Tag Archives: thin

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 with active pen

May 20, 2014
Today Microsoft announced their new tablet PC: Surface Pro 3. It’s an improvement version over the Surface Pro 2. Although both tablets are with active pen, Surface Pro 3 is 32% thinner at only 0.36 inch, while the Surface Pro 2 is 0.53 inch thick. How does Microsoft Surface group achieve the thinness? The answer is in the touch and active pen technology.
Figure. Surface Pro 3 with active pen
surface pro 3 b
Source: Microsoft, May 2014

Simultaneous finger touch and pen writing are the ideal human machine interface. Active pen technology is superior to passive pen in terms of accuracy, pressure sensing, and input of fine line. In our recently released Active pen technologies supply chain and market forecast 2014 report, we forecast that active pen usage will have rapid growth in the next several years.
Touch Display Research’s “Active pen 2014 report” provides analysis of over a dozen digital pen technologies: nine active pen technologies and six passive pen technologies. All the Android and Windows devices with active pen are compared side by side in a single chart.
The attitude of leading brands toward active pen is analyzed. This includes Samsung, Sony, Intel, HP, Dell, Microsoft, Qualcomm, and Apple. You can subscribe to the report right now on our website.

Thanks for reading,
Jennifer and team

iPad Air GF2 touch sensor structure made it thin and light weight

Oct 23, 2013

Yesterday, Apple announced its “best iPad ever” –the iPad Air, and the retina display iPad mini.

The iPad Air is especially attractive, with 20% thinner than the iPad 3 (also called the new iPad when it was released in 2012), and 31% lighter than the iPad 3.

What technology made the iPad Air so thin and light weight? Touch Display Research believes the main contributors are

  1. The GF2 touch panel structure,
  2. Narrow bezel touch and display.

Touch Display Research believes the iPad Air used the GF2 (Glass Film with double side transparent conductor) touch structure, compare with the GG (Glass Glass) structure used in the previous iPad. Change one pieces of 9.7” glass to film, Apple could save 0.5mm to 0.8mm in the thickness, and save 0.1 to 0.3 pound in weight.

We also believe the display and touch screen in iPad Air have a narrow bezel than the previous iPad. This contributed to the light weight as well.

Thanks for reading,

Jennifer and team