Commentary: Is HP really that out of, well, touch?

[JoeEkaitis]

We hated them in the 1970s and 1980s and weren't too keen about them in the '90s as well. And as monitors get bigger as they get cheaper and we position them farther away, does HP really think we'll like touch screens even more these days?

The mouse or trackball that sits next to the keyboard is far more efficient than taking both hands off the keys and leaning forward to touch the screen. The mouse superseded the light pen for that very reason: it keeps you in your ideal typing position.

In their current TV spot, HP shows a kid sitting closer to the screen than any of us would as he happily navigates the screen with wrist contortions that'll have any sane person screaming "Carpal-tunnel syndrome!" within two-weeks' time.

What next, HP? The return of the light pen? Oooh, can't wait!

[Medievalist]

Using touchscreens for a lot text entry or anything other than basic navigation is not a good UI choice.

But having worked on a stand alone, turnkey computer designed as a therapeutic device for people suffering from the early stages of dementia and TBI, there really is a place for touch screens.

[Clair Dickson]

Given how popular the iPhone is, with it's entirely touch interface, I'm thinking that average users will likely go for the touch screen.

People who do a lot of typing or are heavy computer users, however, will probably stick to the old school methods. But, if you look at the average computer user-- who maybe emails, maybe surfs the web for a few hours each week-- they're a WHOLE different sort of person than any of us that post here. Something, I think, to keep in mind.

[Darzian]

I certainly am not interested in the touch screen for everyday use. I think the monitor wold have to be uncomfortably close to my face to use it efficiently. And if I have to keep my hands raised all the time, the added ache is annoying.

I'm also not a fan of having a screen horizontal on the table.

[Albedo]

Whenever I see these allegedly soon-to-be ubiquitous touchscreens, I think of how manky they must look powered down. Just what the Household of The Future needs, a giant fingerprint- and grease-smeared slab of black glass as your living room's centrepiece!

[Jamesaritchie]

I love touchscreens. Th enewer ones, anyway. They work much, much better than touchscreens did only a few years ago. A mouse is very handy, and the best for most uses, but a good touchscreen is also a wonderful thing, if you use it for the designed purposes.

They sure seem awfully darned popular for something people hate.

[TabithaTodd]

Touch screens do have applications that it works for well. Maps for instance (think google maps and google earth). It may even have a market for graphics designers, I have a wacom tablet (pen) and it has and does come in handy for my designing needs. Wacom also has another tablet that is both touch and pen (in various incarnations of their product, bamboo, intrios is the top of the line with them) and some of them are as big as an LCD screen (19, 22, 26 inch) where the graphics are loaded into the tablet and worked on directly on the tablet.

Touch screens can pave the way for virtual designing as paper and pencil had and still does. Doing smudge shading on an Intrios tablet would be very interesting and I'd eventually buy a touch screen that would provide the same for sure. Technology is advancing so quickly that markets come and go faster than a blink of an eye - perhaps it'll stick, perhaps not. The one thing I do know, is the hardcore techies will buy the product.

[Matera the Mad]

I already have the monitor uncomfortably close to my face. And I don't want my hands on it.

[benbradley]

We hated them in the 1970s and 1980s and weren't too keen about them in the '90s as well. And as monitors get bigger as they get cheaper and we position them farther away, does HP really think we'll like touch screens even more these days?

The mouse or trackball that sits next to the keyboard is far more efficient than taking both hands off the keys and leaning forward to touch the screen. The mouse superseded the light pen for that very reason: it keeps you in your ideal typing position.

In their current TV spot, HP shows a kid sitting closer to the screen than any of us would as he happily navigates the screen with wrist contortions that'll have any sane person screaming "Carpal-tunnel syndrome!" within two-weeks' time.
Got a youtube link to the commercial?

I got a couple thing for you to watch. First this spoof of the "Microsoft Surface:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZrr7AZ9nCY
Okay, that's fun stuff, sort of. They didn't show anyone typing in a novel, though. Too often Microsoft makes itself an easy target.

But then there's this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5snpNp6MvAA
"Dick Tracy calling Joe Jitsu!"
Really, I wouldn't want to type a novel on that, but I wouldn't want to have to use a mouse to control that thing either. But tapping in a phone number looks easy enough.
What next, HP? The return of the light pen? Oooh, can't wait!
They'll invent a Dark Pen...
Given how popular the iPhone is, with it's entirely touch interface, I'm thinking that average users will likely go for the touch screen.

People who do a lot of typing or are heavy computer users, however, will probably stick to the old school methods.
Go Model M (http://www.dansdata.com/ibmkeyboard.htm)!
But, if you look at the average computer user-- who maybe emails, maybe surfs the web for a few hours each week-- they're a WHOLE different sort of person than any of us that post here. Something, I think, to keep in mind.
El Cheapo keyboards will be around for a few more years, until voice recognition becomes substantially more reliable. But yeah, the product strongly influences what interface it uses. I've got a 21" CRT in front of me, and it's just a few inches further than I can reach. All the screen needs is a dusting every once in a while. I'd hate to have to clean it if I ran my fingers across it every day.

[equity space]

HP should have stayed in the Printer business where they had the domination; however, after the Compaq screw up, they've lost that market share and have less of a market share on computers now. I don't think they've hired any new engineers since 1982 because they haven't come out with anything innovative since then.

