Atmel's XSense technology's will make curved touchscreens possible (hands-on)

Atmel's XSense technology made its debut way back in April of 2012, but today ASUS became the first big name gadget maker to commit to using the tech -- pledging to put it in an unnamed next-gen tablet set to debut in Q1 of this year. For those unfamiliar, XSense is a capacitive touch sensor that can be bent and bonded to surfaces of any shape. We got to see XSense for ourselves at CES today and chat with its makers to learn a little more about it.

While there are no technical limitations to the size of its touch sensors, Atmel's technology is currently limited to a max size of 32 inches due to manufacturing constraints. However, the company has plans to increase that fabrication size at its Colorado manufacturing facilities. We got to test out the technology on a piece of Corning Gorilla Glass bonded imbued with XSense (alas, no ASUS tablet sneak peeks to be had), and can confirm that the technology does work quite well. The company sees its touch sensor as a way for device makers to utilize currently unused edge real estate on phones and tablets, in addition to providing designers with more flexibility when creating gadgets. Of course, we'll have to see what kind of creative ways ASUS and other OEMs implement XSense, but you can see some shots of the sensor film and Atmel's demo unit in our gallery below.

Gallery: Atmel XSense touchscreen technology hands-on

Continue reading Atmel's XSense technology's will make curved touchscreens possible (hands-on)

Filed under: Displays, Mobile

Comments