The ultimate touch screen

* The 'iPalm' could have applications beyond phones and could make using a remote control far easier too First there was the button, then came the touch screen - and now we have no phone at all. Scientists have devised a way for mobile phone users to operate the device without actually touching it. The technology uses light sensors to monitor where a user moves their hand on their palm and presses the screen on the phone accordingly. It means people can decline a call with the phone still in their pocket or, if they are especially dexterous, send a text while simply drawing on their hand. In the experiments the light sensors were linked up to a camera installed on the user’s head, but the researchers hope that one day it will be as small as a button. The team from Hasso Plattner Institute at Potsdam University in Germany believes the breakthrough - dubbed ‘iPalm’ - could have applications beyond phones and could make using a remote control far easier too. They carried out tests on 12 subjects and ascertained that 68 per cent of iPhone users could locate their favourite apps without looking at their phone. From this they devised technology similar to Microsoft’s Kinect motion sensor so that when a user moved their hand on their palm that same movement was recreated on the phone’s touch screen. A video created by the Hasso Plattner team showcasing how it works shows a woman sitting reading a book while her phone rings. But instead of reaching into her pocket she simply taps the appropriate spot on her palm which corresponds to where the ‘decline call’ button would be on her phone - and shuts it off. Another clip shows a user setting the alarm clocks by moving their finger across their palm. Lead researcher Patrick Baudisch told New Scientist that he hopes to shrink the camera so that it is so small it won’t even be noticed. ‘Ultimately, we envision the camera becoming so small that it integrates into clothing, such as the button of a shirt, a brooch, or a pendant,' he said. 'So people would not even notice if someone carries an imaginary phone. ‘We envision that users will initially use imaginary phones as a short-cut to operate the physical phones in their pockets. ‘As users get more experienced, it might even become possible to leave the device at home and spend the day "all-imaginary".' Nick Bryan-Kinns, of Queen Mary, University of London, who was not involved in the research, added that it sounded like it would work well for simple interactions but could be problematic when things got complex. ‘For more complicated functions it's difficult to know how you'd do it without using audio feedback from the device, telling you which function you've activated,’ he said.