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Peephole Displays

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the now-isn't-that-clever dept.

benh57 writes "A student at Berkeley has come up with a novel approach for navigating small handheld displays. In effect the display is a "peephole" into a much larger information area. You see different parts of the display by moving the handheld around - no more tiny scrollbars. Check out the DiVX movies to see it in action. It even works in 3D!"

5 of 292 comments (clear)

  1. What we really need is... by ewanrg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think this is a very innovative way to make the UI help get around the physical limitations of the device.

    But what we REALLY need are answers to those physical limitations. I have a lot more hope for a foldable display in the long term than in ways to try to make a big picture/UI fit on a small screen.

    Not knocking what is an excellant piece of work, but sometimes a great solution to a problem blocks better solutions.

    Just my .02 worth...

  2. Re:Nice concept by All+Names+Have+Been · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Imagine a bus rounding a corner and the text compensating by scrolling.

    Of course the answer to this is to have the gyros - but the scrolling is toggled on/off via a button on the side. Press it, you can scroll by moving your device. Release the button, and the display is locked in place. Now you can read on the bus, in bed, etc.

  3. Ok. by FreeLinux · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'll admit that it is terribly cool looking, though the concept is not entirely new. However, the practicality of it seems rather unlikely.

    If you have to lug around a huge backpack of support gear, why not just carry a larger display, such as Apple's 17" laptop or a future roll-up screen. Now, I know everyone will jump on me and say that they will reduce the size of the support gear but, it is still going to be impractical.

    In order to use this thing you must move around a fair bit. Imagine a subway train full of people gyrating with their PDAs. It will look like a bunch of DDR freaks on mescalin.

    I think a much better solution would be to simple use a little track ball on the the bottom of the PDA to scroll around screen. but, that's not new technology at all.

    1. Re:Ok. by Minna+Kirai · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you have to lug around a huge backpack of support gear

      Give him a break! He's a lone student, trying to produce a useful prototype of the HCI loop. The proposal isn't for a consumer level product.

      If the demonstration is successful, then a PDA manufacturer could look into engineering the hardware down into a single handheld device, but first they've got to see the concept in action.

  4. Re:Nice concept by Minna+Kirai · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Imagine a bus rounding a corner and the text compensating by scrolling.

    That could be a beneficial effect! Many people have difficulty reading small text on a moving vehicle, because the page constantly bounces around.

    Possibly, this system could act as an "image stabilizer" for the text- causing the text to follow a smoother path than your actual bouncing hand.

    Of course, whether or not this can be helpful depends on many factors- Does the screen have 10 millisecond updates? Does your head bounce more or less than your hand? (If they're in sync already, then you're fine.)

    And how well does the inertial tracking system distinguish the gross movements of the bus from your localized jittering? (You wouldn't want to leave the POV behind you at the station where you boarded!)