No one put their hopes on touch phones until Steve Jobs took the stage to announce the iPhone for the first time and demonstrated the many mechanics that lay the foundations for smartphones and tablets today. And we’re in an age where it gets a little confusing when we see a device that doesn’t have a touchscreen.

Smart TVs too had time to experiment with touchscreensAlthough this feature did not become very popular on television. In this article, we wanted to review a brief history of touch screens in televisions, as well as methods for converting any screen to a touch screen.

Panasonic showcases its first touchscreen TV

Smartphones were already on the market for a long time when the concept of touch television started to make a sound. During CES 2013, we were able to see how touchscreens reach typical items of our home, such as televisions or desks. And this event led to the demonstration of numerous technological innovations, such as the first curved televisions.

Panasonic was at CES in 2013 when it showcased its new Viera touch panel TVs. They did this with a pen they called the “Touch Pen”. This only worked with compatible Panasonic televisions and the manufacturer’s idea was that we could. take advantage of the entire panel of the television to interact with it through this stylus.

During testing, the manufacturer showed some of the uses that can be given to this touch pen. But, features were very limited, because we could just draw from pictures or play the weirdly simple game. When the user held the stylus on the TV screen for a few seconds, it automatically took a screenshot of everything currently playing, and the drawing tools seemed to overwrite or draw on the image. Finally we can send the drawing wirelessly or to a USB.

Panasonic’s invention did not receive much attention, although it was one of the first attempts to bring touchscreens to televisions. There weren’t many manufacturers that tried this concept in Smart TVs because of its lack of usefulness.

Hardware to turn your screen into a touchscreen

Having a touch television at home was not what the user was looking for, and there were already special touch boards working with projectors and additional equipment in front of them for educational classes or working environments other than home use. interact with the pointer. . In fact, such equipment to turn any screen into a touchscreen can be purchased independently today.

Today, if you want to turn your television screen into a touch screen, there are certain things you need to do. devices placed on the panel and they allow you to interact with the screen via a stylus, similar to a Panasonic TV. Products like the Touchjet WAVE began appearing years after this offering, although their availability is generally limited.

In short, Smart TVs with touch panels did not stop convincing the user, because the market turned to more striking technologies such as 4K, QLED and OLED panels, and even 3D displays, and these technologies also disappeared.