A sensitive phone without buttons
Buttons on a phone...how very quaint in that 2006 sort of way.
With the Onyx, a new concept phone released by Synaptics and Pilotfish, operators can answer their phone by putting it next to their ear. The touch of a cheek to the sensitive screen picks up the call.
The Onyx uses a Synaptics ClearPad touch screen in lieu of buttons. It responds to new forms of screen touch in addition to typical sense-pad taps and slides, according to Synaptics. The screen's sensitivity can react to drawing virtual shapes on the screen with one's finger. It also measures the "proximity to the user's finger or cheek."
One possible use suggested by Synaptics is drawing a virtual "X" on the screen to close a function, or using a swipe motion to send a message. The example makes one wonder which companies will be the first to fight over a particular finger stroke.
A single typed "G" or "Y" now leads some Web browsers directly to the Google and Yahoo home pages. A finger stroke on a Web- surfing cell phone doing the same thing seems to be a likely evolution.
Will occasional Synaptics partner Apple Computer quickly lay claim to the lower-case "i", or will they duke it out with Amazon over the letter "A"?
And what about the Nike swoosh?
In a software-driven world, it's easy to forget about the nuts and bolts. Whether it's cars, robots, personal gadgetry or industrial machines, Candace Lombardi examines the moving parts that keep our world rotating. A journalist who divides her time between the United States and the United Kingdom, Lombardi has written about technology for the sites of The New York Times, CNET, USA Today, MSN, ZDNet, Silicon.com, and GameSpot. E-mail her at candacelombardi@gmail.com. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET. 
