Filed under: Hardware, Rumors, Apple
As a guy who still kind of winces at the iPhone’s touch surface sometimes (especially when playing games — you don’t realize how nice buttons are until you see a character die because your thumb’s in the way), this is extremely interesting news: Apple’s rumored tablet, which we’ve been hearing a lot about lately, may include a dynamic, tactile surface.
This one’s on a little shakier ground than the other rumors that we’ve heard before, but it makes sense. After that anonymous exec told the NYT that the interface on the new tablet would be “surprising,” AppleInsider pulled out an old patent from a few years ago that talks about a surface that changes its shape and feel based on how it’s being used. For viewing pictures with the multitouch, it stays smooth, but the second a keyboard or button pops up, it can push out dots or shapes and become slightly tactile.
Sounds like it’d be tough to get right (you’d have to figure out when users expect a tactile surface and when they don’t, among other interesting UI questions), but of course if anyone can pull it off, it’ll probably be Apple. Note that this isn’t the only futuristic idea Apple has had for larger multitouch surfaces, and there are lots of different options for interfaces that we’d find “surprising.” But the fact remains that though touchscreen devices are extremely popular, users want a little more feel and a little less look. It’d be great to see Apple pull this off, if they are planning on showing off a larger touchscreen next month.
TUAWRumored tablet could include dynamic tactile surface originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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