Buttons belong to 20th century. While we’re sure that making electrical contact with the press of finger seemed nigh-miraculous at the same time that most people were still using the bathroom outside, the little switches and levers that brought us to this current age of technology have worn out their welcome. We’re ready for something better. We’re ready for something more refined. We’re ready for touch screens.
The pretty little displays you can actually lay hands on and interact with have been popping up everywhere over the last few years, sweeping away the clutter of keyboards and buttons and replacing them with 65,000 shades of full-color LCD glory. They may not click – or feel like much of anything – but there’s no denying the inherent beauty and versatile of controls that can literally change beneath your fingers. Here are a few our favorite devices that make the best use of this blossoming technology.
Archos 7, $550
The 7-inch touch screen on the aptly named Archos 7 makes it closer to a personal television than a personal media player. Besides serving as a home to photos, videos and music, the Archos 7 also has a built-in Web browser that displays full HTML pages – usually without any resizing necessary on the massive screen, and it can also stream television and radio channels via Wi-Fi.
