Future Touch Screen Systems May Touch You Back

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Anyone remember those old Yakov Smirnoff jokes? The ones that involve the lead-off phrase “In Soviet Russia” followed by some reversal of the norm? Well, we’ve got a new one here, and the best part is, it’s actually happening. See, pretty soon, we’ll all be able to say “In Soviet Russia, touch screen pokes you!”. And we will mean it, and be able to prove it.

It’s a new line of haptic feedback technology, featuring touch screens that not only know when they’re being touched, but can respond accordingly. We’re all familiar with the phones that vibrate when they’re touched, but thanks to this new technology, the touch screens will be able to deliver vibrational feedback to the section of the screen that’s being touched.

What’s different about this version is the direction of vibration. Current touch screen vibration is lateral along the plane of the screen itself. The new version allows for vertical vibration, which will allow the screen to vibrate in and out. Thus, when you actually touch the screen under this new version, it will change the amount of surface area underneath your fingertip, making you believe you’re touching something with a totally different texture from coated glass.

There’s no word as yet when this new technology will make it onto marketable devices, but when it does, it will put a whole new dimension into your touch screen contact. Considering that people already widely use touch screen devices–from a variety of cell phones and tablets and beyond–it likely won’t bring people into the touch screen fold who aren’t already there, but it might help with individual devices getting that little extra marketing edge.

But what about you guys? Would you pick one device over another if it came with the new kind of haptic feedback? Or does this strike you as the kind of technology that’s really not good for much more than bragging rights? Either way, we want to hear from you, so head on down to the comments section and let us know what you think!