ASUS Z300 tablet is the world’s first on-cell touchscreen with active stylus pen support

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The ASUS Z300 on-cell tablet provides a perfect ‘pen-to-paper’ writing experience thanks to Atmel maXTouch and maXStylus controllers.

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ASUS has revealed quite a few announcements over the last couple of days at Computex 2015 including an all-in-one PC, a full-featured smartphone for selfies, a second generation ZenWatch, as well as a range of tablets in various sizes. Among those devices was the 10.1″ Z300, which features the world’s first on-cell touchscreen with capacitive active stylus pen support that enables a precise ‘pen-to-paper’ writing experience for more content generation on today’s digital world.

To accomplish this, the company has selected Atmel’s maXTouch controllers to power the touchscreen and active stylus pen of its newly-launched tablet. The ASUS Z300 tablet’s touch display is driven by a maXTouch T-series touchscreen controller, which features a revolutionary sensing architecture that combines both mutual and self-capacitance to enhance performance.

“As a leading provider of innovative mobile devices for the worldwide market, ASUS continues to bring superior products to market,” explained Shar Narasimhan, Atmel Senior Product Manager of Touch Marketing. “The selection of Atmel’s maXTouch controllers for the industry’s first 10.1″ on-cell tablet with capacitive active stylus by ASUS is further testament that we are enabling OEMs to deliver leading-edge digital lifestyle products.”

What’s more, the device uses one of the industry’s most advanced capacitive styli, Atmel’s maXStylus mXTS220 — the only active pen with noise immunity capable of operating in the high display noise environment emitted by ultra-thin on-cell stack-ups. Together, the maXStylus and maXTouch integrate seamlessly to create a flawless user experience in even the most demanding conditions.

“As a leading manufacturer of mobile devices, our products are only built with world-class components,” added Samson Hu, Atmel’s Corporate Vice President & GM of Mobile Product Business Unit. “Atmel’s industry-leading stylus capabilities enabled us to deliver a much thinner on-cell display stack for more elegant designs with a best-in-class active pen experience. We look forward to launching more advanced devices with intuitive human interfaces powered by Atmel.”

Report: 720,000 Android Wear devices shipped in 2014

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Motorola’s Moto 360 led the pack in sales for Android Wear devices last year, a new report reveals.

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According to the latest report from research firm Canalys, over 720,000 Android Wear-based devices were shipped in 2014, making up 16% of the total 4.6 smart wearable bands sold. Over the 12-month span, the [MXT112S powered] Motorola Moto 360 led the pack among other companies, while LG’s round G Watch R performed significantly better than its original G Watch, and Asus and Sony entered the market with their own Android Wear devices.

Outside of the Android ecosystem, Pebble shipped a total of one million units from its 2013 launch through to the end of 2014. Continual software updates, an increase in apps, and price cuts in the fall were among the key factors in helping to maintain strong sales in the second half of the year. Meanwhile, Fitbit remained the global leader in the basic wearable band market.

Following a completely different strategy to other vendors, Xiaomi shipped over a million units of its Mi Band, the colorful and affordable basic device. As Canalys notes, this included one day of sales of over 103,000 units.

“Though the Mi Band is a lower-margin product than competing devices, Xiaomi entered the wearables market with a unique strategy, and its shipment volumes show how quickly a company can become a major force in a segment based solely on the size of the Chinese market,” explained Canalys Research Analyst Jason Low.

All eyes will now turn to Apple as the market awaits the arrival of its new smartwatch this April. The research firm points out that the product will dramatically grow the market for smart bands and wearables overall.

“Apple made the right decisions with its WatchKit software development kit to maximize battery life for the platform, and the Apple Watch will offer leading energy efficiency,” said Canalys Analyst Daniel Matte. “Android Wear will need to improve significantly in the future, and we believe it will do so.”

“Ironically, it could be the Apple Watch launch that determines the future of Google’s platform, and the degree to which OEMs back it,” writes TechCrunch’’s Darrell Etherington. “While it’s designed as a competitor to what Android is doing with its own wearable platform, its presence in the press and in consumer minds could encourage more Android device owners to look around for their own equivalent, considering the other option is switching platforms altogether. Even if initial comparisons greatly favor Cupertino’s wrist-based computer, long-term, Android Wear could benefit.”

Android Wear became much more plentiful in the latter half of 2014. However, the numbers likely have OEMs watching and waiting to see how the market evolves from here, given that there’s already price pressure on some of these.

Interested in reading more? You can find the report here.

Designing the future of touch with Atmel

Atmel CEO Steve Laub probably put it best when he told the Wall Street Transcript that touch is generally considered to be the preferred method for current-gen consumers to interface and interact with electronic devices.

“For the last three years, [Atmel has] been the world’s leading provider of mobile touch solutions, so our technology and products are changing the way people use and interact with electronic [devices],” Mr. Laub explained. “Our technology is also changing how they view the world and the ability to interact with the world.”

Indeed, Atmel has achieved a number of impressive milestones in the touch space over the last 6 months including:

XSense: A high-performance, highly flexible touch sensor which allows engineers to design devices with curved surfaces and even add functionality along product edges. Atmel is now positioned to ramp volume production for this revolutionary new tech.

Facilitating an uber-thin wireless touch interface: Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) developed an uber-thin wireless touch interface. The flexible interface, measuring less than 0.5 mm thick, turns any area into a touch surface for mobile devices and even desktops. To create the ultra-thin wireless touch surface, CSR partnered with Atmel and Conductive Inkjet Technology (CIT). More specifically, the device uses Atmel’s touch silicon tech to sense multiple contact points on a surface – and is therefore capable of offering a full touch surface or power optimized key detection.

