Rumors spread that Google will develop a touchscreen device that will join the company’s Home lineup of consumer products. A recent job posting for a “touch sensor hardware engineer” noticed by variety confirms that the company is looking to add multi-touch products to its repertoire. “In this role, you will work on the next generation of Google home Hardware to enable the best multi-touch user experience,” the listing says.
That can be read as an obvious sign that multi-touch products. Like Google’s spin on the Echo Show — are in the pipeline. seems reasonable. Multi-touch gestures could also find their way to speakers just like the next revision of the home and home max.
But keep in mind that Google had to address a humiliating hardware defect with its Google Home mini speaker in Oct. That forced the company to disable the touch sensor permanently at the top of that device. And while the decision to protect customer privacy was definitely the right one. Doing so crippled some of the Mini’s capabilities and appeal.
I was super excited to use the little speaker as an alarm clock. But now, the only options for turning off that alarm are either talking to a device the minute you wake up or pulling the power cord. Usually, I end up doing the latter. Real fun stuff.
So it makes a lot of sense that Google wants to shore up its engineering. And expertise around touch sensors to prevent any future embarrassments.
