[boovish]

I was looking around when I remembered about Tactus Technology (:: Tactus Technology ::) And I thought This would be perfect for a webOS phone.

[Remy X]

I was looking around when I remembered about Tactus Technology (:: Tactus Technology ::) And I thought This would be perfect for a webOS phone.

Perhaps for displaying braille, but for me personally that would be just creepy. Reminds me of the tactile "p*rnography" magazine for the blind: Braille p*rnographic magazine launched for the blind - Telegraph


However this would be perfect as the screen for the LG webOS TV's remote control....

For a regular mobile phone, i'd prefer the tactile screen that was written up in Time magazine (i'll need to find it), where vibration is used to make its surface feel rough, and electrical charge is used to make it feel wet, so it could display a variety of textures...

Edit:

Found it: The 50 Best Inventions - TIME (but don't bother clicking now, the quote below is all there is)

Finnish company Senseg's E-Sense technology enables users to not just touch pictures on screens but actually feel them. Tixels — or tactile pixels — simulate a host of textures, from dry and wet to rough and smooth, using electrical fields and vibrations. Theoretically, the interface could work on screens as small as a smart phone or as large as a movie screen.

Go here:
Senseg Technology*-*Senseg

[boovish]

The only problem is that it would consume lots of power in use. But that does sound really cool to have

[thricetwice]

this looks so sweet. I would love to have this.

[johnsonx42]

The only problem is that it would consume lots of power in use. But that does sound really cool to have

actually their white-paper claims only a tiny amount of power is needed to raise the buttons, and once raised they consume no additional power even when being used.

The big downside I see to this is that the button layout has to be pre-defined before manufacturing and can't be changed later. So multiple sized keyboard would be impossible, as would custom layouts. you can have multiple groups of buttons though which can be activated separately or together, so careful planning would allow both portrait and landscape layouts, and alternate reduced layouts like a dial-pad. But once manufactured, nothing could ever be changed.

[fxspec06]

The only problem is that it would consume lots of power in use. But that does sound really cool to have

yep. bye bye battery!