PhIxDA Automagically

News of the Backberry Storm came out over a month ago now, but I’ve been too swamped to write anything.

When RIM announced that the Blackberry Storm’s touchscreen provides tactile feedback they raised my hopes and dashed them quite expertly (I explain further down). It turns out, the feedback they call “ClickThrough” was designed because RIM’s co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said he can’t type on a piece of glass.

The short story is they use two different sensor layers. The top layer senses light touches for gestures like scrolling. The bottom layer senses heavier touches like pressing a button. When the user “clicks” a button on the screen they actually have to push through the top layer to activate the bottom sensor which gives the screen a click feeling.

RIM accomplished their goal of separating navigation from confirmation on a touchscreen. I think this is a good next step for evolving the touchscreen experience, and I commend RIM for their efforts, but I think the separation can be handled more gracefully. you know, without denting screens.

I think Apple might have found that graceful solution. The new MacBook improved its trackpad by replacing the button with extra touch area and mounted the whole thing on to a button, allowing the user to click anywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this design show up in the next iPhone.

The feedback I was hoping for is a small “tick” and “thump”. As the user glides a finger over a button or other interactive artifact the device will respond with a “tick” provided by a quick pulse of a vibrator motor as notification of a hover. When the user applies more pressure to click an artifact the device will respond with a “thump” from another motor.

I will end with, every step forward is a good step.