Ultrasound mobile phones, which can be controlled by hand gestures and go beyond touchscreen technology, will be on the market as early as next year, a Norwegian company developing the technology has announced.

Elliptic Labs of Norway have been developing the technology for many years and have finally set a date for 2015 when mobile phones will be controlled by gestures based on ultrasound, reported Dagens Næringsliv.

The technology firm has exhibited their technology in the Ceatec exhibition in Japan and the new demo caught a lot of attention in the international technology media.

Laila Danielsen, director of Elliptic Labs, said on PCWorld.com: “First we had the keyboard, then the mouse, then touch screens. We knew that the next natural step would be touch-free.”

Ultrasound is one of several technologies that can be used to control gadgets in the future, both mobile phones, PC’s and other machines. The technology can read movements, something many already do with light. Light is considered to be far more precise, but sound also has some strong advantages. It is far more energy efficient and can read movements at a much wider angle - up to 180 degrees in front of a mobile phone.

Sound is also effective when it comes to calculating the distance to an object. In the latest demo from Elliptic Labs, they have implemented the possibility of changing between actions and layers by moving one’s hand closer to or further away from the screen.

Read the full story: www.thelocal.no
Photo: Heidi Widero/ Innivation Norway