Archive for the ‘zforce touchscreen’ tag
Neonode announces major customer win for its zForce touchscreen tech no comments
Neonode, which makes the sweet IR-based touchscreen 
used in the newer Sony ereaders, has announced that it has entered into a multi-year technology license agreement with a global retail electronics company to use Neonode’s zForce touchscreen solution in its family of products. The name of the new customer is being withheld, but Neonode says that it is potentially the largest such agreement the company has yet entered into.
“We have taken another important step towards our goal of gaining a significant market share for touch solutions. Another global company has chosen our touch screen solution, zForce, because low cost, fast and accurate full finger support in combination with high resolution pen support and low power consumption has once again proven to be at the forefront of the touch screen revolution,” said Thomas Eriksson, CEO of Neonode Technologies AB. “We continue to experience a growing demand for our touch technology from companies around the world who produce a wide array of hand held consumer and industrial products such as mobile phones, e Readers, GPS devices, office equipment, tablet PCs to name a few,” continued Mr. Eriksson.
Neonode’s patented touch screen technology, zForce, supports high resolution pen writing in combination with finger navigation including gestures, multi-touch, sweeps and much more. zForce uses no overlay (like resistive and capacitive touch screens) on top of the display thus creating a 100% clear window, free from reflection and parallax effects producing a true clear viewing experience. Neonode’s touch solution for portable devices is many times more cost effective than any other high performance touch solutions in the market today. zForce is currently integrated in or being integrated into products such as mobile phones, e Readers and mobile internet devices/tablet PC’s.
Neonode’s zForce touchscreens are optically clear and very responsive. Sony used this touchscreen on its PRS-350, PRS-650 and PRS-950 ereaders, thereby achieving a major improvement in usability over the prior generation.
Possibly Related Posts:
New Koobe eReader uses Neonode Touchscreen no comments
The Swedish company Neonode announced in a press release that Koobe Inc has launched a new ereader using Neonode’s zForce touchscreen. The new ereader is named the Jin Yong Reader, is ARM-based and has a 6-inch electronic ink (sic) screen.
It seems that this new ereader is meant for the Chinese market, but Neonode’s touchscreen technology does sound interesting:
“Electronic ink and reflective thin film transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) panels with no backlight used in e-book readers need a 100% transparent touch solution to achieve the desired ‘paper like’ reading experience. Current touch solutions like resistive and capacitive reduce the brightness and contrast of the display and have a negative impact on the user experience. Our new e-book touch screen platform, zBook, fulfills the need for both consumers and manufacturers and will usher in a new era of e-books using full featured touchscreen applications,” said Thomas Eriksson, CEO of Neonode Technology AB.
Neonode’s touchscreen technology sounds like it might not have the glare issues associated with capacitive touchscreens such as those used by Sony on its ereaders. It may also be cheaper than using Wacom touchscreen technology, and can accept finger input as well as a stylus. 
The zForce touchscreen was used in the Neonode N2 mobile phone a couple of years ago. The responsiveness of its touchscreen was one of the noted features of the N2. Neonode’s touchscreen appears to use infrared to detect interaction with the screen.
The quote above and most of the material on Neonode’s website seem to reference the use of the company’s touchscreen technology on LCD screens. Neonode spokesman Mikael Westmark did assure me in an email that zForce “supports electrophoretic and e-ink displays”.
