The touch screen User Interface (UI) seemingly exploded onto the scene with the arrival of the iPhone and has since proliferated widely. Looking ahead, it is reasonable to ask what’s next in UIs? The answer may well be haptics.

Art Berman
Insight Media Consultant

According to part of the Wikipedia definition of haptics, the technology refers to a UI that is accomplished via the sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations and/or motions to the user. This mechanical stimulation may be used to assist in the creation of virtual objects (objects existing only in a computer simulation) and used for the control of such virtual objects.

The latest haptic news comes from Immersion Corporation (San Jose, CA, www.immersion.com), a developer and licensor of touch feedback technology. The company has announced the launch of the latest Samsung cell phone using their haptics technology, the first that lets users design their own haptic effects to personalize touch feedback.

Haptic feedback in the form of vibrations are utilized as a part of the phone’s UI. It is claimed that touch feedback makes the mobile phone user experience more sensory, intuitive, useful and fun. With it, users feel:

• Exhilarating force feedback in mobile games, similar to that found in console games.
• Unmistakable confirmation in response to touchscreen, keypad and button presses. As an example, when the volume of the radio is changed, the phone simulates both the sound and feel of the "clicks" on an old-style volume knob on a real radio.
• Unique caller IDs with distinct vibrations that reveal who is calling even when sound is turned off.

From its "My own haptic" menu, Haptic 2 lets users create personalized haptic effects through a graphical UI based on the conventions of Immersion’s VibeTonz Studio authoring tool for developers. Users touch and drag icons representing wave shape, duration and intensity to create distinctive vibration patterns. These creations let users personalize their phone with unique haptic experiences, such as assigning them as non-audible ringtones that signal incoming calls.

There are 22 kinds of vibration in total built into the phone. The accompanying illustrations indicate some of the types of touch feedback that can be produced with Immersion TouchSense technology. By combining effects, many more sensations are possible.

Craig Vachon, Immersion’s Vice President and General Manager, Mobility has stated that "These phones are cutting edge examples of a new wave of touch feedback innovations in consumer electronics. A user-definable haptic feedback system is a step toward a completely new type of user-generated content."

Starting in March 2008, Samsung used Korean TV, Web, and print ads to emphasize the first Haptic phone’s unique touch features, content, responsiveness and fun. The phone was a huge success. During the first quarter of 2008, 3.5 million VibeTonz-enabled phones shipped. In second quarter, the number doubled, increasing to 7 million units and, in the third quarter, the number increased to 10 million units. More than 30 million handsets with VibeTonz haptic technology have shipped around the world. Samsung has announced that the new Haptic 2, currently sold only in Korea and priced at approximately $600 for the 4 GB version and $690 for the 16 GB version, surpassed sales of 75,000 units in its first three weeks.

Is a customizable, haptic User Interface the wave of the future? You can be sure that Insight Media will be following developments and reporting back to readers of our publications.