Samsung unveils 40-inch Full HD touchscreen table

The multi-touch technology that Apple pioneered with its iPhone is now everywhere in the modern world – but Microsoft is about to pump up the technology to a new level.

The next generation of its ‘Surface’ table is a 40-inch touchscreen that can feel 50 ‘touches’ at once – and can also ‘feel’ pens, pointers or anything else placed on the table. Screens on gizmos such as iPhone can only feel fingers.

The Full HD screen has a high-powered Windows PC built in – and is just four inches thick.

The screen works by shining light upwards through the screen, which bounces back to a layer of sensors behind the screen.

It can detect not only fingers but objects on the table – whereas other touchscreen technologies are limited in what they can detect.

For instance, touching an iPhone screen with a pen will have no effect.

With that in mind, the tablet ships with apps allowing children to paint or draw directly on screen – or even edit photos and upload them to Facebook.
Microsoft’s previous Surface table was a bit of a cheat – the surface was semi-transparent, and touch was detected by cameras underneath the table.

The result was that displays using Surface looked a little washed-out – and the table wasn’t as responsive as multi-touch touchscreens.
At CES 2011, Microsoft unveiled the next generation of the Microsoft Surface experience featuring PixelSense™ technology, which gives LCD panels the power to see without the use of cameras. 

The screen can hang on a wall, be built into a wall, or comes with standard leg supports.If that doesn’t fit with your home, you can choose your own legs.

The gizmo was named a 2011 ‘Best of What’s New’ award winner by Popular Science magazine.

The Surface SUR40 is available for pre-order now for £7499