Researchers Develop New Tactile Technology That Could Enable a Pop-Up Keyboard on a Flat Smartphone Display

[ViktorEvil]

Looks like they might be on the same thing this startup was getting after almost 10 years ago. However this was a case that had a switch to activate the tactile keys on the screen protector.

thinking about how flat touch screen keyboards on phones has been the norm for almost 16 years makes me feel old as hell ☠️

I thought of this as soon as I read the article, wonder what stage the technology is at now

 

[Hugoma]

this looks disgusting

 

[testcard]

"...using miniaturized hydraulic pumps to raise the surface through fluid"
Fluid. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[mielie]

The end of the video with the technology being used on an actual iOS display is the most impressive.

This could breathe a new lease of life into the touchbar! hehehe

 

[genovelle]

Interesting, so much potential for the future!

God knows how long it's going to take Apple to implement this technology. From Apple's perspective, we are easily 10-15 years away from today.

In reality these types of technologies they pioneer. They have patents on similar technologies for raised keyboards etc on flat surfaces.

Apple Patent Filings: Creepy Haptic Feedback, a 'Jelly Roll' Battery and Desktop Mini

A trifecta of curious Apple patent applications filed through the U.S. PTO this morning, including one for a new haptic feedback system that would actually change the surface of a touchscreen device.

www.wired.com

 

[genovelle]

There are many who believe Apple doesn’t innovate with these kinds of technologies. In truth, they are creating the ideas in the first place. Apple had already applied for a patent a decade before. https://www.wired.com/2012/05/apple-patents-haptic-more/

 

[LV426]

My wife has a cheaper approach to providing haptics on the phone, TV remote etc. She simply leaves behind deposits from her sticky marmalade fingers.

 

[Tozovac]

I could see Apple introducing this in the iPhone 77 only to have Jony Ive’s grandson bravely remove it a few generations later when the grandchildren of the anti-bezelmongers complain about how much phone thickness is wasted by the bumps.

 

[downpour]

There is so much important research and development that needs to be done in the world. Why do people waste time and money on these kind on projects... that clearly aren't going to go anywhere?

 

[Kwikyy]

Would Apple try to claim it invented this like they claimed they invented multi-touch?

Apple has many times collaborated with Carnegie Mellon university, often for machine learning papers. The Mach-O kernel itself was made by them…

 

[andreyush]

Damn the smartphones have hit such a big plateau. They are really trying to reinvent the wheel just to keep the hype going.

 

[Motawa]

The Dydnamic Keyboard

 

[Pupi]

No glass = gimmicks with a screen easy to damage.

Glass is easy to damage. One good hard drop and it's in shards.

Durability is not really the most pro-glass argument there is. Damaged screens are the motor behind a whole industry of phone repair shops.

 

[jmgregory1]

This is in no way a usable technology for a smartphone. The fact that to make this work, you have to have a screen that is comprised of a rigid layer (of glass) that has holes cut into it so that the fluid used to create the buttons can flow into the flexible polymer layer that would be laminated to the glass layer. That lamination of polymer to glass is going to be stressed in ways that will undoubtably weaken the bond, and over time the button form would change. And any polymer that is stretched and relaxed millions of times will begin to weaken and/or discolor.

 

[JM]

Watergate made every first world problem a "gate"

And Bill is one BIG “Gate”(s)!

 

[beanbaguk]

Old news. This has been around for 10 years now.

Watch a ‘Physical’ Keyboard Rise Out of a Tablet Touchscreen (Video)

Tactus Technologies showed off a 7-inch Android tablet with a touch screen, that morphs into a “physical” keyboard on the screen so users can type quicker and more accurately. We first saw the Tactus Morphing Tactile display in an online demo in mid-2013, and now the company is ready to show off...

www.gottabemobile.com

 

[k1121j]

This would be cool on the inside of a watch band as an additional type of notification

 

[daveathall]

It could be used by business people to type while the phone is in a pocket, I know quite a few people who bemoan the demise Blackberry simply because of this feature. Someone said before about swype, well, it's unusable in a pocket. Some (not me) will make use of this feature.

 

[Jason2000]

Android - five years. 😆

But it will still take Apple doing it before it is done right.

 

[bgarnett]

Longevity issues are forefront in my mind, though it does make me think of another application, mobile dropping, Apple inflated screen to protect with mini airbags, crisis averted 😂

 

[CharlesShaw]

Future MR threads. Haptic Keyboard shows fingerprints: returned it! Recommend screen protector that works with Haptic Keyboard? Is this vibration normal on Haptic Keyboard?

 

[coffeemilktea]

Typing on some slimy bubbles? Sure sounds like the future to me.

 

[jdclifford]

Sounds like reusable “Bubble Wrap”. I think I’ll pass for now.

 

[VulchR]

Hydraulics and electronics ... not a good combination really.

 

[AbSoluTc]

No thanks. Hydraulic, bubbles, no. The longevity of such tech is not feasible. Everyone knows when something is expanded/shrunk/expanded/shrunk (braided solo loops anyone?) - they will stretch out and won't be the same.