Yesterday, we reviewed some questions regarding the design of the Redux Model 1, including how many buttons we wanted to offer. Compared to Apple’s iPhone, we went from 4 to 2, then from 2 to 1. Today, we’re questioning whether we need any buttons at all. In fact, we’re convinced that we do not, and the Redux Model 1 might very well become the first personal computing device designed with no buttons.

We got this epiphany when discussing with the good folks at NiMa Systems and reviewing some design options. Through the course of the discussion, we tried to understand how we could fit the Home button and the pin hole for the camera, while trying to reduce space on the display’s edges. The display we are planning to use measures 210mm x 133mm, and according to NiMa’s engineers, we could build an enclosure for it that would measure no more than 215mm x 140mm (8.5" x 5.5"), which believe it or not is exactly the dimensions of the half letter form factor we set a couple of weeks ago. This would allow for the device’s top to be nothing more than a gigantic touch area covering a gorgeous 8.9" W-XGA (1280 x 768) LCD panel. But with so little space left around the screen, there would be no room for the Home button nor the camera. So we asked ourselves an interesting question: do we need them?

The camera is an easy one. If we can not fit it onto the tablet, we might be able to put it on the magnetic keyboard, and that might be good enough. Or we might go crazy and try to put it between the LCD glass and the LED PCB, drilling a hole through the backlight diffuser. This would require some real-time image processing in order to correct the image distortions created by the LCD glass that would get in the way of the camera’s sight, but why not?

So let’s assume that we could get rid of the side camera. Now what about the Home button? Well, this is where things get interesting. When we suggested to remove it, the SiMa guys proposed to use the touch sensor as a way to turn the device on and off. This is possible, because the touch sensor’s controller could be powered on while the device’s CPU would be turned off, and trickle power would be in the microwatts. We then asked if the touch sensor’s controller could recognize a simple gesture without the help of the device’s CPU, and the answer was a resounding ‘yes’ that pretty much made our day. Best of all, we could use a similar approach to provide a reset function, maybe by pressing both bottom and top touch sensors in the bottom right corner of the device at the same time. Isn’t that cool?

So here we are, the Redux Model 1 might have no buttons. Amazing…