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Tuesday, October 23, 2012, 06:32 pm
Advanced software helps iPad mini ignore unintended touches near bezel
When Apple announced the iPad mini on Tuesday, it made special note of the thin bezel surrounding the device's 7.9-inch screen, a design feature that caused some concern as it may welcome inadvertent touch events during one-handed use.In order to deal with the thinner bezels, Apple is employing advanced touchscreen software that ignores unintended touch events, such as hitting the side of the display when reading an e-book.
Where the 9.7-inch iPad uses symmetrical bezels around its edges, the iPad mini boasts a design more akin to an iPhone or iPod, with large bezels at the top and bottom of the device and thin bezels flanking the screen. It is thought that Apple needed to enlarge the space above and below the display in order to fit the front-facing FaceTime HD camera and home button.
Source: Apple
From Apple's iPad mini webpage:
For iPad mini, we reduced the width of the bezels on two sides of the display. So although the screen is smaller, it’s even more prominent. Rethinking the screen meant we also had to rethink the software behind it. iPad mini intelligently recognizes whether your thumb is simply resting on the display or whether you’re intentionally interacting with it. It’s the kind of detail you’ll notice — by not noticing it.
It is unclear how the touchscreen heuristics work, or if they are effective, but Apple seems confident in its software-based solution.
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Previous Comments View All
I'm quite sure you can manage.
I'm quite sure you can manage.
I'm quite sure developers shouldn't have to.
You don't 'have' to, you can simply ignore the mini and not develop to it. Or you can embrace the growing market base, change your code, and sell me apps.
I know, I know, tough life. It is on parallel with the great tragedies of this world.
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/tech-talk-iphone-5/1420759/
Go develop somewhere else then.
Like the android market
Go develop somewhere else then.
Like the android market
I'm quite sure developers shouldn't have to.
They go out of their way to make sure apps already written for the ipad2 will run on it, what else do want? How about a little cheese to go with that whine?
Hmm. Another wrong thing to do. As a developer, now I'd have to make sure I don't have anything actually being used in that space... and only on one model.
I know that you're not fond of the iPad Mini, something which you've stated more than a few times. But now that it's been revealed and we know that it is an actual product, I guess that you'll just have to accept that it's for real and that it's going to sell like hotcakes. You will be one of the few people who fails to see the value of the iPad Mini, IMO. The 9.7" iPads are great, but I do see the value of having a smaller sized iPad also. It's so damn light, and there are many people out there who would appreciate a smaller and lighter iPad.
When I first heard about this, I wondered if Apple was able to extend the touch sensor to be beyond the display and into the bezel. If so, it might be able to detect touches that came from a finger overlapping the bezel and the display as opposed to a touch directly to the display. Apps wouldn't need to be modified because the apps wouldn't need to know about the extra touch area ... it would all be handled by the OS.
Hmm. Another wrong thing to do. As a developer, now I'd have to make sure I don't have anything actually being used in that space... and only on one model.
You always have to think design anyways. You're still monitoring for the touchdown event that iOS sends. You don't have to do anything special. Now if you put a button that resides right against the bezel, you'll have to just test that theory. Sounds to me like Apple set it up so that it can more distinguish the difference between a finger tapping a control vs. one's thumb resting on the bezel. Either way, you just monitor for the correct touch event.
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Hmm. Another wrong thing to do. As a developer, now I'd have to make sure I don't have anything actually being used in that space... and only on one model.