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Buttons That Morph Out of Your Touchscreen
kkleiner writes "Wouldn't it be awesome if our tablets and smartphones could have buttons that morphed out of the touchscreen, and then went away again when we didn't need them? It sounds like magic, but now it is reality. Created by Tactus Technology, a Fremont, California-based start-up, Tactus is a deformable layer that sits on top of a touchscreen sensor and display. 'The layer is about 0.75mm to 1mm thick, and at its top sits a deformable, clear layer 200 nm thick. Beneath the clear layer a fluid travels through micro-channels and is pushed up through tiny holes, deforming the clear layer to create buttons or shapes. The buttons or patterns remain for however long they are needed, just for a few seconds or for hours when you’re using your iPad to write that novel. And because the fluid is trapped inside the buttons, they can remain for however long without additional power consumption. They come or go pretty quickly, taking only a second to form or disappear.'"
Now this means when I break my phone I can't use the cracked screen anymore.
The author seems to think the buttons look "slick", but they look cheap and cheesy to me. A regular touch screen looks a whole hell of a lot better, in my opinion.
One of the things I like about current generation smart phones/tablets is that they're very resilient to scratching, using a hardened glass screen.
This looks like a soft rubbery layer on top, so my guess is that it would be quite vulnerable to scratching and tearing.
Assuming that it could also be used to display Braille, rhis tech could probably be rather useful for tablet computers and ebook readers for the blind.
... unless they can come up with a way to raise them based on a fine grid array rather than fixed cell sizes. Then it would be a truly useful technology.
Until then, I am sure a company or two will see this useful for raising a telephone keypad above the rest of the display, for example. I don't see it as more finely-controlled than that, because the screens of different devices differ so much.
Unless it were made into a grid array, it could never be a standard. For long.
One area this could be a huge benefit would be in-car touchscreens. Right now, the massive rush to touchscreens in cars mean that driving interfaces are suddenly much less safe. They REQUIRE you to use your eyes to locate a region on the screen, and so it diverts your attention away from the road. A tactile touch screen would allow a flexible display to be operated by feel alone, a big safety improvement.
Not for me it won't. Try to imagine how tiring it will be to type on a non-mechanical keyboard with almost zero feedback. Also, note the resurgence of high-quality mechanical keyboards that have appeared in the last couple years that use high quality Cherry switches. Except for special applications, the standard keyboard isn't going anywhere when you need a large amount of text input.
If manufacturers are going to insist on touch screens in cars (and I really wish they wouldn't), then this could be useful. Phone? I'll buy one with a flippy-outy keyboard.
Started the video in TFA:
"For years, people believed the world was flat...".
Stop, close page. Great idea, ridiculous marketing.
Nope, can't think of anything ever going wrong with moving parts.
Well, in a way, it already is. This is basically a touch screen having an erection.
Ezekiel 23:20
The difference (aside from Latin vs. Greek etymology) is simple -- haptics is a subset of tactile feedback, and refers to systems with providing feedback through actuators, whereas tactile feedback can include stuff like the snap-action in a real keyboard.
They seem to have addressed the issue of the third dimension, but that's only one part of what makes a button a button. Does it "click"? Is there tactile feedback? Or does a single 'brush' of a fingertip across a raised button trigger the interaction?
Buttons aren't just lumps. They're clickable, and they need to offer resistance and then "give way" in order to constitute touch feedback. I'm not seeing that here,
last i heard, using an iphone while you are blind is pretty annoying.
Then dont use touchscreens. BMW has it right with the big knob control at the center console. Rotate, push, up down left right. this can easily be added to the steering wheel.
Hell my Jeep I was able to use the 6 stereo buttons to navigate a DashPC decently safe. If the UI is not written by a moron, it can be done easily without a touchscreen or added driver distraction.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Yeah, it's a joke, but it is pumping a liquid into a sack to make it firm. Very familiar.
That's the thing people forget about hardness is that it is a double edged sword. So they are right in their marketing that Gorilla Glass, and others like it, are very hard. So they are difficult to scratch and so on. Sounds strong... However what it really means is they are brittle. They have a higher failure point, but when they do fail they break pretty badly. For real strength, some flexibility, give, is what you actually want.
An area where you can see this is knives. Far and away most quality knives are steel, including those made for adverse environments. However a bit of research turns up that you can get advanced ceramic knives. They are much tougher, they don't need sharpening basically ever, and they are real easy to clean. Why then are these not the exclusive knives in all high end kitchens? For that matter, why aren't they the knives of choice whenever you can afford it (they are expensive)?
The reason is they are brittle, they don't bend. So they are "stronger" than steel in a sense, in that you put pressure on them that would cause a steel knife to flex and they hold fast. However you increase the pressure to a point and then they just fail, shatter, whereas the steel knife would still bend, and then come back. So they are brilliant for cutting vegetables, meats with no bones, and so on but they aren't going to replace your carving knife.
Same shit with phone screens. Ya the move from plastic to glass means that they are more resistant to minor scratches. However hard impacts, a proper plastic will do a better job of handling.
Then dont use touchscreens. BMW has it right with the big knob control at the center console. Rotate, push, up down left right. this can easily be added to the steering wheel.
No, that is TOTALLY WRONG. Because now instead of being able to access muscle memory directly and just reach out your arm and press the button you've pressed dozens of times before, you have to look into your memory and remember the sequence of moves, or look at the screen if you forget them. Any system that forces you to look at the screen rather than being able to just fumble around is taking your eyes off the road and therefore shit. A lot of people will never remember the sequences and thus these systems decrease road safety.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I don't want to wait 2 seconds between each interface change on my phone. 1 second to release the current buttons. 1 second for new buttons to form. I'm sure it's all very glorious and cool the first time you see it. It's probably agonizingly boring every time thereafter.