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Next generation of tablets to feature tactile touch-back technology

When you touch the screen on an iPad or a smartphone, they all feel the same — like glass. The next generation of screen is going tactile […]

When you touch the screen on an iPad or a smartphone, they all feel the same — like glass. The next generation of screen is going tactile.


On this demonstration screen, asphalt feels rough. You feel nothing up and down on this corduroy image, but feel ridges sideways. The sandpaper image doesn’t quite feel like the sandpaper it is supposed to, but it is finer than the asphalt.

Touch feedback isn’t all that new in dashboards and appliances. But, so far, you need to plug these devices into a wall — or drain batteries like crazy — because they create the sensation with physical vibration. “They vibrate the entire device,” says Davis Rice from Senseg, “or the entire screen. Ours is done using electrostatic technology. So the entire screen is alive for very precisely located haptic effects.”

via Next generation of tablets to feature tactile touch-back technology | abc7news.com.

By Itamar Medeiros

Originally from Brazil, Itamar Medeiros currently lives in Germany, where he works as VP of Design Strategy at SAP and lecturer of Project Management for UX at the M.Sc. Usability Engineering at the Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences .

Working in the Information Technology industry since 1998, Itamar has helped truly global companies in multiple continents create great user experience through advocating Design and Innovation principles. During his 7 years in China, he promoted the User Experience Design discipline as User Experience Manager at Autodesk and Local Coordinator of the Interaction Design Association (IxDA) in Shanghai.

Itamar holds a MA in Design Practice from Northumbria University (Newcastle, UK), for which he received a Distinction Award for his thesis Creating Innovative Design Software Solutions within Collaborative/Distributed Design Environments.

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