iPad Pro Eye-Tracking as a viable and logic alternative to mouse support (poll)

[Mousesuck]

Since when are physical buttons a problem? They work just fine and are cheaper to repair. Getting rid of them would be a sales gimmick to charge more. Replacing something that is cheaper with more expensive items just for the sake of fixing something that isn't broken.

I'm guessing the power on/off button will still be physical button.

No, the future asked for a phone that is a complete screen surface.

So Apple conceded that vision with the condition that It would just work, for that, Apple created 3D Touch and a behind the screen Touch ID and finally they could take the home button away.

I didn’t buy the IPhone 6s or even 7, because 3D Touch wasn’t enough

But I’m sure I’m going to buy the IPhone 8 because of...future.

People have no imagination, why don’t they love the future?

 

[Pakaku]

Make the UI better for fingertips and a mouse becomes less necessary. And I'm pretty sure the Pencil was the intended answer to mouse precision on an iPad. If a pen tip isn't precise enough, then I don't really know what to say to you.

 

[Mousesuck]

Make the UI better for fingertips and a mouse becomes less necessary. And I'm pretty sure the Pencil was the intended answer to mouse precision on an iPad. If a pen tip isn't precise enough, then I don't really know what to say to you.

I completely agree with you, unfortunately neither the pencil, neither your hands work very well If you use your IPad with the keyboard.

I don’t have that use case but clearly there is something that eventually will be created to fill that hole and I’m pretty sure It won’t be a mouse and maybe it won’t be eye-tracking...but it will be something completely different for sure.

As another person said in another thread, the IPad Pro is marketed as a laptop replacement but they never called it a laptop, they call It an Ipad.

And I think that sentence sums up pretty well why there won’t be a mouse support ever.

 

[Pakaku]

I completely agree with you, unfortunately neither the pencil, neither your hands work very well If you use your IPad with the keyboard.

I don’t have that use case but clearly there is something that eventually will be created to fill that hole and I’m pretty sure It won’t be a mouse and maybe it won’t be eye-tracking...but it will be something completely different for sure.

As another person said in another thread, the IPad Pro is marketed as a laptop replacement but they never called it a laptop, they call It an Ipad.

And I think that sentence sums up pretty well why there won’t be a mouse support ever.

If this is about it being a laptop replacement when sitting at a table, then the obvious answer would be a trackpad in a keyboard case, if touching the screen itself isn't good enough. But if you're holding it in your lap on the couch, chances are you either are in a laptop position where the trackpad still applies, or you're not using the keyboard at all and are focusing on touch only (which the pencil can come into play)

Maybe the thing is you just want a laptop in the first place. People using iPads will learn to work with their compromises because they went into the iPad expecting a tablet experience, not a laptop experience. Both have their uses, and pros and cons.

 

[Mousesuck]

If this is about it being a laptop replacement when sitting at a table, then the obvious answer would be a trackpad in a keyboard case, if touching the screen itself isn't good enough. But if you're holding it in your lap on the couch, chances are you either are in a laptop position where the trackpad still applies, or you're not using the keyboard at all and are focusing on touch only (which the pencil can come into play)

Maybe the thing is you just want a laptop in the first place. People using iPads will learn to work with their compromises because they went into the iPad expecting a tablet experience, not a laptop experience. Both have their uses, and pros and cons.

No that would be the easy one not the best one.
I’m not expecting anything like that, you clearly didn’t read what
I’ve written so far.

Ultimately the Ipad will substitute and displace the laptop not become one.

 

[seadragon]

Well, with a user name of "Mousesuck" I take it you have a somewhat biased view towards a mouse. Eye tracking sounds interesting and all but since hardly anyone has experience with it, it's hard to say how good or bad it would be. Personally, I just can't see it happening anytime soon and I'm a bit doubtful about how well it would actually work. I want something for today, not 5 years from now. I happen to really like a mouse as an input device. It has a proven track record and it's a "today" device. So, I say for now, just give me a mouse!

 

[Skika]

How would this tech even work? The company apple bought uses glasses so the scanning is done really close to the eyes, this could never work with the front facing camera/sensors far away. Also how would the lightning conditions affect it? How would you click on something once you focused upon it? What if you only want to read something and the cursor is following your reading? Many such cases...

Even if all these would be solved i still think its a terrible idea.

 

[seadragon]

Regarding the front facing camera. I am very often holding the iPad in landscape mode and the front facing camera is completely blocked by my hand. Are they going to install cameras along each edge? I highly doubt it.

 

[Act3]

How would this tech even work? The company apple bought uses glasses so the scanning is done really close to the eyes, this could never work with the front facing camera/sensors far away. Also how would the lightning conditions affect it? How would you click on something once you focused upon it?

Even if all these would be solved i still think its a terrible idea.

Not only that, we got folks getting eye strain with the iPad screens, imagine the eye strain from trying to get this tracking stuff to work.

 

[Mousesuck]

How would this tech even work? The company apple bought uses glasses so the scanning is done really close to the eyes, this could never work with the front facing camera/sensors far away. Also how would the lightning conditions affect it? How would you click on something once you focused upon it? What if you only want to read something and the cursor is following your reading? Many such cases...

Even if all these would be solved i still think its a terrible idea.

It would work with magic rainbows and unicorns.

 

[Mousesuck]

Come on guys how the hell would I know how it would work.
I don’t even know how a touch screen works...and why does it matter how it works?

That’s a problem for Apple who would hypothetically implement the technology and make it work.

Not the consumer like everyone in here to whom the only question I asked was:

If It works, If Apple made it work at least as good as a mouse would you be happy and embrace evolution or do you think the mouse is the only way to go?

To which the the majority of response was no.
Not because it is a stupid idea (which it maybe) but because they are still to attached to the mouse to even consider that one day a new alternative will emerge, as If they would collapse with such a apocalyptic change in there lifes.

This being said, I found a video of a company that already has an working product. Although, sure there are still a lot of problems to solve. (Tobii eyex)

 

[seadragon]

...would you be happy and embrace evolution or do you think the mouse is the only way to go?

To which the the majority of response was no.
Not because it is a stupid idea (which it maybe) but because they are still to attached to the mouse to even consider that one day a new alternative will emerge, as If they would collapse with such a apocalyptic change in there lifes.

Apocalyptic??? 'Mousesuck", I'm not sure what your agenda is exactly, but at this point it sounds now like you just want to argue. Eye tracking is unproven and generally nobody has any experience with it... none. The mouse is proven, popular and most importantly, it works very well. Are you really that surprised people prefer something proven to that which is unproven and for the most part unknown?

You stated right on post #1 "The answer is eye tracking". How do you know this?

A mouse is just more practical. Often times, I will use a mouse to grab a slider in Logic Pro. I will keep that slider held by the mouse and make adjustments while looking at something else, sometimes on a different monitor. How would eye tracking help with this very common use?

Eye tracking does sound like a bit of a gimmick to me. At best, it might be useful for a specific application or impressing one's friends at a party, but I can't see it being as useful or as capable as using a mouse or trackpad. I don't think I would want my eyes to actually control something. I like using my eyes as input only and my hands as output.

 

[Dark Dragoon]

Eye tracking is interesting, however it is generally rather imprecise.

This isn't just because of the technology but also to do with the way our eyes work and how our gaze shifts without requiring conscious control.

There are some interesting technologies which can work with eye tracking. One of them I've seen a bit of is to enable more natural interactions with robots (especially humanoid types). As this kind of tracking can enable the robot to know whether it is being looked at or not as well as what part of it or what object the human is looking at.

This may not really be so important for conventional computer interaction, however there may be applications for things like smart kiosk computers which can use voice as an input, when it can tell that you are talking to it by being able to tell where you are looking. Another potential form of interaction may be in combination with augmented reality, so that the computer can tell what real or virtual object you are looking at.

All of this is imprecise, as our eyes have developed primarily as a way of sensing the environment. Thus they are primarily an input.
Contract this with our hands, which are a combination of input and output, such as our sense of touch.
However they are the primary way in which we interact with objects in the world with precision.

Thus tools such as a stylus, mouse or touchsceen can be precisely controlled via our hands.
I don't think that eye tracking will be capable of replacing the other forms of precise input, as forcing the user to manage their gaze will likely end up feeling rather unnatural and tiring, and will simply be too imprecise. The exception being for assistive use as a last resort.

This is not to say that eye tracking is useless, as it can be used to add context to some tasks. For example in that EyeX demonstration where they showed off scrolling the window which you are looking at. Other possibilities would be to add context to voice commands, so you could for example ask "what's that?" and the computer will be able to determine what you are looking at and give a suitable response. Coupled with augmented reality and this could be quite powerful.

Alternatively (maybe creepily) it can be used to aid personal assistants like Siri (or advertisers) in determining things about you, for example what you like by tracking your gaze as you look at a webpage.

However there are further complications to eye tracking which make it unsuitable as a primary input. Such as what happens when more than one user is looking at the screen at the same time. There are also issues with requiring enough lighting of the face (night time use), and the problem of people wearing glasses (frames can get in the way or reflections) or even worse tinted glasses/sunglasses.

 

[Mousesuck]

Apocalyptic??? 'Mousesuck", I'm not sure what your agenda is exactly, but at this point it sounds now like you just want to argue. Eye tracking is unproven and generally nobody has any experience with it... none. The mouse is proven, popular and most importantly, it works very well. Are you really that surprised people prefer something proven to that which is unproven and for the most part unknown?

You stated right on post #1 "The answer is eye tracking". How do you know this?

A mouse is just more practical. Often times, I will use a mouse to grab a slider in Logic Pro. I will keep that slider held by the mouse and make adjustments while looking at something else, sometimes on a different monitor. How would eye tracking help with this very common use?

The Rant

My agenda is rather simple, I gave you one hypothetical alternative to the mouse.

It doesn’t matter If said alternative worked or not, it is hypothetical. Therefore, If implemented by Apple It would obviously work...it would, at least work as perfect as a mouse and therefore would not be gimmick.

In a sense, this thread is not only about eye-tracking, It is about every single hypothetical alternative to the mouse.

Almost a psychological test that ultimately reveals the inaptitud of the majority of the participants to make some kind of abstract reasoning...an incapacity to dream, imagine and be creative.

What you can infere is that most of the participants don’t have any desire for change and are instead very pleased with the status quo which they defend to their last breath until someone breaks It.

When that happens, you all have a collective orgasm. The result of someone breaking the status quo, the birth of a genius.
Then you pay, you pay a lot to that genius, you pay to get a product you had sworn would never be necessary or even functional.

Of course you were half right, It wasn’t necessary but in this world necessities are created and you lose every time and buy again and again...progress for the sake of progress and off course money, your money.

It is absolutely irrelevant If I say eye-tracking or anything else...what you would want, every goddamn time is a mouse.

Furthermore, when you ask If I’m surprised If people prefer something known (like the mouse) to something unknown (like eye tracking), I can only tell you, hell yes, I’m surprised!

What makes the world advance is the existence of people with vision, capable of seeing into the future, capable of imagine outside the box, capable of taking risks and the most important, people with curiosity.

(Not saying I’m one of those but...)
It was a disappointment to find that users of a forum about technology have none of those traits...maybe that is why you thought I wanted to argue when in reality I was getting rather sad and disappointed.

Everyone has right to there opinion, I’m not even trying to convince anyone that Eye-tracking is the solution.

I’m just saying, ok there is this thing called a mouse, that works. It also works based on the same principle for 50 years...maybe It is time for it to be replaced by something else, not a trackpad...you know...like eye-tracking or whatever...something more impressive more magical...

Especially because now we have the IPad Pro...and so on...

And you are like,
Eye-tracking is gimmick, It causes eye strain...whatever...

I just think,
Ok, so what about in 5 years, would eye-tracking be mature enough to pull it off?

But you are all so comfortable aren’t you?

I was born in a era when people had bips to communicate with each other, there was no Internet, no desktops...having a Watch from which you could talk to your friends was as Science fiction as it gets!

Lets not even talk about the present VR renascence (the dream of the 90s) and AR.

Today, we have autonomous vehicles...that’s Batman level type of ****...and tablets, a concept that was hand in hand with spaceships...
I mean the world changed so much in so little time, 10 years of Iphone, try to imagine your life without it again!

The problem is not that people disagree...the PROBLEM...It is rather sad to see a technology forum that can’t even look into the future and imagine.

 

[seadragon]

Okay, you win! I swear I will never use a mouse again. The mouse sucks. It is old and I want to move forward. I want an eye tracker. Where do I get it and do they accept Apple Pay?

Somebody, please help meeeeeee!

 

[Mousesuck]

do they accept Apple Pay?

Somebody, please help meeeeeee!

Well, that would depend on the country you live in.