Applied Sciences Group: High Performance Touch

Microsoft Research · 1.4M views · 2012-03-06 · 3:23

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Overview

A Microsoft Research demo from TechFest 2012 of a lab touch system that lets viewers feel the effect of different input latencies, down to about 1 ms. It shows how much more responsive dragging feels compared with typical 100 ms touch delay.

On Hacker News

HN commenters cite it whenever input latency comes up, as the demonstration that people can perceive touch delay down to 1 ms.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 3 months · HN mentions 2012–2024

Topics

GUI, HCI & interface history UX & UI design Consumer devices & gadgets

What people said

Junk_Collector · 2020-07 · Recommendation
I'm taking issue with latency in general and it's dismissal. There are reams of ergonomic targets, data, and guides on user interface latency that are just completely ignored these days. A terminal is close to the simplest possible interface whose job is to provide input and output to a user with as little disruption as possible. 30 ms is in fact noticeable. Here is a short video from Microsoft (about 10 years old now) on the experience of using a touchscreen with 100ms of delay vs 1ms showing the steps in between. The difference is extraordinary for the user even if the end result is the same. [VIDEO]
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pcr910303 · 2019-06 · Recommendation
It can be very detectable, I'd say. Try watching this: [VIDEO] It shows the difference between from >100ms to ~1ms. It's mind baffling.
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dyladan · 2017-09 · Recommendation
Yes there is. Humans are normally not very responsive to the time between when an action is started and when it is carried out on the screen, but this changes for actions like drawing and dragging. This is the reason for the new Pro Motion behavior on the recently released iPad Pro models. For more information, this video [1] is a good place to start. [1] [VIDEO]
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Sources

Video by Microsoft Research, played through YouTube.

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