It’s back to school for many of us so we thought that we would take a look at just what is new in the world of Interactive Flat Panels for the Fall in 2019.
On Board Android Operating Systems Welcome Android 8.0
Unlike the cell phones and tablets, Interactive Flat Panels tend not to follow the current version trend for the Android OS. This is because the Android OS that run on cell phones and tablets are very different. They have a Hard Disk, RAM, ROM, GPU all as separate elements whereas the Interactive Flat Panels rely on a single chip to do the same work.
What does that mean in terms of performance? Well, before Android 8.0 it wasn’t really possible to replace your computer in the classroom with your Interactive Flat Panel – there were things that one simply could not do on a flat panel. Now, with the power on Android 8.0 this is not the case at all. The 8.0 OS is powerful enough to carry out all your regular day-to-day tasks, browsing the web, running Apps, Streaming Video – all are possible now with the Android OS.
The only downside to this new system is that it is not possible to simply upgrade the OS with a firmware update. It is a totally new chipset so if you are running on Android 5 or Android 7, you will not be getting the benefits of Android 8 unless you completely change the Interactive Flat panel.
New Sizes, less of the Smaller and More of the Larger
As the years go by, when TouchIT as a company looks at the most popular size of Flat Panel, every year we are getting bigger and bigger. Last year and indeed this year too we expect the 75” to be our best seller. In the world of Interactive Flat Panels, bigger is most definitely better and we’re pleased to be launching our 100” TouchIT Rapide LED this fall. At this point we don’t expect K-12 to be flocking to the 100” but the 86” has taken a downward shift in price so we believe that this will become more appealing.
What is evident is that there is less and less of a demand for sizes under 65” – as a company we can no longer purchase the physical panels. This demand is dictated by the home user market so we know that in our homes we are looking to get larger and larger televisions and this is trickling down to the Interactive Flat Panel Market.
New Ways of Collaborating
Classroom Collaboration is not something new, we’ve been doing it for the last two and a half years with Contribute Cloud We’ve also continued to introduce new ways of collaborating, casting, sharing files, chat, image sharing and much more. With the emergence of Android 8, for the first time, all of this can actually be run directly from the Interactive Flat Panel itself.
Gamification
This seems a hot topic and we will be releasing some new blog posts on this in the not too distant future. What we have done with Contribute Cloud is actually add Multi-Zone learning games to the software. This allows Teachers to be able to use games for learning. We’ll also be telling you very shortly how the Gamification of Contribute Cloud has also become collaborative – watch this space as the software is almost ready to go!
We see Gamification being a hot topic in the world of learning over the next 18 months and beyond. We’ll be continually adding to Contribute Cloud as because it is cloud based, you have nothing to do! The latest version will be there waiting for you when you login.
A World Without Wires – Wireless Wizard
Due for release in early September, Wireless Wizard from TouchIT Technologies is set to revolutionize how we connect to our Interactive Flat Panels. A world without wires – and more importantly a world without expensive pieces of hardware to enable wireless connectivity! Install an App on your Touch Screen, then on your Computer and when you connect to the same network, they automatically find each other and you can connect. It’s pretty cool to say the least.
Multi-Use Flat Panels
Our users are looking to do more with their interactive Flat Panels not only in terms of Apps and In Classroom use, I’m talking about using them for other things. When they are not in use in the classroom or on open evenings for example, they want to be able to use them as Digital Signage. This is something that our team over at Contribute Signage have been working hard on to make the in-classroom Interactive Flat Panel more useful.
With the click of a button, your Interactive Flat Panel can be displaying information about your school, the latest notices, or even broadcast the latest news from the principal’s morning briefing.
We’ve some new interesting software being released this fall at TouchIT Technologies so stay tuned for the latest development.
Thanks for reading!
