Duration: 20:47

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Touchscreens continue to advance—including progress
towards sensing fingers proximal to the display. We explore
this emerging pre-touch modality via a self-capacitance
touchscreen that can sense multiple fingers above a mobile
device, as well as grip around the screen’s edges. This
capability opens up many possibilities for mobile interaction.
For example, using pre-touch in an anticipatory role affords
an “ad-lib interface” that fades in a different UI—appropriate
to the context—as the user approaches one-handed with a
thumb, two-handed with an index finger, or even with a
pinch or two thumbs. Or we can interpret pre-touch in a
retroactive manner that leverages the approach trajectory to
discern whether the user made contact with a ballistic vs. a
finely-targeted motion. Pre-touch also enables hybrid touch
+ hover gestures, such as selecting an icon with the thumb
while bringing a second finger into range to invoke a context
menu at a convenient location. Collectively these techniques
illustrate how pre-touch sensing offers an intriguing new
back-channel for mobile interaction.