Touchjet: Turning surfaces into a giant 80 inch touchscreen
At times when you feel that the TV isn’t big enough or the presentation screen in your office isn’t versatile enough, then you just might be pleased to know that there is a gadget now on sale to solve both these problems. The Touchjet Pond is a tiny, palm-sized projector which can effectively turn your wall into a touch screen. In fact, it turns any surface into a giant interactive touchscreen.
Once set up, you get to use it to project an image on a blank wall, the size of about an 80-inch TV.
Movies and games can be played, for instance, but of course the sound output from the tiny Touchjet Pond will not exactly match cinema quality. Also, the room needs to be reasonable dimly lit and the image quality improves then it is projected on a smaller screen, than say around 50 to 60 inches.
Features
- The Touchjet Pond is so small and lightweight ((9.4 oz.), you can carry it around everywhere
- With an internal storage of 1.3m apps you can download any app from the Google Play store
- The touch capability works satisfactorily on any flat surface.
- Watch TV shows and movies on up to 80 inches of projection wall
- Download any Android app right onto the Pond
- Up to 4 people can touch the screen at the same time
- Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth makes it easy to connect
- Includes a built-in speaker and a stereo head phone jack
A tiny handheld projector, the Touchjet is actually an Android smartphone. Let’s check out how we can use it
- Not only can you use it for watching a film on a wall, but you could also use it for browsing Android apps and since there as so many of them, you’re bound to find something pleasing. It’s with these apps that the touchscreen effect really comes in. What I mean to say is that, the wall doesn’t become touch sensitive, but the available stylus has a retractable tip, which when pressed, makes contact against a wall as you write, and transmits your touch to the Touchjet projector. So if you’re palying a quick bout of Fruit Ninja, swiping the wall with your stylus chops the melon in two. And yes, it is reasonably speedy and gaming is a fun.
- If in case you are worried that the pen could mark up your freshly painted wall, all you have to do is not touch it with the pen at all. The same touch effect can be achieved without even touching your wall. Pressing the button will make the pen fall naturally under your thumb and write away. The movement is transmitted just as effectively.
- One thing that you might just want to remember is to not stand in the way of the projector. What happens is that, if you’re standing in your own shadow, the projector cannot see what you’re doing. So the touch doesn’t register. It is essential that there is an obstacle free path between the stylus tip and the projector. You can also have multiple styli connected at the very same time and there’s also an ‘air mouse’ available which can connect to the control unit by infra-red or Bluetooth.
The Touchjet Pond creates not so much of a TV but a giant tablet on the wall. Put up the game of Monument Valley on your wall, and you’ll see the entire family streaming out of their rooms to join you in the drawing room. Instead of having every member of the family buried in their own devices, the Pond helps in bringing people together to spend quality time.
While it is priced at a whooping £599.99, it still seems a viable choice for schools and businesses. And of course, it’s way cheaper than getting everyone at home their own tablets.
Keval Padia is the founder & CEO of Nimblechapps, a fast-growing mobile app development company. The current innovation and updates of the field lures him to express his views and thoughts on certain topics.