Touch screens are about to get a whole lot nicer to look at, Sharp Corp. says.
The Japanese electronics manufacturer says it has developed and will mass produce touch-screen glass for LCD screens, used in everything from computers to Apple Inc.'s iPhone, that is half as thick as what is currently available.
An optical sensor will be built into each pixel of the panel, eliminating the need to bond a film to it and so improving the screen's resolution. The resulting picture definition will be clearer and sharper than the soft resolution found on many devices using touch screens.
Sharp has also developed the ability to touch multiple points on the screen at the same time, while current touch screens can only handle a single point.
"For example, users can easily tap the screen with two fingers to enlarge or reduce a displayed map," the company said in a release.
Sharp said the new screens will also incorporate scanning technology.
As an example, a business card could be placed on the screen of a cellphone and scanned in. The company expects to make further improvements to this function, with fingerprint recognition a likely next step.
Sharp says it will be able to apply the technology to screens up to 30.7 centimetres wide, and expects mass production to begin in the spring of 2008.
Apple is making an announcement next week, with many industry observers expecting it to involve a new line of iPods. Sharp is one of Apple's glass suppliers, so the announcement could include the new screens, either in iPods or iPhones.
