Sometimes, when I look at my smart phone, all I see are my own fingerprints. It’s like smear art on a tiny window that I get to erase and redo about 12 times per day.
But, it won’t be long before our phones are smudge-free. That’s because Crunchfish, a Swedish company, has developed a prototype that allows users to click, drag, drop, and scroll simply by waving their finger in the air above their smartphone’s screen.
Crunchfish calls it 3D control because, the company says, “the controller responds to your fingers’ position in real space and is not confined to a 2D flat screen. The user can control graphical objects in three dimensions.”
The Crunchfish 3D control interface will work on the iPad, iPhone, Android, and any mobile device, laptop, or PC. The device’s built-in camera becomes the interactive mouse, the company said, requiring no extra hardware.
Of course we’ll be seeing some cool games emerge as a result of this gesture-based interface. But think of how this technology could impact enterprise mobility business applications. Crunchfish cites potential use cases in chemical molecule manipulation and interaction with 3D avatars. I’m thinking of the mobile salesperson, who, with a flick of the finger, could navigate a map of the city to find a customer’s office. In the plant, a maintenance technician could view a 3D design of the equipment he’s trying to fix—spinning it around to see all angles right on his iPad.
There’s no timeframe yet on when this technology will hit the market, but I’m quite sure most device manufacturers will be interested in adding this to their cadre of cool apps.
Personally, I’m excited for this latest user interface product innovation. Not only will it save my smart phone screen from icky fingerprints, but I’m imagining the hours of entertainment this will bring to my day. Can’t you just envision sitting on a train and seeing everyone doing a little finger dance in front of their phone? That’s going to be funny.
