Touchscreens – even fancy, patent-protected ones with multi-touch – are just so last year. Korean manufacturer Pantech has upped the interface ante with its new Sky Wind mobile, which can respond to several unusual inputs. You can even blow it a kiss.
Using an innovative (not to mention slightly amusing) ‘Blow Engine’ the Sky Wind can detect when you are blowing into it’s mic and react accordingly – a bit like in Mario Party on the DS. Only serious.
Wallpaper can be changed with a simple ‘puff’, brightness is adjusted by blowing out a ‘candle’ and – in a rare bout of usefulness – the camera can by activated via your breath – allowing you to steady the phone with both hands and not jog it slightly when you press the shutter button.
The camera can also be used for simple motion detection and gesture input, such as reaching ‘in’ to the camera view with a finger and ‘poking’ a virtual object in an augmented reality style.
Interestingly, Pantech reckon that this can be done without hardware modification – the technology forms their ‘Emotion Engine’ which may find its way into other handsets. Any takers here in the west?
