Is there a material that increases size when a current is introduced? For a long time i have thought about the possibility of a touch screen that can actually change the shape of its surface, virtual buttons stick out slightly and actually depress… probably impossible, but i can dream.

Kind of neat in a proof-of-concept sort of way. Otherwise, useless.

I voted no. Not because new things frighten me, but because the constant vibration would be annoying. The "tick" sound it makes when a key press works fine though (and that can be turned off in preferences). Now if there was a way to make it just gently 'tick' with a gentle nudge, that'd be entirely different than the full-on "incoming call" buzz.

If it was vibrating while I typed it just means I'm going to drop it while texting one handed while driving.

shouldn't Internet be capitalized in "I don't care, I just enjoy expressing opinions on the internet!"?

@Accordion:
that's what piezo elements do (deflect under a current, and vice versa). i don't know if you could practically acheive a large enough deflection though, as piezo's are usually more suited to small and fast movements (as with buzzers) or harvesting energy from vibration.

i would like a program that allows landscape typing in text messages... like in the picture

Apple actually filed a patent application for a touch screen using tactile feedback to increase its usability.

[www.intomobile.com]

all this new-fangled technology is frightning, with the introduction of this new "electronic typewriter" device, soon mankind will be able to electrically send telegrams anywhere in the world instantaneously!

This would make more sense if the screen was pressure sensitive. The reason why buttons feel good is because we can rest our fingers on them without pressing them. We know that we have logged a key stroke both by seeing it on the screen and the tactile feedback of the button's movement. Right now it makes little sense to add it in the iPhone's current state (you touch the screen and it records the action), but it will make sense later down the line.

That guy is crazy about Sushi Ran...

does these vibrations allow you to type without looking?? No...it does not...

Haptic feedback when you've pressed a key is pleasant (all the talk of dropping the phone from the vibration is exaggerated), but not terribly useful. It helps to know that you've pressed a key, but a sound works just as well.

What the iPhone keyboard lacks and will never ever have--as was touched on by the first post--is actual shape. Real keys are shaped so you can find them with your fingertips. If you aren't dead-center, you can find it instantly through the sense of touch. Touch-screen keyboards register your first contact and have no feel to them, so it's much easier to make mistakes. It's up to the person to visually verify that they are in the right place up to the moment of contact, and it's up to the software to compensate for the inevitable and numerous errors.

Notice that the iPhone's touch keyboard is hailed as so clever and revolutionary based on features that are more or less in place to TRY and help it catch up to the ease of use of physical keys.

I had an LG Chocolate that vibrated every time you pressed touch sensitive buttons. It annoyed me a little, but freaked out anyone who borrowed my phone, to my amusement.

@EvilBit:

He's right, I used to be a pocket-pc person and using a touchscreen can be frustrating, especially when you are using a stylus or your fingernail, or if you are so bold, your actual fingertips.

I own an ipod touch and I have to say the keyboard is suprisingly accurate and sensing the letters I intended. I think the touchscreen software on apple products are great!

I feel sorry for the guy who had his fingers surgically altered for the iphone... does anyone remember that?

Also... does anyone with an iphone or an itouch catch themselves trying to "swipe" the scrollbar of PC laptops' touchpads thinking the page will go flying down like on an iphone? I do that alot now...

Maybe the time would be better spent on inventing a method which would eliminate the need to use a keyboard on a small device designed for one hand use???

Hmmm...voice, mic, if only something could just translate spoken words to text...hmmm

Its trying to make a voyager out of it. its a neat idea if you have tried it, but its a novelty for sure in the long run.

@naokigraphics:

Apple laptops have featured two finger scrolling… and i wish the ipod touch did that instead, if a page is still loading and your trying to scroll it somtimes registars a click…

"most iPhone users seem pretty used to the keyboard; it's not a major griping point"

ummmmm ... even if the iPhone keyboard caused one's fingers to fall off, it *still* wouldn't be a major griping point for most iPhone users

I care!! Although this is just a prototype it proves that we dont need specialist hardware to get tactile feedback. I've tried it out and its pretty nifty, subtle click feelings when you press the button and you can also run your fingers over all the buttons feeling the edges. I like the thought that I could send text messages without having to look at the screen so much. The project page says that research has shown that tactile feedback can increase your speed of typing.

just give me a keyboard in landscape for texting, bigger buttons, less mistakes, no need for feedback

The only use I can think of for that would be to put the iphone on your girlfriend and type her a "love letter"

wow so you take a dump on an idea, then ask our opinions of it. nice objectivity! your poll results outta be super accurate!

