Will Haptics Make Me Happy?
Posted on | May 15, 2008 at 7:39 pm | 4 Comments
I found this news article interesting: iPhone-Blackberry Battle Will Be Fought Over Keyboards.
Quote: In spite of all the well-deserved hoopla about the iPhone, RIM still has an impregnable position in enterprise and corporate markets — its tactile QWERTY keyboard is way more accurate than Apple’s glass keyboard, and corporate types are less tolerant of e-mail errors than rank-and-file consumers.
I do find that the keyboard on the iPhone is the limiting factor on it for my use of PDA/smartphone functions (what few it has at this point). It’s cool, but I really can’t type very fast on it yet. Though I am getting better. The auto-correction works great, which helps a lot. Like the article says, one of the big drawbacks is the lack of tactile feedback. I think that would help me a lot, though I’m not sure why. Before this article, I had never heard of haptic technology, which simulates tactile feedback via motion or vibrations. I had been experiencing it for years in video game controllers even though I didn’t know there was a name for it. According to this article, Apple is actively licensing haptic technology for use in the iPhone, so hopefully it’s coming soon.
Now if they could only enable cut/copy/paste functions (according to the first article above, that’s coming soon too).
Okay, then I want DateBk6 and InfoSafe Plus on my iPhone. Get going, third party developers!
Latre.
Comments
4 Responses to “Will Haptics Make Me Happy?”
May 16th, 2008 @ 4:14 am
> I had been experiencing it for years [...]
> even though I didn’t know there was a name for it.
Other terms Roger has experienced but does not know the words for:
- koumpounophobia
- Wessonality
- intransigence
- stupefaction
- hyperuricemia
- voter fatigue
May 21st, 2008 @ 8:34 pm
Man, I can’t believe that Apple is licensing haptic technology, when whatever patent they think they’re licensing is clearly invalid due to prior art. Remember the Arp (then Rhodes) Chroma? I’ve got one (non-functional) in my cellar. It was a keyboard with membrane pushbuttons but had a solenoid in it that went “thunk” whenever you pressed one. If that isn’t “haptic” I don’t know what is. I wonder if Apple would pay me to bring this to their attention?
May 21st, 2008 @ 11:22 pm
I read an article on this, I think it was in Electronic Design News, and these ‘new’ haptics are far more complex than the old solenoid-thunkers (which you may recall the front panel of Hewlett-Packard’s 2114 computer had, and that’s way older than the Chroma). Although they are mostly using the same-old vibrator motor found in every cell phone, they’re tailoring the motion using complicated algorithms to produce particular sensations (usually that mimic some actual mechanical device). And they produce different haptic sensations for different functions, helping the user distinguish them. Supposedly.
May 22nd, 2008 @ 10:47 am
There’s some information on the Chroma tapper on my site.
EMM Review: Shaping the System (picture)
Service Manual: Tapper Driver
Brief comments on its origin by one of the instrument’s designers