In the Apple Watch and other new gadgets, multitouch input is improved, augmented, or passed over altogether. By Ross Rubin
In the days when Macintoshes all came with 9" monochrome displays, I once came upon a woman in a computer store trying to make sense of Apple’s boxy beige computer. Looking at the display, she tried to activate an on-screen button by tapping the mouse against the screen rather than sliding it around the desk to control the cursor. In doing so, she demonstrated that direct manipulation of on-screen items is often more intuitive than indirect input devices such as a keyboard and mouse. That was a principle that Apple would come to embrace many years later when it put a touch screen in its Newton PDA and—far more successfully—created the iPhone's "pure touch" experience. As Steve Jobs introduced the latter, he decried styluses. He also published a manifesto against Adobe's Flash in which he berated the multimedia technology for not being designed for touch since it included support for interactions that involved hovering the mouse pointer, a gesture that didn't exist on the iPhone. Seven years after the iPhone, device developers are augmenting touch for a host of reasons. Still, the fact that touch is intuitive doesn't mean that hovering is obsolete. Samsung would go on to enable hovering in a touch interface with its popular Galaxy Note phone's S Pen stylus, and Apple itself would receive a patent for a touch-and-hover panel . The hovering issue illustrates just one of the limitations of touch interfaces as they are popularly implemented in smartphones today. Seven years after the iPhone, though, device developers are augmenting touch for a host of reasons, including device screen size, aesthetics, familiarity, and backward compatibility in an array of products:
Apple Watch
Just as Apple has steadfastly kept touch out of its past with the Macintosh, it is limiting its role in its future with the Apple Watch . In some ways, the touch implementation in Apple Watch is more sophisticated than in the iPhone in that it can distinguish between taps and presses. However, Apple says the watch’s crowning interface achievement is the small dial on its side used in place of features such as multitouch pinch-and-zoom on the watch's small display. The adoption of the digital crown is in part to differentiate from touch-screen-based Android Wear watches, although other smartwatch companies such as Pebble have eschewed touch screens altogether. 2-in-1 tablets switch to touch with Windows 10's Continuum feature
Windows 10
Microsoft, which overreacted to the popularity of touch by trying to force it into every corner of Windows 8, has scaled back to enhance usability for keyboard and mouse users in its successor, Windows 10 . While touch will still be the primary user interface on phones and small tablets, laptops will default into an environment that looks more like Windows 7. Two-in-one devices such as Surface will optionally return to a keyboard-and-mouse-first interface when connected to a keyboard. And of course, the company is putting Windows 10 in new device classes such as the HoloLens that have no physical screen to touch. Keys
The Keys digital instrument and MIDI controller from Opho has a number of innovations, such as the ability to extend its playing area by placing two or more units next to each other. On one hand, the very premise of a music keyboard implies a touch-sensitive surface. However, to keep the size of the device as small as possible while allowing a full-sized surface, its designers relied on gestures to issue commands such as "octave up,"  or "octave down," which are activated by swiping one’s hand left or right over the keyboard. Keys raised about $140,000 on Indiegogo , blowing past its $50,000 campaign goal. The ZrroPad controller addresses playing touch-focused games on a TV
ZRRO
Taking on challenges that have faced previous Android-based game consoles and even the recently announced NVIDIA Shield set-top, the ZRRO Android set-top and controller enhances connectivity with the vast library of Android games via a controller that detects where your thumbs are hovering . In doing so, it allows one’s focus to stay on the TV screen. The product squeaked past its $200,000 campaign goal on Kickstarter . Touch interfaces were with us long before the iPhone and they will surely endure for many years. In fact, with support for features such as hovering and force sensitivity, they are still improving. And with the Internet of things adding Internet connectivity to everything from door locks to light bulbs, we’ll likely continue to exert a degree of control over many of these devices through touch interfaces as smartphones and tablets evolve into control hubs. However, as computing moves into new form factors with new demands, it’s clear that the touch-only era that the iPhone seemed to usher in isn't the future of user interfaces after all.

