Remember Linja Zax? Probably not, but the technology, which emerged around this time last year as a gesture-based alternative to multitouch can now be found on Nokia's N900 browser. It can also be found within the specifications of Mozilla's mobile Fennec browser, although it has not yet been implemented.
Linja Zax's latest trick is to re-imagine how users scroll around a page. Where most touch-based browsers simply move the Web page, map tile, or image around as if it were a piece of paper on a table, Linja Zax now gives your screen a 3D tilt.
This ever so slight change in perspective gives users a much farther field of view to see both how much more room there is to go in any one direction, as well as a broader view on a small screen. Linja Design, the makers of Linja Zax promise that it's 50 percent better than viewing the content with the current standard.
Here's what it looks like:
The idea of tilting or pitching content within a display is by no means new. On the desktop it's been available in a number of applications and browser add-ons. But in recent years, it's begun to make a lot more sense on mobile devices where there is less screen real estate to go around. This can be seen most recently within Google's Android 2.1 software, which has a gallery app that uses technology from Cooliris. However, unlike what Linja Designs has shown off, it's based less on finger interaction as much as the way you're holding the phone.
Linja Zax 2.0 remains a concept, whereas version 1.0 can be installed as an add-on to Firefox browsers. As mentioned before, its circular finger zooming gestures can also be found on the embedded browser that ships on the Nokia N900.