5 examples Introduces New Universal Interface for Text and Data Entry
TIO Flix and Squiggle add gesture-based interface, simplifying text entry on mobile devices
SAN FRANCISCO, June 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- 5 examples, inc., a supplier of innovative solutions for the mobile market, today announced TIO Flix and TIO Squiggle. Both products provide a gesture-based interface for text and data entry, enabling a new way to interact with today's spectrum of devices.
TIO Flix is a simple gesture-based interface to the TIO text-entry keyboards. It allows users to utilize "flicks" or quick and short finger movements for basic interactions. For example, to erase a word to the left of the cursor, the "left flick" or a quick movement to the left is used.
TIO Squiggle provides a new way to interact with devices by registering when the user's finger crosses a line segment or curve. With Squiggle, instead of relying on key presses, the user traces a curve that crosses a line in designated places. Squiggle supports entry directly on touch screens, such as tablets, smartphones, and smartwatches; or entry on separate screens, like a TV, car console, and social wall, using a touch pad or a game console; or even in mid air.
Both new products are included in Version 2 of TIO and are available as an application on the Android Market via Google Play.
"5 examples is focused on providing new and extremely efficient ways for users to interact with a wide array of screens -- from smartphones, laptops, and tablets to televisions, watches, and in-car consoles. The TIO product family exploits new sensor technologies and more capable devices to offer a richer and more intuitive user experience that outperforms traditional approaches, including for text and data entry," said Bjorn Jawerth, CEO of 5 examples. "With the accelerated growth of the smartphone market and the surging popularity of tablets and other mobile devices, being able to enter text and data easily and efficiently is critical for this growing market."
According to Credit Suisse, annual sales of smartphones will exceed one billion globally in 2014, with demand for cheaper low-end handsets from China fuelling uptake. And Gartner estimated that smartphone sales for 2011 hit 472 million globally and accounted for 31 percent of all mobile devices sold for the year -- a 58 percent rise over 2010. Overall sales of mobile phones for the year hit 1.8 billion units, an 11.1 percent jump over 2010. Though the idea of one-seventh of humanity having access to a smartphone may give one pause, Credit Suisse's prediction of 1 billion smartphones appears conservative next to that of Cisco, which recently posited that by 2016 there could be 10 billion smartphones worldwide, or 1.4 devices per person.
And the Android Market is also burgeoning with ten billion downloaded applications, and growing at a rate of one billion mobile applications installed every 30 days (G. Allen Publishing).
Headquartered in Cary, N.C., 5 examples develops solutions for portable devices, with a focus on the convergence of communications through the availability of multiple touch screens connecting consumers with digital entertainment services, music, games, personal applications and productivity applications across a spectrum of different screens: smartphones, laptops, tablets, watches, in-car consoles, and televisions. Its flagship TIO product family is built upon an intelligent text and data entry platform that both developers and end-users may draw on to create customized keyboards and user interfaces. Because ten fingers are often used when interacting with different devices, ten becomes a natural basis for the construction of these user interfaces. "Tio" is "ten" in Swedish.