SlashGear has received a press release and an internal document about Onyx, a collaborative cellphone project by touch-sensor specialists Synaptics and industrial design wizards Pilotfish. Unlike many concepts, where a sleek, headline grabbing shell either runs standard software or nothing at all, or a new platform runs on bland reference hardware, part of the charm of Onyx comes from the harmony of the software/hardware interface. In fact it's this interface - and your interaction with it - that potentially makes Onyx the product of 2006.

Synaptics and Pilotfish Collaborate to Develop Next Generation Mobile Phone Concept
"The real meaning of this product is about opening up the channels between hand, eyes, and device, and giving people access to actions and information in a way not possible with conventional buttons" [Brian Conner, Pilotfish]

To call the Onyx touchscreen-based is to do it a disservice; in fact, it uses Synaptics innovative ClearPad technology, the first transparent touch-sensitive capacitive sensor. ClearPad is capable of recognizing not only points and taps but also shapes and complex movements, together with multi-point input. At 0.5mm thick, the sensor layer can recognize touch and gestures through up to 1.6mm of plastic, making it far more durable and optically clear than traditional multi-layer touchscreens. And above and beyond those touchscreens it can recognize one or two finger contact, a finger used on its side, or even different body parts; a phone call to Onyx can be answered by simply holding it to your cheek, messages sent by swiping them off the screen with the whole finger.

Clever stuff, but the joy of Onyx comes from the cutting-edge industrial design and user interface design package provided by Pilotfish. Working closely with Synaptics to eke out the best of ClearPad's capabilities, Pilotfish have followed the philosophy that hardware and software are not two separate fields but rather interrelated parts of the overall experience of a product.

"The design statement of the physical product itself is very simple: it's all about the living, interactive surface that presents itself to the user and everything else is secondary. The main display and interaction surface is a curved optical panel over the large LCD display. The life underneath the surface is housed in a one-piece aluminum housing" [internal document]

A system of simultaneously running, dynamically inter-communicating applications that, rather than being static menu-based, are task-oriented, the joy of gesture control is that it removes the unnecessary interruption of buttons and icons. Tasks can be closed by gesturing an "X" over them, for instance, and blowing a kiss to the screen can speed-dial your partner (or lover).