Nokia Touch-screen, Tactile Response Interface Coming to Symbian S60

By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published October 16, 2007, 5:00 PM

At the Symbian Smartphone Show in London this morning, Nokia showed a video depicting a model with a screen larger than the one on its current N95, and without its pivoting thumb controls. This model was running applications on the Symbian S60 platform using a new touch-screen interface that was similar to Apple's iPhone in one respect, and dissimilar to it in another: It provides tactile feedback.

Nokia confirmed the development in a press release issued later in the day. "S60 touch user interface comes with support for tactile feedback," the company stated, "which means that there is a physical pulse and feedback when the user taps on the screen. This provides better awareness of the device's response improving the user experience."

Last July, Nokia licensed the VibeTonz tactile feedback technology from Immersion Technology. In recent months, that company has been actively campaigning for developers' interest, including the release of a developers' SDK for mobile phones. But perhaps not until now has there been any visual evidence that developers' work would culminate in a physical product on a viable platform.

Today's video contained no verbal information of any use, and may easily have been borrowed by an ad for pantyhose, life insurance, or pain reliever. It also lacked a timeframe for product development milestones.

A video demonstrating a Nokia S60 with a touch-screen, haptic feedback interface is demonstrated this morning at the Symbian Smartphone Show in London.

But in its literature today, Nokia says tactile feedback could dramatically improve the way users remember how to perform key functions, as well as how the application responds to user interaction. Conceivably, "Cancel" could feel different than any other touch on the screen; and a directive that makes something go could respond with a water-like ripple. It could also reduce an application's dependence upon sound or graphics to make its point or get the user's attention.

Comments

View comments by with a score of at least

Sad to see Nokia thinks the iPhone design is cool, because it is not.

We want knobs and buttons. We want to press a button without taking the phone out of the pocket. We want to feel buttons trough the cloths and fabrics of our clothes without even putting hands in the pockets.. Buttons are human. Touchscreens are not.

Touch screens are just a sad technology with greasy spots..

Score: 0

|

Cool or not, theres plenty of market for these kinds of toys.

Other than looking awesome cool playing with the touch screen, i fail to see the point. Especially when these things arent exactly cheap. However, i would take UNLOCKED Symbian based touch screen over some Apple LOCKED POS anyday.

Score: 0

|

wonder what chipset this will use. i see nothing wrong with having a dozen different options when it comes to touch screen phones if it raises the bar for everyone. SO BE IT. As far as I know, the iPhone doesn't have tactile feedback. bring on the 3G revolution. Bigger screens. Real features. Video. Audio. GPS. 3rd party apps. BRING IT!

Score: 0

|

yet another iPhone clone. yawn.........

Score: 0

|

yet another apple fanboy.

Its an improvement to something apple didnt put.

Score: 0

|

Funny that, seeing as the iPhone is a clone of other touch-screen phones.

Score: 0

|

Sounds like a great idea to me - don't know if it will be in practice of course. However if it is as good as it sounds then why wouldn't it be absorbed into the iPhone at some point in the future. Just because Apple didn't think of it doesn't make it a bad idea y'know.

Score: 0

|

Like? Exactly. Talking out your azz like always teatman. lol@trolltestman

Score: 0

|

iPhone already has tactile feedback. YAWN. Just another unimaginative clone. next...

Score: 0

|

LG Prada

Score: 0

|

I guess some of the first users of "knobs and buttons" must have sounded like Crispy777 too, considering something levers and pullies as human. the way people interface with the devices evolves with the techonology, thats human. Sure touchscreen has been slow to catch up with real buttons but thats because they always lacked this: Feedback. not anymore.

Bilal Zaheer
http://buzzzword.blogspot.com/

Score: 0

|

PDC 2009: What have we learned this week?

There was the freebie that no one will forget, the heebie-jeebies courtesy of Scott Guthrie, and a teensy bit clearer picture of how this cloud thingie should work.

Live report: Will Google Chrome OS change Linux?

The mysteries of just what Chrome OS is, and how much of an operating system it truly is, may be resolved today.

PDC 2009: Microsoft cares about Web browser performance

The effort to give users of the world's dominant Web browser the impression of quality, is a personal one for the man who leads that battle.

Nokia re-affirms its commitment to Symbian, sort of

Maemo won't necessarily be replacing Symbian in the Nokia N-Series, but that's definitely a place where it will be found.

E-book readers will be in short supply this holiday season

E-readers are hot this year, and a lot of compelling new products have been released, but are there enough electrophoretic displays to go around?

Sony looks to finally open a single storefront for downloads

Sony has had many different download portals for movies, music, e-books, and games, and now it's looking to make a single shop for all of it.

Tuning out the tablet: Time to give the endless speculation a rest

Wide Angle Zoom: Wishing and hoping and thinking and praying....won't put an iTablet on the market.

Five improvements for IT managers in 2010

If businesses are to improve their efficiency for next year, they need to stop and reassess the basic tenets of their job.

AOL's spinoff from Time Warner to shed 2,500 jobs

As AOL moves toward become an independent company again, it will cut nearly a third of its workforce.

Gartner: SMS-based money transfer will be bigger than mobile browsing, search

Gartner issues its predictions for the 10 things our phones will be doing in 2012.

Don't forget to upgrade to Firefox 3.6 beta 3 today

Mozilla has released the latest beta its Firefox 3.6 browser software, just over one week after beta 2.