Sharp Shows Smartphone-Like MFP Interface

Integral large color touchscreen will let Sharp MFP users adjust scanned material before printing or saving it.Sharp showed off a new user interface for multi-function printers at its recent national dealers' meeting in Las Vegas, describing it as a "game-changer."

The interface is based on a 10.1-inch color touchscreen that can respond to "flick," "tap," "slide" and "drag" gestures reminiscent of the latest smartphones. Sophisticated functions should be easily accessible and clearly laid out, but probably the most obvious advantage would be the ability to proof and edit scanned material.

Being able to straighten scanned material that turned out to be out of kilter (common when scanning material from books, where you can't see what the bottom page is doing) would be nice, but it may be a stretch to call it a game-changer. But if you are stuck with Windows Paint for processing your scans, it might indeed seem like a game-changer, as that app can only rotate by increments of 90 degrees. Sadly, if the paper is skewed even one degree, it's noticeable.

The video that accompanies the online press release additionally showed the interface being used to change page layouts of scanned material.

The new interface will first show up on Sharp's new A3 MFPs.