Large Multitouch Displays Entering Market

Imagine if your iPhone or Android phone was huge.  You don't have to imagine this anymore.  In the last few years a number of interactive flat panel displays have been released on the market.  Less bulky than interactive whiteboards, the interactive flat panel also offers a much higher resolution display.  As costs continue to reduce in flat panels, and as innovation in touch user interfaces continue expect to see these types of displays all over the place.


Ideum has announced the release of a new 65-inch wall-mounted multitouch display called the MT65 Presenter.

The MT65 Presenter is a hardened, multitouch system that supports 32 simultaneous touch points for collaborative interaction. The huge 65" 3D, full-HD display has a 9,000,000:1 contrast ratio and its wide 178-degree viewing angle accommodates multiple users and viewers. The system is multi-touch enabled from start-up and runs Windows 7 64-bit professional edition (Linux version available in March 2012).

The Presenter has an integrated computer with a powerful Hyperthreaded Intel® Quad-core i7 ® inside, which runs at 2.2GHz, a GeForce GTX460 GPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB solid-state hard disk drive.

Perceptive Pixel, whose CTO Jeff Han famously gave a TED Talk on interactive multitouch in 2006, also recently introduced a huge 82" LCD multi touch display.  With a remarkably slim 6" profile, the 82" interactive projected capacitive (pro-cap) display transforms the way you interact with the information around you. It enables you to communicate, present, comprehend and interpret rich and complex data in an entirely new, hands-on way. Ideal for both presentations and creative, collaborative multi-user environments such as storyboarding and brainstorming sessions, the 82" interactive display provides a high-impact platform with an impressively small footprint.

SMART Technologies has been on the market for a few months with the SMART Board 8070i interactive display.  The attractive and simple design of the 8070i invites use, and its multitouch capabilities give users more opportunities for classroom collaboration. The 8070i enables two people to use their fingers or a pen to write, draw and interact with content without any special tools or menus – students can simply walk up to the 8070i and immediately begin working together.

The video below demonstrates the SMART Board multi touch display.

Other large flat panel interactive displays available are the Microsoft Surface, Hitachi Starboard and IRTouch.  If you can't afford one yet, Johnny Lee Chung can tell you how to hack your own: