I think the “Laser Ink” display is the most interesting part of Humane’s Ai – again, why is the ‘i’ lowercase – Pin, but it does look quite tedious to navigate.
Besides audio and tap gestures on the flat surface, the display projected on your hand, which has a 720p resolution, is the other way you interact with the Humane Ai Pin. To navigate the screen, you tilt your hand up/down/left/right to highlight a button and then bring together your thumb and forefinger to press/click. (Close your hand to go back to the home screen.)
A video from co-founder/CEO Bethany Bongiorno shows off a lot more of the UI. We see what looks to be an app launcher arranged in a pentagon with LTE connectivity status and battery percentage noted at the bottom.
Opening the “message” app lets you send a new one or “view recents.” We see how you tilt your hand to select a contact and then tap next to “compose” via voice. There’s also the ability to open a list of “suggested” messages with more scrolling involved. After selecting one, you confirm and tap send.
From opening the messages app to sending, it takes 14-15 seconds. The size of the screen is more or less analogous to a smartwatch. It does have the benefit of a larger surface area that takes up your entire palm and allows for more spacing between buttons. However, it does not solve the problem of UIs on small displays not being able to fit a lot of information or buttons, thus requiring more “taps” and scrolling than a phone. Meanwhile, the interaction method of tilting and bringing your fingers together does not seem better than touch.
Before the official announcement, I assumed you would be able to use your other hand/finger to tap your palm and interact that way, but that would presumably block the projection.
The Humane Ai Pin ships early next year.
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