Haptic feedback on a smartphone touch screen

Friday, August 14, 2009


Over the last few weeks, I've had the chance to test a few devices that utilize various forms of haptic feedback when you're touching the screen to input data.
  • The BlackBerry Storm uses a "clickable" screen that acts like a button (SurePress technology). You have to press down on the screen like a large button to enter most of your data. This way, you're "sure" when you're entering data.
  • Several Windows Mobile devices use a tiny buzz/vibration each time you tap on the screen. This is something that is controlled via software, so you can customize it quite a bit. This feature is currently available on the Samsung Omnia and also on several HTC phones (through custom ROMs and TouchResponse over at XDA developers).
The Apple iPhone does not come with any haptic feedback. This feedback is probably most useful when you're typing on the screen. My guess is that future touch-screen devices will all incorporate some type of haptic feedback so that users can achieve a higher level of precision and efficiency when they type on the screen. I think it would be very fascinating to perform a study to evaluate the effects of haptic feedback on a touch screen. Would it improve accuracy and efficiency by 5%? 10%?

Comments

No response to “Haptic feedback on a smartphone touch screen”
Post a Comment | Post Comments (Atom)

Post a Comment

About Dr. Joseph Kim

My Photo
Dr. Joseph Kim is the founder of MedicalSmartphones.com, an independent website owned and operated by Dr. Kim. He is also the President of Medical Communications Media, Inc. (MCM). MCM is an education and publishing company that develops continuing medical education activities in joint sponsorship with medical universities, hospitals, and medical associations. Dr. Kim is a digital entrepreneur and technologist who has a passion for health information technology, mobile health, and social media. He frequently speaks at conferences about non-clinical careers for physicians, continuing medical education, mobile health technology, and social media in medicine. Dr. Kim holds a bachelor of science in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a doctorate of medicine from the University of Arkansas College of Medicine, and a master of public health from the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health.
View my complete profile

Popular Posts

Blog Widget by LinkWithin