man-touchscreenAs wearables increase in popularity, the technology that supports them will need to innovate. We’ve seen wearable goggles, watches and even hearables. The main complaint of users still lies in the screen. Since mobile has been an established computing standard, devotion to the screen has remained the standard interaction method. But is there a better solution to address many of the screen’s woes or even support the disappearance of it?

Two new solutions may hold the answer to this: electronic-pulse driven touchscreens and simply no screen at all.

Low Powered High Resolution Touchscreens

Common negative issues among touchscreens are a lack of readability in the sun and a tendency to drain the battery of the device. A new invention out of the UK could change all of that. Researchers have discovered an “extremely thin, flexible, transparent layers of a new smart material” that can be used for a touchscreen to solve these problems.

This high-resolution display uses electrical pulses to vividly display images and text allowing users to clearly view them in the direct sunlight. The new technology relies on so little energy to power it thus reducing the need to re-charge it every night, like most current smartphone and devices.

Screenless

But even with a longer battery life and ability to be used in the sun, touchscreens, especially wearables like Apple Watch are incredibly challenging for an older population to read or worse can display discrete information at inopportune times.

Maybe getting rid of the screen all together is the option? Without a screen it’s impossible to read texts or view a map, but the possibilities to physically transmit this information via audio are endless.  Discreet audio clues may be whispered in your ear during your next meeting, which while potentially distracting to the listener, would certainly be less disruptive and more discreet to the world around you.

What we do know is that mobile is the way of the future, whether this means a new type of touchscreen or going screenless. People will still need to digitally interact with one another and receive information.  It is possible that rather than one of these technologies becoming dominant, consumers will embrace a host of mobile devices throughout their day, each providing the right input at the right time.   Imagine a discreet hearable to provide you with information and record your notes during a meeting, but a using large touchscreen display to review and organize those notes after the meeting.

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