be great for the situations where small links are a pain. Note that in this case it has to be less effort to invoke than a zoom action. I'm not sure how much people hate animated gifs but you might want to consider adding a larger one, because I didn't get how the basic operation of t…

Hi Darren,

Superb feedback man, great info and very valuable. Taking lot from it.

You know, our most difficult challenge today apart from overcoming the technical issues of compiling in all versions and fixing all bugs, its the learning curve.

The user needs to get to the basic operations at glance and I agree with you that we should show that at front. Paradoxically we thought the video was the best, however an image can also speak million words. I consider your feedback.

Please forward me any more idea you might have.

Cheers.

Re: Need your opinion on PadKite, the first multitouch mobile mouse...shoot

#18

Post by zachrose »

What if this is a solution in need of a more interesting problem?

I don't remember who said this, but hidden gestures in a multitouch device have the exact same learning curve as command line: they are equally magical, efficient, and completely insane in the eyes of people who haven't learned them yet.

That's not to say that the command line is hard (it's not), or that Bash is arbitrary and random (it has definite syntax and conventions).

But you're betting that people will use these new gestures to do the things they're already doing. Maybe they're actually more interesting for drawing or something?

Re: Need your opinion on PadKite, the first multitouch mobile mouse...shoot

#20

Post by JoseVigil »

TREYisRAD wrote: post #19

Attempted to test it, but it crashed after I clicked "Skip" on the tutorial. I am able to see a white screen with the cursor for about 2 seconds before it closes. Using an Evo 4G running Cyanogenmod 7 RC2 (2.3).

Hi TREYisRAD,

Apologize for that. Please let me know your email and I will come to you with the proper build.

Mine is jose.vigil ad roamtouch dot com.

Thanks.

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