[benbradley]

I'll go back further and say HP should have stayed in the test equipment business where it made the best products of their type except for oscilloscopes. But no, the product line the company started off with was spun off onto a separate company with an invented name, Agilent. That's where all the engineers are.

And since this thread started there's been a New Touchscreen Product announcement and introduction that reminded us all of a feminine hygiene product, but many have gotten over the name as the company has delayed international introduction to try to catch up with US demand. Some companies get it right even when they get it wrong.

So it looks like HP has the right idea, it's just the wrong company. Or something.

[maestrowork]

I'm loving my iPhone and iPad so I must say I love touch screens. That said, those are portable, personal consumption devices with special touch UI that make them intuitive to use and also very useful. The whole "app" paradigm is great. Also, you can have it close to your face without feeling threatened or strained.

But the entire MS Windows environment is not going to fly with touch screen. They have already tried,with tablets, touch screen monitors, etc. It's not new. They have touch screen in 2005! But it ran the same Windows system and it's not intuitive. It's more efficient to use a mouse or trackpad. It took Apple to come up with one (the iPhone) interface that actually works with the touch screen.

As for finger prints and oil and smudge, sure, it's a hassle, but most of the time you don't even notice. And all it takes is a microfiber cloth and a couple swipes to clean it. In fact, I bet my iPad is more pristine and esy to clean than your PC monitors and keyboards, not to mention trackpad and mouse (how many people actually clean those on a regular basis?)

[Tirjasdyn]

I bought the new HP tmt2 two months ago to replace my dying netbook.

I love it.

I turn off the track pad and use a mouse when I'm writing...works much better for cutting and pasting IMO.

Windows 7 has touch screen and other tablet stuff built so why I would agree with maestrowork for older versions of Windows, I can say that your wrong about Windows and touch screens for 7.

What sold me on this laptop was the touch screen, which is multi touch and great for reading books and general surfing. Then there's the wacom digitizer which is essential for web design (day job). I can switch between touch, pen and mouse easily and automatically. I tend to navigate the menus of Adobe with my finger instead of the pen. It recognizes both and I can lay my hand on it without having the screen freaking out.

Best part? Price point of 899$ Do I think HP is out of Touch?...not really. I've become more and more impress which their systems over the last two years. Apple has proved that there is a mainstream market...so I'm excited with what the next year will bring. Tablets are dropping in price and expanding at a great rate this is a good thing and long overdue.

[Tirjasdyn]

As for finger prints and oil and smudge, sure, it's a hassle, but most of the time you don't even notice. And all it takes is a microfiber cloth and a couple swipes to clean it. In fact, I bet my iPad is more pristine and esy to clean than your PC monitors and keyboards, not to mention trackpad and mouse (how many people actually clean those on a regular basis?)

Most PCs use the same type of screen now and keyboards now so um....no about the same. But I'll agree most folks don't clean them anyway (I dread using clients computers...ewewewe)

Glare is probably the biggest problem from a graphic designer's prospective...The glare problem on our 20" Mac sucked so bad that we used a PC to double check color. Our 24" mac didn't have the same problem at all though the monitor glass the supposedly the same. My Hp has a glare issue but the size allows my to adjust it easily enough so I don't find it a problem.

[PEBKAC]

Going forward, I don't think people will be touching their screens for their touch interface on desktop monitors. I could see people having some small device similar to a tablet (e.g., Wacom table) or maybe sensors built into a thin pad like a mouspad, which would translate finger touch and gestures to actions on the screen. Given current office furniture design, it seems like that would be much more ergonomic than holding your arm up in the air straight out in front of you or hunching over a table top.

[Christine N.]

I detest HP for most peripherals. Every HP printer I've had or used had issues. If one minor thing goes wrong, like a paper jam or run out of paper, the entire print job screws up to the point I have to shut down the printer entirely and clear the cache. It will print pages of gibberish. I hated, hated, HATED that printer. The schools I work in use them and I have similar problems. My father had an HP scanner/printer/fax, and the drivers NEVER worked right for the scanner. He only ever had one HP computer, and i guess it was adequate. One time he needed a part, but at that time HP was based in San Fran, which had just had a huge earthquake and was operating out of the parking lot. LOL.

My Dell (which I think is made by Lexmark) printer - never an issue. Printer jam? just pull out the paper and push the button to continue. I can scan, fax, copy, all with no trouble.

I'm not big on touch screens, except for their novelty and on really big screens. (I love those cool gadgets they have on CSI: NY, for example, where the table itself is a big touch screen.) Our local news station has a cool touch screen they use for the weather, etc... and it's pretty neat for presentation. That's a valid use, I think, if you have need of it.

I don't even own an iPod touch, nor is my phone a touch screen. But that might change when I upgrade this winter.

[PEBKAC]

I'm not big on touch screens, except for their novelty and on really big screens. (I love those cool gadgets they have on CSI: NY, for example, where the table itself is a big touch screen.) Our local news station has a cool touch screen they use for the weather, etc... and it's pretty neat for presentation. That's a valid use, I think, if you have need of it.

I don't even own an iPod touch, nor is my phone a touch screen. But that might change when I upgrade this winter.

I thought I would HATE touch screen phones. I have big hands/fingers, and the phone screens are fairly tiny. I hate finger prints on screens. I had a chance to play with a Pre for a while and loved it so bought one. For phones at least, I'm sold on touch screens.

[Shadow_Ferret]

Most everything I own is HP. Never had a problem.