The Next Wave Of Interfaces: Touch, Plus Something Else

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A few weeks ago I found a crazy idea on Kickstarter: A gamepad that basically lets you touch your television without leaving your couch . It promises to track your fingers and display their location on the TV before they touch down. Now I’ve tried it. It’s promising, but needs work. To its credit, the ZRRO Hoverpad works as advertised — its multitouch surface could track exactly where my fingers were at all times, replicating their motion, location and distance from the touchpad on my TV. Small blue circles hovered over my living-room’s Android interface, growing and shrinking as my fingers got further and closer to actually touching the pad. The logical, human part of my brain told me this was the perfect solution to touching a screen ten feet away. The stupid monkey part of my brain — the part controlling my fingers — seems to disagree. It was definitely possible to navigate Android from my couch, but it’s hard to be accurate. Swiping and opening apps with large icons was easy; Android’s software buttons and smaller UI elements were easy to miss. Despite the on-screen indicators, I just didn’t have the depth-perception necessary to be precise with my touch gestures. There were physical issues, too. The prototype pad is a little large, with a thick bezel surrounding the actual touch surface. Holding it and tapping on-screen elements on the left and right edges of my TV was comfortable, but I had to really stretch my thumbs to hit anything in the centre. Touching anything near the edge of the screen was a problem, too. The pad is mapped 1:1 to the screen — meaning you have to touch the same place on the pad to get a response on the screen — and the outside borders of the pad are easy to miss. Gripes aside, when it worked, it worked well. Every app I opened worked exactly as it would on my phone or tablet — I touched the same elements, swiped through the same menus and even used the same on-screen (and accelerometer) controls in games. I didn’t have to worry if my apps officially supported gamepads or how I might input text without a wireless keyboard. Everything just worked. Except when it didn’t. The ZRRO Hoverpad’s biggest problem, though, isn’t the touchpad technology, but the other tech that ZRRO wants to sell you. The company will bundle the pad with its own dedicated Android TV set-top-box, and that prototype is terrible. The games I tested would stutter or lag and the sluggish processor would cause input delays that ruined the experience. The touch control was better than you might find embedded in the NVIDIA Shield controller , but almost everything else about the experience was worse. ZRRO’s prototype gamepad is almost exactly what I expected: a novel control device that bristles with potential but reeks of reality. It does everything it promises, but it doesn’t always do it well. I still like it, conceptually, but not enough to bet my money that this startup can build a decent Android console. Those are hard to get right. Here’s hoping the touchpad tech gets bought up by a company which can do it justice. Have you subscribed to Gizmodo Australia's email newsletter? You can also follow us on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram and YouTube . Share

The ZRRO Hoverpad Is Almost The Game Controller I Want For My TV

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A few weeks ago I found a crazy idea on Kickstarter: A gamepad that basically lets you touch your television without leaving your couch . It promises to track your fingers and display their location on the TV before they touch down. Now I've tried it. It's promising, but needs work. This Company Says It's Built the Perfect Android Touch Controller For TV This Company Says It's Built the Perfect Android Touch Controller For TV This Company Says It's Built the Perfect Andro
Giant TV screens are pretty great. Tablets are pretty great. But controlling a tablet's touch… Read more Read more
To its credit, the ZRRO Hoverpad works as advertised—its multitouch surface could track exactly where my fingers were at all times, replicating their motion, location, and distance from the touchpad on my TV. Small blue circles hovered over my living-room's Android interface, growing and shrinking as my fingers got further and closer to actually touching the pad. The logical, human part of my brain told me this was the perfect solution to touching a screen ten feet away. The stupid monkey part of my brain—the part controlling my fingers—seems to disagree. It was definitely possible to navigate Android from my couch, but it's hard to be accurate. Swiping and opening apps with large icons was easy; Android's software buttons and smaller UI elements were easy to miss. Despite the on-screen indicators, I just didn't have the depth-perception necessary to be precise with my touch gestures. There were physical issues, too. The prototype pad is a little large, with a thick bezel surrounding the actual touch surface. Holding it and tapping on-screen elements on the left and right edges of my TV was comfortable, but I had to really stretch my thumbs to hit anything in the center. Touching anything near the edge of the screen was a problem, too. The pad is mapped 1:1 to the screen—meaning you have to touch the same place on the pad to get a response on the screen—and the outside borders of the pad are easy to miss. Gripes aside, when it worked, it worked well. Every app I opened worked exactly as it would on my phone or tablet—I touched the same elements, swiped through the same menus and even used the same on-screen (and accelerometer) controls in games. I didn't have to worry if my apps officially supported gamepads or how I might input text without a wireless keyboard. Everything just worked. Except when it didn't. The ZRRO Hoverpad's biggest problem, though, isn't the touchpad technology, but the other tech that ZRRO wants to sell you. The company will bundle the pad with its own dedicated Android TV set-top-box, and that prototype is terrible. The games I tested would stutter or lag and the sluggish processor would cause input delays that ruined the experience. The touch control was better than you might find embedded in the NVIDIA Shield controller , but almost everything else about the experience was worse. Nvidia Shield Tablet Review: A Gaming Beast, But So Much More Nvidia Shield Tablet Review: A Gaming Beast, But So Much More Nvidia Shield Tablet Review: A Gaming Beast, But S
Nvidia's Shield tablet was made for playing games. That's what it's best at. But… Read more Read more
ZRRO's prototype gamepad is almost exactly what I expected: a novel control device that bristles with potential but reeks of reality. It does everything it promises, but it doesn't always do it well. I still like it, conceptually, but not enough to bet my money that this startup can build a decent Android console. Those are hard to get right. Here's hoping the touchpad tech gets bought up by a company which can do it justice. 1

