CES: Neonode Claims Better Accuracy, Durability For Its Touch Screen TechCES: Neonode Claims Better Accuracy, Durability For Its Touch Screen Tech

To hear Neonode's director of marketing Daniel Stalbo talk about his company's patented infrared light grid technology reminds me of what it takes to be an art thief who doesn't disrupt the cross-thatched beams of light used to protect multimillion-dollar works of art. In principle, its a similar grid of light beams that's behind Neonode's claim that its touch screen technology is better than the rest.

To demonstrate what Stalbo identified as Neonode's Zero Force technology, he shows me Neonode's N2 cell phone in the above video. The phone is tiny but has a pretty exciting little user interface that works off taps and sweeps.

The N2 is only available in Europe right now (and, as you may have guessed, is therefore a GSM-flavored device). In addition to being a phone, it's also a palm-sized multimedia machine. What makes it's design really interesting is how everything (including the phone's operating system) is installed onto a miniSD card that users can replace if they want more storage. So, as miniSD capacities go up, you can up the capacity of your N2 and then, for the phone software, you go to Neonode's Web site and download the software onto the new miniSD card. According to Stalbo, the software takes approximately 500 Mbytes. The N2 isn't cheap. In Europe, it runs about 400 euros.

The Zero Force technology isn't just for cell phones, either. It's pretty much for any device that could benefit from having a touch screen. For example, remote controls and GPS devices. In addition to trying to break into the U.S. phone market with the N2 phone, Neonode is also interested in licensing the Zero Force technology to third parties needing touch screens (for example, GPS device manufacturers).