Expanding the maXTouch auto lineup: In July, Atmel rolled out a new maXTouch family to facilitate single-layer shieldless designs in automotive center stacks, navigation systems, radio interfaces and rear seat entertainment platforms. The mXT336S is optimized for 7-inch touchscreens, while the mXT224S targets smaller touchscreens and tablets.

Powering the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini’s touchscreen: Samsung selected Atmel’s maXTouch mXT336S controller to power the touchscreen of its Galaxy S4 Mini.

Powering Samsung’s Galaxy S4: The Galaxy S4 is fitted with Atmel’s sensor hub management MCU (microcontroller unit) which collects and processes data from all connected sensors in real-time, optimizing multiple user experiences, such as gaming, navigation and virtual reality. In addition, the sensor hub MCU lowers the overall system power consumption via picoPower technology to prevent drain and enable longer battery life.

Driving Asus touchscreens: Asus selected Atmel’s mXT2952T and mXT1664T controllers to drive the touchscreens of multiple new tablets and Ultrabooks – including the Zenbook Infinity which is based on Intel’s Haswell processor.

Enabling ‘in-cell’ touch for custom LCD designs: AndersDX introduced In-Cell Touch technology custom liquid crystal display (LCD) installations targeted at low- to high-volume consumer manufacturing. Instead of a touch sensor bonded onto the LCD display, each In-Cell touch key is embedded directly into the LCD cell. The LCD ITO pattern is then designed to match individual touch key symbols. An Atmel Q Touch sensor IC integrated into the display electronics controls up to four touch keys per application.

Outdoors with Ocular: Atmel’s maXTouch S trekked to the great outdoors with Ocular LCD’s PCAP touch panels. Designed specifically for outdoor and marine applications, these Crystal Touch panels are non-birefringent and immune to false touches caused by water spray and droplets.

Atmel’s maXTouch T controllers power Asus touchscreens

Asus has selected Atmel’s recently launched mXT2952T and mXT1664T controllers to power the touchscreens of multiple new tablets and Ultrabooks – including the Zenbook Infinity which is based on Intel’s Haswell processor.

Part of Atmel’s latest generation maXTouchT Series, the mXT2952T is the world’s first ultra low-power single chip touchscreen controller for 15.6” displays, while the mXT1664T targets displays up to 12.5”.

“Our new maXTouch T Series controllers feature adaptive sensing architecture designed to combine processor intelligence, along with mutual and self capacitance,” a senior Atmel marketing manager told Bits & Pieces.

“This architecture seamlessly transitions into the best mode in real-time to enable superior touch and active stylus performance in adverse environmental conditions, while minimizing overall power consumption.”

The marketing manager also noted that Atmel’s maXTouch T Series supports the active maXStylus, which offers users a more precise handwriting experience on their touchscreens. Meanwhile, additional features such as sensor hub management, smaller package size and native fine-line metal mesh support enable OEMs to develop sleeker form factors.

As previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, Atmel has been the world’s leading provider of mobile touch solutions for the last three years – positively impacting the way people use and interact with electronic products.

“If you think about the most common electronic device today, a cell phone or smartphone, people use touch technology to interact with it. Today, touch is generally considered to be the preferred way for people to interface or interact with electronic devices,” Atmel President and CEO Steve Laub told the Wall Street Transcript during a recent interview.

“A key goal for us is to enhance our leading position in the capacitive touch market. In 2012, for the third year in a row, we were the leader in the mobile capacitive touch marketplace. We are powering millions of tablets and smartphones, and we want to continue our leadership position [in a] very rapidly changing, dynamic marketplace.”

Atmel clinches Best Partner Award from Asus

Atmel has received the Asus 2012 Best Partner Award from the industry heavyweight for its extensive product lineup and comprehensive technical support.

“We are pleased to award Atmel with one of our 2012 Best Partner Awards,” said Ricky Tzeng, Purchasing Vice President, Asus. “Atmel has continued to provide outstanding products, along with excellent customer and technical support to ensure we meet our specific new product design requirements for touch controller products.”

According to Tzeng, Atmel’s commitment to Asus is “widely evident,” with Atmel’s end-to-end support helping the company launch a variety of Microsoft Windows 8 mobile products without any delays.

Meanwhile, Richard Lin, Vice President of Asia Pacific, Atmel, said the corporation was honored to receive such a prestigious award from Asus.

“Atmel has a long history of providing some of the most innovative products on the market and to providing exceptional customer support,” he stated. “We look forward to collaborating with Asus on future designs.”

It should be noted that Asus recently selected Atmel’s XSense touch sensor and MaXTouch technology for a number of its flagship tablets.

As of February 2013, Windows 8 tablets and Ultrabooks featuring maXTouch technology included the Asus Vivo Tab, Vivo Tab RT, X202E, S400, and S56, Bluebird’s Pidion BP80 tablet, Dell’s XPS10, XPS 12 Convertible Touch Ultrabook and Inspiron 15z, Fujitsu’s Arrows Tab QH55, HP’s Envy, Envy X2, and Spectre XT TouchSmart Ultrabook, Lenovo’s Think Pad Tablet 2 and X230, LG’s H160 and Z160 Tab-Books, Samsung’s ATIV Tab RT, Series 5 Slate, and Series 7 Slate, and Toshiba’s 925t.

Recent smartphone introductions with maXTouch inside include Samsung’s I9105 Galaxy S II Plus, SCH-W889, and GT-B9388, Nokia’s Lumia 510 and 620, Kyocera’s Digno S, Sharp’s Aquos SH930W, Fujitsu’s F-03E Arrows Kiss, Gionee’s GN700W, Meizu’s MX2 and Xiaomi’s MI2.