@mikeyboy: I never claimed to be objective, nor did I claim this poll was in any way scientific, hence the two joke options.

Has anyone touched an Apine head unit that has the pulse display? I seems a bit more refined than just a vibrate. Does it push back? From the description, it seems to.
[www.alpine-usa.com]

Nothing can beat the haptic response from the BMW iDrive. Now that's feedback.

hahahah

excellent, phoomp.

@Johnny Chimpo: It's the 21st century; internet is a common noun.

@Buran:

Admit it.....it frightens you. :D

The LG Voyager already does this. Yet another example of Apple bringing in a technology and claiming it as their own.

The haptic keyboard on the Voyager works very well and does exactly what it's supposed to.

@Aaron Eaton: Um, RTFA

This is not Apple's doing.

Ya the auto-correction based on surrounding keys could DEFINITELY be improved on the iPhone. I could care less about vibration feedback.

The horizontal keyboard would be nice, though.

@Adam Frucci:
you may not be objective, but you DO like being treated like an object, n'est pas?

If this haptic response were short and painful electronic shocks, I could see how that could be useful. But timid little vibrations? Not so much.

thanks but my older Nokia 770 and now 800 have it.

the LG Viewty has vibration feedback. i don't think it's part of the phone vibration unit though, it might be another type of vibration mechanism specifically for the feedback.

What I need with a touchscreen-phone is a visual feedback that I hit the right virtual button. That I touch the surface tell me my fingers.

I guess it depends on response time. I like the little "click" you get when pressing the keys as it is a near-instant response that what you did worked. I "type" more confidently when I hear the response. Obviously there's a visual clue too, but that means looking away from the keyboard.

If this thing responds instantly and the vibration is extremely short I can see it being useful. If the lag and decay makes it seem like one long vibration then that would be less useful.

Hmmm... Sushi ran in Sushi ran in Sushi ran in

I for one couldn't make the jump from my blackberry to an iphone. Simply can't type nearly as fast on a smooth piece of glass. That said, if the whole iphone vibrates when i touch the screen anywhere, it's not gonna help me much. But if you surf over to the product page, the "Fingertip-Over-Edge Event" looks interesting, and @Roopy, it MAY allow typing without looking at some point.

Give this technology some time, and it may land in your next 5G iPhone in a few years.

"tactical feedback"?

Or do you mean "tactile feedback"?

The "force feedback" needs to be localized to the area of the "button" you are pressing - otherwise having the entire damned iPhone vibrate makes no fucking sense!

Startac All The Way!

Haptic feedback is a good interface mechanism, but using vibration as feedback is not a good solution.

@Vagabum:

Its still been proven to be better than visual feedback alone. If you try the application, it feels more like a click than a vibration, its not the same as the vibration sensation when your phone rings.

This almost completely misses the point, which is that haptic feedback is supposed to let you know not only that you've pressed the button, but which button you've pushed. when i'm using the keyboard that takes up half the screen i don't need anything telling me that i'm pushing buttons.

Bought an Iphone...$500.00
Bought new recessed headphones for Iphone...$99.00
Finally, realizing that the Nokia N95 is a far superior phone...PRICELESS!

@Johnny Chimpo: Yes it should be capitalized. So what? Don't be The Jackass.

Simply vibrating is haptic. It needs to vibrate directly underneath the point of contact to register input. Unless they've replaced the iPhone screen, ain't gonna happen.

@Aaron Eaton: Wow, you need to get yourself on some talk show or something for your amazing ability to write while being completely illiterate!

Your unreasonable hatred for Apple is blinding you to the fact that Apple is in fact NOT doing this, but hey, I'm sure Steve Jobs kicked your puppy while you were out walking or something...

choice 3 for the win, i still have an old startac stashed away!

but i just returned an iPod touch, and i miss it so much that i'm buying a new one when the price drops come around....apple should build vibration into the iPod touch for the sole sake of haptic feedback....that and integration with the iChat handheld app that apple will hopefully release.