Back-of-the device interaction

At Microsoft Research I programmed software prototypes for NanoTouch, a very small mobile device with a touchpad on the back. This design improves pointing precision by allowing users to see what they are touching since their finger does not cover up what they are trying to point at, which is important for pointing on small screens.

I discovered by running controlled user studies that it was good for pointing at small targets and for dragging, things that conventional touchscreen devices are very bad at.

Programming was in C# and statistical analysis was in SPSS. This work was published at the CHI 2009 conference and resulted in a best paper nomination.