All the big companies are launching new devices with “gesture control” these days, and Microsoft is following along . This insider story presents some of the new features in Windows Mobile 7 which is supposed to take on the iPhone later this year.
The most interesting part of the “leak”, I think, is the differentiation between touch gestures and motion gestures, where the former is related to what I would call manipulation, such as in this example of one and two finger strokes:
{width=“250”}
From the text and the accompanying images, motion gestures are used to denote actions related to movement of the device, such as moving it left or right, but also some more complex actions, such as shaking.
{width=“500”}
I think the separation between “touch” and “motion” gestures makes sense in this context, and it is along the lines of a more extensive set of definitions I have been working on. However, I think the words they use are somewhat misleading. Obviously, you have to touch the device when shaking it, and also be in motion when dragging with your fingers on the screen.