Force field: Apple's pressure-based screens promise a world beyond cold glass (updated)

TPK Holding Co

10/09/2015 03:19

* New iPhone includes 3D Touch technology 
    * Not new technology, but Apple taking it forward 
    * Pressure-sensitive screens mimic feel of real buttons 
 
 (Recasts with new iPhone details) 
    By Jeremy Wagstaff and Michael Gold 
    SINGAPORE/TAIPEI, Sept 10 (Reuters) - By adding a more 
realistic sense of touch to its iPhone, Apple Inc  AAPL.O  may 
have conquered a technology that has long promised to take us 
beyond merely feeling the cold glass of our 
mobile device screens. 
    In its latest iPhones, Apple included what it calls 3D 
Touch, allowing users to interact more intuitively with 
their devices via a pressure-sensitive screen which mimics the 
feel and response of real buttons.  ID:nL1N11F1FD  
    In the long run, the force-sensitive technology also 
promises new or better applications, from more lifelike games 
and virtual reality to adding temperature, texture and sound to 
our screens. 
    "Force Touch is going to push the envelope of how we 
interact with our screens," says Joel Evans, vice president of 
mobile enablement at Mobiquity, a mobile consultancy. 
    The fresh iPhones, unveiled on Wednesday, incorporate a 
version of the Force Touch technology already in some Apple 
laptop touchpads and its watches. Apple also announced a stylus 
that includes pressure sensing technology. 
    As with previous forays, from touch screens to fingerprint 
sensors, Apple isn't the first with this technology, but by 
combining some existing innovations with its own, it could 
leverage its advantage of control over hardware, interface and 
the developers who could wrap Force Touch into its apps. 
    "Here we go again. Apple's done it with gyroscopes, 
accelerometers, they did it with pressure sensors, they've done 
it with compass, they've been great at expediting the adoption 
of these sensors," said Ali Foughi, CEO of US-based NextInput, 
which has its own technology, trademarked ForceTouch. "Apple is 
at the forefront." 
     
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    FACTBOX on touch technology, suppliers      ID:nL4N11G17S  
    BREAKINGVIEWS-iPhone upgrade                ID:nL1N11E1MY  
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    TOUCHY FEELY 
    Haptic technology - a tactile response to touching an 
interface - isn't new, even in mobile devices. Phones have long 
vibrated to alert users of incoming calls in silent mode, or 
when they touch an onscreen button. 
    But efforts to go beyond that have been limited. 
    BlackBerry  BB.TO  incorporated pressure sensing into its 
Storm phone in 2008. And Rob Lacroix, vice president of 
engineering at Immersion Corp  IMMR.O , said his company worked 
in 2012 with Fujitsu  6702.T  on the Raku-Raku Smartphone, an 
Android phone that could distinguish between a soft and firm 
touch to help users unfamiliar with handheld devices. 
    But most efforts have been hamstrung by either a poor 
understanding of the user's needs, or technical limitations. A 
vibrating buzz, for instance, has negative connotations, causing 
most people to turn off any vibration feature, says James Lewis, 
CEO of UK-based Redux, which has been working on similar touch 
technology for several years. 
    The technology powering vibrations is also primitive, he 
said, meaning there's a slight delay and a drain on the battery. 
Early versions of pressure-sensing technology also required a 
slight gap between screen and enclosure, leaving it vulnerable 
to the elements. 
    Apple seems to have solved such problems, experts said, 
judging from their trackpads and the Apple Watch. Indeed, the 
trackpad carries the same sensation of a physical click of its 
predecessors, but without the actual pad moving at all. 
    The result: In the short term, Force Touch may simply make 
interacting with a screen more like something we'd touch in real 
life - a light switch, say, or a physical keyboard. With Force 
Touch, the device should be able to tell not only whether we are 
pressing the screen, but how firmly. It should in turn respond 
with a sensation - not just a vibration, but with a click - even 
if that click is itself a trick of technology. 
    "What we're going to see initially is putting life back into 
dead display," said Redux's Lewis. "We just got used to the cold 
feel of glass." 
     
    HARD PRESSED 
    To be sure, mobile is not the first industry to flirt with 
haptics. 
    For example, for car drivers, Redux demonstrates a 
tablet-like display which creates the illusions of bumps and 
friction when you run your fingers over the glass, 
mimicking physical buttons and sliders so your eyes don't need 
to leave the road. 
    Mobiquity's technical adviser Robert McCarthy points to 
several potential uses of Apple's technology - measuring the 
force of touch when entering a password, say, to indicate how 
confident the user is of their selection, or keying in a numeric 
passcode using different pressure levels as an extra layer of 
security. 
    While Apple's adoption of the technology has awoken the 
mobile industry to its possibilities, it was pipped to the post 
by Chinese handset maker Huawei  HWT.UL , which this 
month unveiled one model with what it also tagged Force Touch 
technology. Pressing harder in a photo app, for example, 
allows you to zoom in on a picture without the usual two-finger 
spread. 
    Other manufacturers are exploring how to make touching a 
device more friendly, and more advanced, says Freddie Liu, CFO 
of Taiwan-based TPK Holding Co Ltd  3673.TW , an Apple supplier. 
    "This is just the beginning for Force Touch," he said. 
 
 (Reporting by Jeremy Wagstaff and Michael Gold, with additional 
reporting by Reiji Murai in TOKYO; Editing by Ian Geoghegan and 
Raju Gopalakrishnan) 
 ((jeremy.wagstaff@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: 
jeremy.wagstaff.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: TECH APPLE/TOUCH