A user interface for an electronic device comprising: an outer surface, one or more continuous sensor regions on said outer surface, wherein the one or more sensor regions are configured with one or more sensors to detect a spatial configuration of six contact patches made by all five fingers and the base of the thumb of a hand of a user; and a processor connected to the one or more sensors, wherein the processor is configured: to identify for each of the five fingers the one of the six contact patches that is made by the respective finger based on the relative location of the six contact patches with respect to one another; to identify and validate signs, each validated sign consisting of combined distinctive features of each of the six contact patches in a standard configuration the hand makes when holding the outer surface in a handshake like grip, to associate each validated sign with a signal for controlling the electronic device , and to ignore signs not conforming to the standard configuration, wherein the standard configuration is a spatial configuration of contact patches consisting of a column of four contact patches made by four fingers opposite a column of two contact patches made by the base of the thumb and the thumb, and the contact patch of the base of the thumb is substantially larger than the other contact patches , and to control said electronic device by transmitting the signals associated with the validated signs to the electronic device . an outer surface, one or more continuous sensor regions on said outer surface, wherein the one or more sensor regions are configured with one or more sensors to detect a spatial configuration of six contact patches made by all five fingers and the base of the thumb of a hand of a user; and a processor connected to the one or more sensors, wherein the processor is configured: to identify for each of the five fingers the one of the six contact patches that is made by the respective finger based on the relative location of the six contact patches with respect to one another; to identify and validate signs, each validated sign consisting of combined distinctive features of each of the six contact patches in a standard configuration the hand makes when holding the outer surface in a handshake like grip, to associate each validated sign with a signal for controlling the electronic device , and to ignore signs not conforming to the standard configuration, wherein the standard configuration is a spatial configuration of contact patches consisting of a column of four contact patches made by four fingers opposite a column of two contact patches made by the base of the thumb and the thumb, and the contact patch of the base of the thumb is substantially larger than the other contact patches , and to control said electronic device by transmitting the signals associated with the validated signs to the electronic device . to identify for each of the five fingers the one of the six contact patches that is made by the respective finger based on the relative location of the six contact patches with respect to one another; to identify and validate signs, each validated sign consisting of combined distinctive features of each of the six contact patches in a standard configuration the hand makes when holding the outer surface in a handshake like grip, to associate each validated sign with a signal for controlling the electronic device , and to ignore signs not conforming to the standard configuration, wherein the standard configuration is a spatial configuration of contact patches consisting of a column of four contact patches made by four fingers opposite a column of two contact patches made by the base of the thumb and the thumb, and the contact patch of the base of the thumb is substantially larger than the other contact patches , and to control said electronic device by transmitting the signals associated with the validated signs to the electronic device . <EOS>