At the CTIA 2008 exhibit early this month in San Francisco, Synaptics, Inc. announced its ClearTouch applications for touch screen sensors. The ClearTouch, ClearPad, and ClearArray sensors all lend themselves to cutting-edge functionality in touch screen technology, according to the company.

Applications of the ClearPad solution have been picked up by NTT DOCOMO’s SH906i mobile phone. ClearPad sensor technology, according to Synaptics, improves cell phone usability for regions with more complex alphabets as its touch screen lends itself to capacitive sensing-enabled entry. In short, the ClearPad sensor can recognize a variety of gestures and specialized gestures—without a stylus.

For example, ClearPad recognizes motions such as “flicking,” which is used intuitively for channel flipping and volume adjustments. The SH906i, from Sharp, is the first touch screen mobile in Japan touting ClearPad technology.

“Next-generation handsets will greatly benefit from touchscreen technology,” said Bill Morelli, research analyst at IMS. “Synaptics ClearTouch sensors provide an ideal solution and are well suited to a wide range of handset styles.”

Synaptics