Touchscreens to get finger friendly

Haptic humping points the way

Haptic technologies are so advanced these days that we will soon see feel touchscreen displays make physical buttons appear and disappear when needed.

Well, those are the claims of Tactus Technology, which has such a product in the works that it hopes to see fitted in devices as early as next year.

The company utilises microfluidic technology to create a "tactile layer", able to make buttons rise when called upon. Gobsmacking.

This means we might see handsets that utilise both a huge touchscreen, as well as physical buttons which use haptic feedback to give the feeling they are actually being pressed. Perhaps we'll see a reinvigoration of physical Qwerty phones going forward.

The tech was on show at industry exhibition SID Display Week 2012 in Boston this week. Check out the demonstration video below.

Earlier this year special haptic technologies were said to be fitted in Apple's upcoming iPad, rumours that turned out to be wide of the mark.

However with such concepts fast becoming a viable option, future developments in touchscreen tech will soon be at our fingertips. ®