Old story that show how this could be used. I remembered seeing this before, wasn't sure it was apple. Actually a very cool idea as it allows manipulation without blocking the screen.
In other news, the best kept Apple secret in decades. The recently released Magic Mouse doubles as the next generation iPhone. It turns out if you just flip it over it's an iPhone on the other side.
What an enormous waste of time developing this idea is. The overwhelming majority of iPhones I have seen have various and sundry cases/covers on them to protect them and to keep them from slipping and winding up in pieces on the floor like one I saw at the cash register of the grocery store when a lady took it out and it slipped (no cover on it).
Why doesn't Steve focus on making the stupid thing more useful with things like a Flash implementation. (P.S. Steve lied. The iPhone does not deliver "all the internet" because of the lack of a Flash implementation. A great many web sites are unusable without Flash to navigate them and the number is growing all the time.) Better battery life would be good, too, as would a better screen and so on and so on.
What is a touch sensitive back gonna allow me to do? Unless you can flip it over and use it as a mouse somehow I don't really see the point.
Games could use back touch zones or swipe gestures for input.
Potentially you could touch-lock the iPhone so that there has to be touch on the back, in order for touch on the front to work. It could serve as alternative touching... like option-click, shift-click. Holding two fingers on the back, while touching one on the front could mean optional function.
You know.. all sorts of things.. Just run it through a couple of brainstorm sessions and come up with a long list of features it could offer.
I'm going out on a limb to say that a touch sensitive back on the tablet would be a BRILLIANT solution to the problem of text input. The Touch and the iPhone seem too small to make this work effectively, but pick up a small book and hold it in two hands, thumbs in front, fingers behind. You can move all of your fingers freely and comfortably while still maintaing a firm grasp on the book. With practice, I have no doubt that this could be as natural as a full size keyboard. It would constitute a new form of typing! Brilliant!
Of course, this sensitivity would be completely context dependent, and the screen could provide many different forms of visual feedback, and the back itself could have small ridges or dots to guide the fingers. Brilliant!
I'm astonished that I have not heard this discussed before. Seriously, pick up a small book and try it for yourself.
What an enormous waste of time developing this idea is. The overwhelming majority of iPhones I have seen have various and sundry cases/covers on them to protect them and to keep them from slipping and winding up in pieces on the floor like one I saw at the cash register of the grocery store when a lady took it out and it slipped (no cover on it).
I think you're wrong. A case can be to protect it when it's not in use, many "socks" of mobile phones are like that. You just pull the phone out of the case when you need it.
And it doesn't matter if cases exist for the earlier gen iphones, the new iphone doesn't necessarily have to fit in the old cases. Just look at the variety of size between the generations of iPod.
Maybe you can put iPhone on the desk screen down and use it as mouse replacement?
if after all the slagging of WebOs and every other platform on this forum, if Apple introduce gesture based menus, backswipes or anything like it you will have to laugh. Not that anyone here will. They will call it "innovation", and claim it for your own.
I think you're wrong. A case can be to protect it when it's not in use, many "socks" of mobile phones are like that. You just pull the phone out of the case when you need it.
And it doesn't matter if cases exist for the earlier gen iphones, the new iphone doesn't necessarily have to fit in the old cases. Just look at the variety of size between the generations of iPod.
You are, of course, entitled to your opinion, but I have seen too many of the slippery little devils "hit the deck" without some sort of cover in place.
As with all such things, there are priorities. I should think this should fall somewhere between the last and next to last priorities. There are far too many things that need be done to the iPhone to make it perform basic tasks better that should come way before anything like this.
Well, way too many forecasters becomes comic to some extent. But Apple's research in how to employ the back side of the device may mean further development of iPhone as gaming platform. The obvious major inconvenience with iPhone is controls have to be placed on the game screen of just 320x480 px.
I'm going out on a limb to say that a touch sensitive back on the tablet would be a BRILLIANT solution to the problem of text input. The Touch and the iPhone seem too small to make this work effectively, but pick up a small book and hold it in two hands, thumbs in front, fingers behind. You can move all of your fingers freely and comfortably while still maintaing a firm grasp on the book. With practice, I have no doubt that this could be as natural as a full size keyboard. It would constitute a new form of typing! Brilliant!
Of course, this sensitivity would be completely context dependent, and the screen could provide many different forms of visual feedback, and the back itself could have small ridges or dots to guide the fingers. Brilliant!
I'm astonished that I have not heard this discussed before. Seriously, pick up a small book and try it for yourself.
I have been thinking along the same lines. What if Apple offered a mode where we hold the device in portrait mode and we type on the back. I would expect more of a 'chord' typing on the back. For those who prefer on-screen typing that would work also.
The nice thing about holding it in two hands and typing is that the screen is the right width when in portrait mode. People wanted landscape email on the iphone for a larger keyboard but it ends up with no useful window to view the text. With a larger screen and portrait operation, you get both. You can use the keyboard on screen with thumb typing or use the back sensitive areas for chord typing. I bet the younger generation could switch to chord typing faster than a drop of a hat!
As for those who use a case, I think that the larger Slate, the chord locations could be cut out.
Well, way too many forecasters becomes comic to some extent. But Apple's research in how to employ the back side of the device may mean further development of iPhone as gaming platform. The obvious major inconvenience with iPhone is controls have to be placed on the game screen of just 320x480 px.
