Researchers Develop Buttons for Touchscreens
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: Carnegie, Mellon, Touchscreen, Buttons | Themes: Business
In a time when touchscreen is all the rage, a couple of researchers from Carnegie Mellon are bring buttons back.
One of the things that sets RIM’s BlackBerry Storm apart from the countless other touchscreen smartphones currently on the market is the phone’s tactile touch feature. A lot of smartphone users are reluctant to give up their keypads because they offer a more accurate way to tap out emails, especially when you're on the go and RIM tried to address concerns by offering users touchscreen with a difference.
Today, Technology Review reports that researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed buttons that pop out from a touch-screen surface. According to TR, the design retains the dynamic display capabilities of a normal touch screen but can also produce tactile buttons for certain functions. The screens are covered in semitransparent latex, which sits on top of an acrylic plate with shaped holes and an air chamber connected to a pump. When the pump is off, the screen is flat and smooth; when it's switched on, the latex and cut outs form buttons depending on pressure.
While this is just a prototype, it actually looks pretty neat and we can see this hitting the market in some way, shape or form in the future. However, many people have fallen in love with the all touch look of devices like the iPhone and the Storm and we can’t imagine they’d go for something like this. That said, it could have a real future at public kiosks in say, libraries.
Check out the full story on Technology Review for more details on how the technology works.
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Kinda neat...in a way I guess... Seems like a step down on the ladder of technological evolution. It's like adding warm-up time to LCD's and plasmas to make them feel more like old school TV's because a handful of people are used to that...
Kinda neat...in a way I guess... Seems like a step down on the ladder of technological evolution. It's like adding warm-up time to LCD's and plasmas to make them feel more like old school TV's because a handful of people are used to that...
Maybe so but a ton of people complain that typing with a touchscreen leaves too much room for error so this actually serves a purpose as opposed to warm up time which is just because people expect it.
It could be fierce handy for the blind, too!
"However, many people have fallen in love with the all touch look of devices like the iPhone and the Storm and we can’t imagine they’d go for something like this."
Good article except this sentence seems a little premature considering the technology is clearly still in it's early stages.
"However, many people have fallen in love with the all touch look of devices like the iPhone and the Storm and we can’t imagine they’d go for something like this."Good article except this sentence seems a little premature considering the technology is clearly still in it's early stages.
Perhaps that's true. If they can work out a way to make it look seamless/no infringe upon the touchscreen look then it definitely has a chance.
I like the idea. They can take this alot further.
The question is though, how small can they make that airpump? And how energy efficient? I bet they'd go with some kind of replaceable CO2 cartridge, and that wouldn't be ideal for the consumer imo.
Why not just have the bottom of the "buttons" coated with a magnetic material and have small electromagnets under those that turn on when the button needs to be raised. The electrical diff when pushed would tell the device a button was pressed. A pump seems stupid.
Maybe so but a ton of people complain that typing with a touchscreen leaves too much room for error so this actually serves a purpose as opposed to warm up time which is just because people expect it.It could be fierce handy for the blind, too!
This could really benefit the visually handicapped by providing a method of producing a legitimate brail written screen. I could see this eventually find its way into regular monitors for that very function.
Why not just have the bottom of the "buttons" coated with a magnetic material and have small electromagnets under those that turn on when the button needs to be raised. The electrical diff when pushed would tell the device a button was pressed. A pump seems stupid.
Magnets + anything computer = a pretty big problem
Hold a good sized magnet up to your screen and you'll see why that wouldn't work.
boy if you thought it was bad when your battery blew up, just wait till your screen explodes from too much pressure,,,
superblahman123, do you even remotely realize how many magnets are in your computer? Don't comment on what you don't know.
Hey Jane, proof-read.
Hey Jane, proof-read.
wanna stop with this shit, i dont notice any errors, but thats also because i dont go looking for them like an asshole with extra time on my hands. if you dont like it, go read your new somewhere else
whil i have to agree that JesusBrian was a bit too harsh in his comments, a simple proof-read could have made this article look alot more professional.
For example, in this article the word "touchscreen" is written in two different ways : "touchscreen" and "touch-screen" but the two real ways to write the word is "touchscreen" or "touch screen" but never with a hyphen. And this is also true for alot of articles on Tom's not only Jane's.
Magnets + anything computer = a pretty big problemHold a good sized magnet up to your screen and you'll see why that wouldn't work.
Actually, you do it. Unless you have a CRT, your screen shouldn't do anything. LCD's don't respond to magnets because they don't work that way.
However, having a magnet close to a HDD, processor or motherboard i can see as a problem. Some sort of shielding would have to be in place.
I do agree though that an air pump sounds a little too complicated. Neat idea though.