Seems like mutli touch will be widely available in the Dell Latitude XT Tablet in a few months.

Dell Latitude XT Tablet PC Shown Off at Oracle OpenWorld

My self i’m wondering what type of multi touch set up they would be using on the lcd to make it so thin and usable.

Its good to see multi touch making into laptops and other devices, but the programs they use as a demonstration in the video well its clear where they got there ideas from, multi touch finger painting and photo arrangement.

Also i’d just like to say that I love the way every one here is leading the multi touch revolution.

Any thoughts or comments appreciated.

thanks, Opigir

I’m actually surprised (or maybe not so) that these companies are so unoriginal. Photo apps and paint applications aren’t going to be enough incentive to sell multi touch products. There really needs to be more practical application and not just artistic “fun” apps. It’s cool to see the technology progress though. The main problem will be the lack of software that will take advantage of such technology. I have a feeling it may be a while until the software catches up with the hardware which is a common scenario.

I agree that the demonstrated applications are pointless on a tablet pc.  But heopfully there can be some kind of API developers can tap into, people then might be starting to use Dell products for new and exciting applications like DJ musical interfaces or trendy wine bar menus - all associated with the Dell brand.  Maybe that’s their thinking?

http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/06/dell-launching-latitude-xt-tablet-pc-on-the-11th/

This is on the shelves in 4 days now.

Anyone looking to buy this ? It’ll be really interesting to see how this can be hacked to work with our apps (flash or otherwise)

Does anyone else notice that he doesn’t (can’t?) pick the MT tablet up?.. is it bound to the table?.. I really do not think Dell will be releasing a MT tablet in 4 days..

yes, they are releasing it
i have seen a demo unit a couple of weeks ago : i confirm the possibility of using it with a pen or with fingers (using the pen disables the touch for preventing problems with palm or fingers)

precog answers :
no, i don’t have seen a multitouch app running on it : the person who showed the unit knows almost nothing about the functionalities
yes, i receive a demo unit to test it asap (my dell contact said me that the configurator will be online monday or tuesday, and in 15 days maybe i receive one for a month or more (i hope).

c.moore - 07 December 2007 02:26 PM

Does anyone else notice that he doesn’t (can’t?) pick the MT tablet up?.. is it bound to the table?.. I really do not think Dell will be releasing a MT tablet in 4 days..

A possible explanation is that because he had it hooked it into the projector, he din’t want to lift it up.

il_b : nice ! Send videos asap

My questions for you once you get it :
1. Does it have an SDK allowing you to access the touch input data
2. What sort of features can it extract - area of contact ? pressure ? type of contact - stylus vs hand ?
3. How many points of contact is it limited to. (I guess you can test only upto 10 by yourself)

tnx in advance, to il_b for testing it on behalf of NUI Group

more info and a first hands-on here :
http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/11/dell-latitude-xt-tablet-hands-on/
http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/11/dell-latitude-xt-tablet-is-official-sexy/

http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/12/dell-latitude-xt-tablet-will-have-multi-touch-just-not-for-a-wh/

P.S. -To tide you over, we’ve got a total snooze-fest of a product demo video after the break. Capacitive touch was never so… boring.

So is there a real MT prototypes going around?

another link with a specsheet : http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/latit/en/latit_xt_specsheet.pdf

about the “multitouch : when it’s done” capability but not yet implemented, i can only say LOL :(

Toshiba M700 is multi-touch aswell
They’re just not running up their hype machine because there aint any drivers yet.
Also Toshiba have been in the tablet trade for ages, so expect it to be a more well rounded, solid system.
Not to mention a good deal cheaper than the dell

My question is: Does anybody knows if i can use Touchlib software with Dell XT?

at this moment the multitouch feature is not yet enabled in the latitude xt
i have here a demo machine : the pen/touch interface is really nice and precise, but no multitouch yet :(

But look at this: http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:8700c7ff-546f-4e1d-85f7-65659dd1f14f&showPlaylist=true&from=msnvideo
Its a Dell XT with a multi touch system. So… i think they already implemented it. But i´d like to know if Touchlib detects it, so we can develop softwares for it.
In this video there is a software very similar to Touchlib… but it isnt…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00mKTEqnzbs

Well, all videos i see about this Dell shows multitouch things… does anybody knows ... about Touchlib and Dell ?

i’m not a multitouch guru, but
since the touch on the screen is like a mouse event, you can run only thouch apps that you can use also with a mouse (and forget the “multi” part)

i’ve just tryed some app (penti, multikey, water ripples) wich are java, flash and exe and these are working (more or less...)

as i was thinking the touchlib config app isn’t working (the screens shows nothing)

so i think we must wait for a new driver-firmware from dell wich enables multitouch, at least

if someone has something to send/link me to test, i’m here (at least until dell ask for it’s demo machine back)

as usual , sorry for my bad english

ciao