Intel has been aggressively pushing into wearables and smartphones. It partnered with Google Glass for a grand entry into the wearable segment, and allied with Lenovo to get a share of the Qualcomm dominated smartphone chip segment.
However, a DigiTimes report now suggests that the chip-making giant is pushing for a standardised Stylus device, that works with all types of displays, be it a notebook ,a smartphone or a tablet.
To get a deeper insight into what a standardised stylus would me, Take a Note 4’s stylus for example. You can take notes, dial numbers, highlight text, create your own doodles and still do numerous things that cannot be explained in the length of an article. However, with a standardised stylus, you could do all that, on a device with different config., display, processor or memory
Now think of a bigger approach. Intel’s trying to make a stylus that works with all of your devices. The productivity and creativity scales are bound to sore high with such a device. For now, every IC designer uses it’s own guidelines for making a stylus. Intel wishes to make a stylus that can be used to handle all types of products.
Several chip designers have been invited to take part in the alliance and provide their inputs. Some of them are Atmel, Synaptics and Elan Microelectronics (EMC). Intel has also invited Asustek computer as well as Waltop, the stylus makers that Intel has invested in.
The announcement of the alliance members and a draft of the standard is expected to come out in February. This will tell us, who will be behind this project and the first directions regarding it’s fulfillment. The official platform for the standardized stylus will begin to operate in April or May, according to the sources.
It is obvious that this move is directed towards the tablet markets at first. A stylus as an accessory to a 12-inch device makes a lot of sense. The phablet market will benefit too. Nexus 6, iPhone 6 Plus and many of the big screen phones come without a stylus. Actually, only the Note series by Samsung comes with an in-built stylus. The big displays are much easier and fun to use with a stylus.
The alliance’s first product should hit the market by the third quarter of 2015, if the reports are correct. With a behemoth amount of smartphones and tablets coming in the market this year, a stylus, that too a standardized one , is surely something to look forward too.
The capacitive stylus is the one that holds the lion’s share of attention right now but it can be really inconsistent and cumbersome to work with.
However, with its standardised stylus approach, let’s hope Intel comes out with a much more responsive and smooth stylus than the ones that are already being used. Intel has declined to issue a comment on the same, citing that it does not comment on rumours.
IMAGE : FLICKR / CC 2.0 / Thomas Hawk
