Atmel Enables Better Touch Experience for Kyocera Echo

Atmel Corp.'s maXTouch mXT224 controller has been selected to power the touchscreens for the Kyocera Echo dual-screen Android phone.

The Echo is the industry's first dual-touchscreen smartphone with two 3.5inch 480x800 displays that can be unfolded and used as a single 4.7in 960x800 surface, similar to a "tablet" display, or as individual displays. These screens are connected with a slick Kyocera patent-pending sliding liquid-metal "pivot hinge" that can be closed and used as a regular single-screen phone. It can also be unfolded all the way or propped up into a faux-laptop configuration. The new device is powered by a 1GHz processor running on Android 2.2. The Kyocera Echo includes a 5-megapixel camera with 720p video capture and can run applications including email and YouTube.

The Atmel maXTouch solution offers higher performance, better accuracy, faster response times and lower power consumption than competing solutions to provide a better user experience. Its true unlimited touch functionality and faster performance enable advanced features including rejection of unintended touches, multi-touch stretch/pinch and rotate gestures, and handwriting recognition on devices ranging from handsets to tablets and Netbooks. The maXTouch solution is based on Atmel's proprietary microcontroller technology, combined with software algorithms for a more robust touch solution.

Atmel