Gadget Blog

Portable Digital Assistants (PDAs) are adopting touchscreen technology to make it easier to operate the device. These have become immensely popular. A touchscreen detects a touch within its display area. The touch may be that of a finger or hand directly or through an intermediary as a stylus. This makes the touchscreen as an interface to interact with the device through the touchscreen. The interaction is with what is indicated or displayed at the point of touch. It is a substitute of what otherwise was managed directly by a mouse or a touchpad.  Touchscreen actually does not even need an intermediary as a stylus. The origin of touchscreen was in the 1960s and in 1972 it was used in a computer assisted learning terminal. The HP-150 was one of the earliest commercial touchscreen computer launched in 1983. Multipoint touchscreen has since been developed to facilitate touch by more than one finger on the screen. It is now possible for multiple users to interact with the touchscreen at the same time.

The kiosk systems have been one of the first to extensively apply the touchscreen technology. These kiosks are established for various purposes in retail stores, ATMs, airports and train stations and tourist settings amongst others. Touchscreen displays have been introduced widely in gaming consoles, automobiles, appliances, airplanes, hand display devices of many kinds and machine control systems. Industries as well as room automation uses the technology extensively. Touchscreen technology has been introduced into mobile phones too as the Nintendo DS and iPhone. It has also become quite popular with portable game consoles, PDAs, smartphones, and many of the information appliances.

Newer PDA models, sleek and fashionable, are making their appearance in the market. Newer features are integrated into the system. The market has such models as Palm TX, the PalmOne M515, Pharos 535e Traveler, palm Z22 handheld, Palm TX Handheld, HP iPAQ 111 Classic Handheld, Nokia N810 Portable Internet Tablet and Palm Tungsten E2 Handheld. You can check out users’ view in the Internet by searching, for instance, for Palm Z22 with Palm Z22 handheld organizer review.

PDAs have demonstrated their potential for absorbing newer technologies and extending its functionality. Expanding markets and technological advancement have brought the cost of PDAs down. PDAs have become more user-friendly that it can be operated by those who do not have much computer knowledge.