Touch pointer: rethink point-and-click for accurate indirect touch interactions on small touchscreens

The increasing video resolution of handheld devices such as smartphones makes it harder for users to accurately touch a tiny item on a small touchscreen without conducting pinch-to-zoom and correction actions. To deal with this problem, an offset-free point-and-click mechanism is proposed in this paper. The touch pointer implemented in dual layers allows the user to accurately touch tiny items and perform additional actions such as scrolling, zooming, and copy-and-paste. The user study shows that the touch pointer is accurate and also eminently usable on small touchscreens.