A recent research by ABI, a research firm, indicates that by the year 2017, most smartphones will have gesture recognition.
This is not farfetched noting the introduction of Siri (voice command app) for the iPhone 4S and S Voice for the Samsung Galaxy S3. The Samsung Galaxy S3 already has gesture recognition.
For instance, when reading a text from the phone, when you want to call the sender, you just put the phone in your ear and it calls. Also with the Samsung Galaxy S3, the screen will be on when the user looks at it.
“Gestures are ingrained in human communication and it is virtually impossible to communicate with someone without moving your hands or gesticulating with your fingers while in conversation,” ABI Research said.
“Gesture recognition technology adds another dimension to our interactions with machines, devices, or computers,” the company added.
Gesture recognition is not an altogether new concept. Kinetic games in consoles such as Sony play station and Microsoft’s Xbox have been using gesture recognition.
Such gesture recognition for smartphones will have to use a camera and infrared components to track certain human gestures.
“Gesture recognition is a very exciting prospect, particularly for smartphones and tablets,” ABI Research senior analyst Josh Flood said. “These devices are already heavily entrenched into peoples’ lives and another communication interface is always very welcome”.
“Currently, only a small number of the smartphones shipped have gesture recognition. Pantech, a Korean smartphone OEM, began selling its Vega LTE handset in Korea during November 2011 with gesture recognition technology using camera-based tracking. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor will offer smartphone OEMs the ability to have camera, infrared, and ultrasound based tracking,” the report says.
