Immersion Corporation, the company that pioneered haptic feedback in gaming controllers and cellphones, is pushing two new haptics technologies for cell phones. The Wall Street Journal reports:
At D7, the company will reveal two of its newest technologies: TouchSense for touchscreen keyboards and Immersive Messaging. With TouchSense, the user is not only supposed to be able to get haptic feedback, but can also feel the virtual keys. Immersive Messaging will also use haptic feedback, as well as gesture recognition, to send messages that employ physical senses rather than text.
Immersion’s website explains:
Mobile handset users want a high touch experience with the one device they carry with them all the time. That’s why OEMs, network operators, and content developers are using Immersion haptic technologies to make the user experience more effective and engaging.
I’m not sure how more vibrations from my phone makes the experience more engaging. Most of my time is spent reading emails, listening to music, watching videos, etc. I could only really see game apps benefiting from this.
Reporter Wolfgang Gruener weighs in as well:
The success of texting lies in its simplicity. Adding tactile feedback and countless new ways how to hold and move your phone isn’t exactly simple. In 2002, Immersion had come up with a concept to translate certain sounds into vibrations – and claimed that users would be able to perceive happy and angry vibrations. We all know where this idea has ended up. Immersive messaging looks like such a dead end as well.
