Microsoft’s Pre-Touch Sensing will Let you Control Windows Phone by Just Hovering on the Screen

In 2014 Almost two years before Apple introduced the 3D touch, Microsoft had been readying the same for its then flagship. However, once the plans to release the device was squashed Microsoft Live gestures still lived on. A new Microsoft research video shows how cool pre touch sensing for mobile can be and apparently it does come with some great use cases.

The pre-touch sensing works much like the Google autocomplete which predicts your search queries. The Pre touch will swing into action when you bring the fingers with close proximity to the screen. Microsoft has showcased the technology by using video controls as an example. When the video is being played the control toggles simply disappear only to reappear later when your fingers hover on the surface of the screen. If you want to turn up the volume just move your fingers upwards and this is not all, Microsoft has also included a jogging dial that can be used to control parameters like volume and brightness.

It also detects the way you are holding the phone and rearranges the control accordingly. In case of 3D Touch enabled phones the orientation switch could be blocked automatically. This concept can also be used to display more information from the live tiles without actually touching it. The 3D Touch would also recognize multi touch gestures in a more intelligent way and optimize the controls accordingly.

Well it wouldn't be wrong to call the Microsoft 3D Touch as an exact opposite of Apple 3D Touch. Since the latter works based on the pressure applied by the user on the display. Looking at the demo it also seems that Microsoft's 3D Touch is well equipped when it comes to judging the interactions and renders the features accordingly.

Now for the sad part, we are not sure if Microsoft is ever going to make a phone with 3D touch so this feature might just meet its grave. On the contrary Microsoft might also include the feature in the upcoming Surface Phone which might help Microsoft will have an edge over others.

Source: Microsoft's Pre-Touch Sensing will Let you Control Windows Phone by Just Hovering on the Screen