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This new feature will include pressure recognition, hover tracking and nib-tilt with a differentiation between pen and finger use. In addition to that, a specific stylus API, which was discovered by Reddit, will be able to differentiate between stylus, finger, mouse and eraser and will even support pens with up to three buttons. Before this, devices like the HTC Flyer and Samsung Galaxy Note required custom pen-control systems to be created in order to handle their digital styli.
Google is expecting big things from this feature including its capability to be used to improve Android phones and tablets in drawing and sketching applications. Google also hopes that it will help in boosting precision for gestures as well. Handwriting and shape recognition are also a few possibilities, even though Android currently lacks a native handwriting recognition engine.
In addition to all of this, Google has added a basic painting app, known as TouchPaint, to its API demo code. This allows developers to become capable with the different elements of the new functionality. However, it is still unknown what HTC and Samsung will do in regards to their own custom APIs. Samsung released the Galaxy Note source code on October 20 as a part of its strategy to get third-party developers to produce apps for the S Pen stylus. The HTCdev team has also stated that it too was prioritizing the Flyer, as well as the Jetstream, pen API in its developer outreach.
Source: SlashGear - Ice Cream Sandwich adds native stylus support to Android
Android ICS offers a massive array of improvements over its predecessors bringing the best of both Gingerbread and Honeycomb while providing a raft of new innovations.
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