Microsoft patent filing confirms existence of 3D Jedi gesture phone Microsoft could have brought a Lumia phone that responded to Jedi-like hand gestures to market a year before Apple brought out its 3D Touch feature. Smartphone displays which respond to the level of pressure being applied open up new UX possibilities for designers. Apple introduced force sensitive displays in its Apple Watch …
A loud clatter of gunk music flooded through the Heart of Gold cabin as Zaphod searched the sub-etha radio wave bands for news of himself. The machine was rather difficult to operate. For years radios had been operated by means of pressing buttons and turning dials; then as the technology became more sophisticated the controls were made touch-sensitive--you merely had to brush the panels with your fingers; now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components and hope. It saved a lot of muscular expenditure, of course, but meant that you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to keep listening to the same program
It is indeed .. but in the meantime, developers have learned nothing.
I'm getting really annoyed by desktops that respond to normal mouse movements by changing window sizes, opening unwanted interfaces, etc. etc. I most certainly don't want that to extend to changing when I merely reach across the desk.
Microsoft are about to close down their phone division
According to the latest Gartner gues^w report, Windows smartphone market share for q4 2015 is down to 1.1% (from 2.8% for q4 2014), so they are well on the way! At that rate we will be selling phones to MS by this next year.
While most Reg readers wouldn't shed a tear if Microsoft is forced to abandon the phone market due to lack of success (or chooses to continue to lose money trying to preserve their 1% share) given that Blackberry has gone Android, Microsoft dropping out isn't exactly good for consumers. It reduces us to only two choices, Apple or Android.
The only way a third player could gain a foothold in this market is if Google tightens the screws too much on what OEMs can do with it. They've done that with the last few major Android releases and will probably continue to do so, but so far it hasn't been enough to cause any shifts. If they ever push too hard, we might see another OS spring up, probably from Samsung. It would almost certainly be based on Linux and app-compatible with Android - in order to have a chance of gaining any traction. So I'm not sure how different it would really be, other than allowing more OEM customization and less Google tracking.
A decade ago if anyone suggested that Apple and Google would own almost 100% of the phone market by 2016, you would have thought they'd lost their mind!
"It would almost certainly be based on Linux and app-compatible with Android - in order to have a chance of gaining any traction. So I'm not sure how different it would really be, other than allowing more OEM customization and less Google tracking"
What you wrote could have almost been written 3 years ago.
You're describing (pretty much) is Amazon's high profile Fire Phone and that sold an estimated 35000 phones or alternatively, a Nokia X. It would be very odd to bring back something MS sidelined to promote Windows Phone 7/8 (Apollo), at the time; i.e. An underlying Android Platform with a Windows 10 Mobile interface.
The Youtube Dr McCoy's 'He's dead Jim' Star-trek post above sums it up well, because there seems to almost a mential block and lot of trouble convincing Windows Phone/Windows 10 Mobile diehards, what is staring them in the face.
Companies/Consumers have moved on. They build solutions with iPhones or Android ecosystems. The infrastructure is there, even from MS, to support these two platforms.
Microsoft have cut the funding to Windows Phone, written off the Nokia purchase, they have cut the combined staff, MS Marketing have all but, decimated Lumia/Nokia branding MS bought.
An OEM based Phoenix from the Ashes won't happen, it doesn't have a chance in those circumstances. There is just no love of the platform and that seems from Satya Nadella down.
Consumers don't seem interested (not at any level that makes a profit anyway). Operators certainly aren't interested and OEMs, even if they have one last shot (new Sony Vaio), are going to lose money, all for the sake of keeping MS on-side regarding their Windows 10 Desktop OEM licence negotiations.
At best going forward, Windows 10 Mobile will remain a virtualised platform in the form of the Windows Mobile 10 Phone Emulator, running under full-fat Windows / Visual Studio, so that some future point, it could grow some real grassroots support, rather than been the "forced" third ecosystem.
As Dr McCoy would say "Windows 10 Mobile-He's Dead, Jim"
Samsung has had hover options on their phones for what, 4 years?
When the Samsung Galaxy S4 was released last year, Samsung included a feature called Air Gesture. This feature allows you to navigate your smartphone like moving between pictures and images, scrolling through email, accepting incoming calls, or checking for notifications without physically touching your Android device screen.
My 1020 has a hover setting for the clock reveal, not sure if it is using this tech tho.
It's a shame Microsoft has ruined this windows phone reboot... I'm finally switching to android. WinPhone has all the apps I need... But ripping out social integration is a deal breaker, since nobody does hardware accessories for this thing (IE:FLIR)...
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