Sony Looking at Touchscreens, ‘Digital Tactile Pixels’
Sunday 29 June 2008 @ 7:27 am | By Chris 'Taco' MartinkovicIf you're new here and you like what you see, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed, and browse around for more fun stuff. Thanks for visiting!
Sony has filed for and received a US Patent for a “Hand-held device with touchscreen and digital tactile pixels.” The patent goes on to describe the device:
The device may comprise a case case having one or more major surfaces; a touch screen disposed on one of the major surfaces, the touch screen; a processor operably coupled to the touch screen; and one or more tactile pixels disposed proximate the touch screen.
Multiple surfaces with spaces for screens, one of which being a touchscreen? Sounds awfully similar to a certain other handheld device on the market. It’ll be interesting to see how Nintendo responds for the next time they announce a new handheld device.
[Joystiq]
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Abraham 'Velcor' Duarte
Amy Fairchild
Ben 'FBINinja' Schmidt
David 'KidKobun' Bruno
Ivan 'Nahu' Lozano
Random J
tskiller
Vekter
cough cough ripoff cough…
First they rip off the Wii’s motion controls, now this?
This won’t end well.
What the fuck is a tactile pixel? Sounds dirty.
It sounds more gimmicky than people originally though the touchscreen of the DS would be.
If it’s what I think it is (raised pixels?), I can’t see it having any sort of practical application.
… life (and gaming) is peanchy (spanish-speakers rejoice)
hahaha Khaim, I got it the second time I read it…orz.
… Tactile pixels are near the touch screen. But I touch the screen. Then, how can I feel tactile pixels?
Welcome to the world of marketing. When something does well it is bound to get copied, and the ds may be the most successful handheld in quite some time if not ever.
Putting all fanboyism aside, I think this could turn out really cool. Imagine taking all the good points of the ds(controls, dual screeens, etc.) and all the good points of the psp(better screens, better media formats, more pda-like capabilities). And take the fact that most of the best games for the ds are third party games with not huge console ties. You could basically end up with a handheld that has all the good characteristics and game series of both consoles with everything improved just to the fact that it would be a new release.
I think what the tactile pixels refer to is a system of indiviual haptic feedback. each pixel would have it’s own individual haptic feedback system. Their was a patent a while back for this each pixel has a raised and lowered position, so theoretically you could have textures or effects on the screen like ripples and other things.
This comming from the people who called the touchscreen a gimmick.
If copying is the sincerest form of flattery, does this mean that Sony is saying that the DS is superior to their own PSP?
I cant wait until E3 when Nintendo announces the new DS.