IPhone Haptice Display Concept

Apple’s latest haptic display concept is really interesting. The idea of being able to provide a virtual texture on an iphone could make things as simple as dialing without looking possible.

The proposed solution is the adoption of “haptic” display technologies which allow for some tactile feedback from touch screen displays. Apple proposes including a grid of piezoelectronic actuators that can be activated on command. By fluctuating the frequency of these actuators, the user will “feel” different surfaces as their finger moves across it. As an example, a display could include a virtual click wheel which vibrates at a different frequency as the center. Users could easily sense the difference and use the click wheel without having to look at it.

link: Haptic Feedback, Fingerprint Identification, and RFID Tag Readers in Future iPhones? – Mac Rumors