2015-02-27 20:15:25 UTC
Most Android mobile games don't translate well to a TV experience for one reason: They're designed to be played on a touchscreen. There are games that work with a gamepad, but they need to be optimized for it, and not every game is. Using smartphones and tablets as controllers is also a no-no since you constantly have to look down at them to see where you're tapping or swiping. A new Kickstarter project called Zrro claims it can bring a touchscreen gaming experience that doesn't suck to the TV, with a controller that uses "hover" technology. See also: OUYA: Fun for Hackers, But Not Ready for Retail
The Zrro is two things: An Android 4.4 "KitKat"-powered micro-console and a controller. The box is as powerful] as any typical Android smartphone or tablet. It has a 2.0GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage that's expandable up to 32GB via microSD card. The prototype Zrro Box is a pretty standard Android-powered micro-console. Image:  Mashable,  Luke Leonard
But the real treat is the controller. When you hover your fingers over the touch panel on the controller, you can actually see their positions right on the TV. This allows you to keep your eyes on the big screen while using touchscreen controls. Zrro co-founder and CEO Ori Rimon says the Zrro gamepad has an advantage over other Android micro-consoles that use controllers with analog sticks and buttons because it works with over 1 million existing Android games and apps — no optimization required. I've been playing with a Zrro prototype — it's so rough the exposed Bluetooth dongle is external and not internal — for the last few days and while the hover technology sounds futuristic, there's a steep learning curve to using it. My thumbs got tired from constantly hovering and bringing them down when I needed to tap something. Rimon tells me I'll get used to it like his two toddlers did, but even after a few days I've yet to master hover input. A dual-analog controller with physical buttons still beats the Zrro when it comes to precision and speed. Simple games that have easy swiping gestures or tapping gameplay like Fruit Ninja work fine with a little practice, but more complex games like Grand Theft Auto San Andreas just don't work well when you're hovering your fingers around and trying to tap at tiny onscreen buttons. The controller's got built-in motion controls so you can tilt it around in games like Riptide GP2, but that's not even a problem when you're using a smartphone or tablet as a game controller. I get what Zrro is trying to do and I understand the problems it's looking to solve with the hover and touch controller, but it's not very practical. If you want to play touchscreen games, play them on your smartphone or tablet — you'll get a more authentic experience. If you want to play games on your TV, get a PS4 or Xbox One or a Wii U where the games and the controllers are specifically designed to work for a TV experience. Ultimately, there's a reason why games for the TV don't have touchscreens or hover controllers: They're not as precise and don't work as well as traditional controllers. Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Android games come to the TV via ’hover’ technology, but is it any good?

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Giant TV screens are pretty great. Tablets are pretty great. But controlling a tablet's touch interface on your TV is a terrible, garbage experience. You can use a gamepad, but it won't be able to handle touch-only apps. You could look down at a tethered tablet, but then you wouldn't be looking at the TV—kind of defeating the point. What if there was a better way? Then, according to some folks on Kickstarter, you'd have something called ZRRO . Remember Ouya , that goofy Android-powered game console that failed to meet everyone's expectations ? ZRRO is just like that: a compelling promise to bring Android gaming to the living room that probably isn't going to be half as good as it looks—but man, it looks pretty good. The difference is mostly the controller. ZRRO's "hoverpad" controller is essentially a fancy touchpad, but it uses special software to track and display the position of the user's fingers on the TV screen—even before they actually touch the surface of the pad itself. It's supposed to give you a relative awareness of where your fingers are, eliminating the need to look down at the controller. If it works, it could make playing touchscreen games in the living room actually bearable! If it doesn't work? Well, it won't be the first Android TV console to let us down. [ Kickstarter ]

This Company Says It’s Built the Perfect Android Touch Controller For TV

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ZRRO Technologies is a technology startup in the interactive TV media space focusing on natural user experience technologies. ZRRO develops the next generation of interactive content "remote control" - a TeleTouch device. The device solves the problem of navigating Internet and interactive content on the big screen connected TV in the living room. ZRRO developed the cornerstone technology for next-generation at-a-distant interactive experience with its patented unique 3D Multi-Touch (3DMT) technology that enables touch experience on distant displays. The highly execution-oriented team of zRRo is a group of seasoned domain experts who bring extensive experience in the consumer device markets and natural input device interaction and technologies.

Date
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Investors	TheTime
Valuation	$XXM
Revenue	0 FY undefined
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Last Funding
Investor	TheTime
Rounds	1 Other Investors
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Type	Venture Capital
Location	Israel

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