Apple interface all fingers and thumbs

THE FUTURE of the touch screen Mac is being paved as you read – and this is no ordinary touch screen.

New company filings show that future tablet screen devices will be controlled using not only more than one finger – as seen in current Apple kit – but also with more than one hand. This will allow the user to enlarge, shrink, move and cycle interface windows rather than having them merely locked or set in place as with the Iphone and its ilk.

Apple earnestly explains that some tweaks need to be made for the benefit of sausage-fingered users, as some interface buttons may be too small or too close together causing undesired presses. To combat this problem a portion of each window or interface element may be enlarged.

Unfortunately it sounds like some advanced fingering skills will be needed if the new interface ever makes it onto a real world Mac tablet, as there seems to be several complex movements to learn in order to use it properly.

When using the onscreen keyboard however, it seems that it should work with the same ease as a traditional one – Apple assures us that it can keep up with more than one key being touched simultaneously.

"Although only two keys are described, it should be noted that two keys is not a limitation and that more than two keys may be actuated simultaneously to produce one or more control signals. For example, control-alt-delete functionality may be implemented or larger groups of characters can be typed at the same time."

There will be many more features of this new tablet Mac, such as a scroll wheel, cycling through pages by vertical and horizontal finger swipes, and simultaneous zoom-and-rotate maneuvers.

L'Inq
Apple Insider