Dell Australia has unveiled a lightweight tablet PC featuring what it calls “capacitive touch technology”. It’s Dell’s first tablet, and the first by any maker to be sold here with the capacitive technology, the company says.

Capacitive touch uses natural electricity produced by the human body to sense input. According to Dell, it’s superior to the better-known “resistive” touch technology because no pressure is required; scrolling, dragging “flicks” and “gestures” are smoother; it’s more reliable; and there’s no interference with handwriting recognition.

Dell recommends using Microsoft Vista with the tablet, as it enables ouch-based flicks and gestures.

The company claims the tablet also supports future “multi-touch” capability.
It explains that multi-touch allows users to use multiple simultaneous touch points to provide rich interaction through intuitive gestures (“Yes,” it adds in a rare salute by Dell to Apple, “a la the iPod phone”).

The Latitude XT has a 12.1-inch screen and weighs 1.6kg. Dell claims it is the thinnest and one of the lightest 12.1-in. models on the market. In Australia it will be offered with a choice of integrated mobile broadband from Vodafone or BigPond. Pricing starts at A$3500; the company says it will begin taking orders on December 19.