Nice idea. Would be nice to get some of the display back from the on-screen controls. Still, I?d rather see a gaming API so that proper portable gaming competition can ensue.
I'm going out on a limb to say that a touch sensitive back on the tablet would be a BRILLIANT solution to the problem of text input. The Touch and the iPhone seem too small to make this work effectively, but pick up a small book and hold it in two hands, thumbs in front, fingers behind. You can move all of your fingers freely and comfortably while still maintaing a firm grasp on the book. With practice, I have no doubt that this could be as natural as a full size keyboard. It would constitute a new form of typing! Brilliant!
Of course, this sensitivity would be completely context dependent, and the screen could provide many different forms of visual feedback, and the back itself could have small ridges or dots to guide the fingers. Brilliant!
I'm astonished that I have not heard this discussed before. Seriously, pick up a small book and try it for yourself.
This doesn't work for me. It would be very difficult to get used to typing while holding something with my hands in a non typing position. Besides, hitting "space" might cause you to drop it.
Well, way too many forecasters becomes comic to some extent. But Apple's research in how to employ the back side of the device may mean further development of iPhone as gaming platform. The obvious major inconvenience with iPhone is controls have to be placed on the game screen of just 320x480 px.
Input for gaming does make sense. Holding the phone in one hand and operating a small mouse pad with your index finger might work for other applications, including starting apps.
Still, I am seriously doubting we will see this any time soon.
Comments
Swiping the back to go back in navigation controllers will be cool.
Tapping the back to go home and removing the need for the home button will be cool.
Can't wait!
By magic-mouse like they mean Palm Pre-like? It already has a dedicated area for multi-touch gestures.
No, this is referring to touch on the back of the device, not under the screen.
As far as Pre style "touch area" goes, I doubt that Apple would ever do that. Why not just make the screen a few pixels taller and use that?
Old story that show how this could be used. I remembered seeing this before, wasn't sure it was apple. Actually a very cool idea as it allows manipulation without blocking the screen.
Why doesn't Steve focus on making the stupid thing more useful with things like a Flash implementation. (P.S. Steve lied. The iPhone does not deliver "all the internet" because of the lack of a Flash implementation. A great many web sites are unusable without Flash to navigate them and the number is growing all the time.) Better battery life would be good, too, as would a better screen and so on and so on.
What is a touch sensitive back gonna allow me to do? Unless you can flip it over and use it as a mouse somehow I don't really see the point.
Games could use back touch zones or swipe gestures for input.
Potentially you could touch-lock the iPhone so that there has to be touch on the back, in order for touch on the front to work. It could serve as alternative touching... like option-click, shift-click. Holding two fingers on the back, while touching one on the front could mean optional function.
You know.. all sorts of things.. Just run it through a couple of brainstorm sessions and come up with a long list of features it could offer.
Of course, this sensitivity would be completely context dependent, and the screen could provide many different forms of visual feedback, and the back itself could have small ridges or dots to guide the fingers. Brilliant!
I'm astonished that I have not heard this discussed before. Seriously, pick up a small book and try it for yourself.
What an enormous waste of time developing this idea is. The overwhelming majority of iPhones I have seen have various and sundry cases/covers on them to protect them and to keep them from slipping and winding up in pieces on the floor like one I saw at the cash register of the grocery store when a lady took it out and it slipped (no cover on it).
I think you're wrong. A case can be to protect it when it's not in use, many "socks" of mobile phones are like that. You just pull the phone out of the case when you need it.
And it doesn't matter if cases exist for the earlier gen iphones, the new iphone doesn't necessarily have to fit in the old cases. Just look at the variety of size between the generations of iPod.
AppleInsider is really on a roll with dishing out bullshit stories. A touch-sensitive backing? How stupid can they be to believe this shit???
Maybe you can put iPhone on the desk screen down and use it as mouse replacement?
Maybe you can put iPhone on the desk screen down and use it as mouse replacement?
if after all the slagging of WebOs and every other platform on this forum, if Apple introduce gesture based menus, backswipes or anything like it you will have to laugh. Not that anyone here will. They will call it "innovation", and claim it for your own.
I think you're wrong. A case can be to protect it when it's not in use, many "socks" of mobile phones are like that. You just pull the phone out of the case when you need it.
And it doesn't matter if cases exist for the earlier gen iphones, the new iphone doesn't necessarily have to fit in the old cases. Just look at the variety of size between the generations of iPod.
You are, of course, entitled to your opinion, but I have seen too many of the slippery little devils "hit the deck" without some sort of cover in place.
As with all such things, there are priorities. I should think this should fall somewhere between the last and next to last priorities. There are far too many things that need be done to the iPhone to make it perform basic tasks better that should come way before anything like this.
http://ces.cnet.com/8301-31045_1-10428131-269.html
I'm going out on a limb to say that a touch sensitive back on the tablet would be a BRILLIANT solution to the problem of text input. The Touch and the iPhone seem too small to make this work effectively, but pick up a small book and hold it in two hands, thumbs in front, fingers behind. You can move all of your fingers freely and comfortably while still maintaing a firm grasp on the book. With practice, I have no doubt that this could be as natural as a full size keyboard. It would constitute a new form of typing! Brilliant!
Of course, this sensitivity would be completely context dependent, and the screen could provide many different forms of visual feedback, and the back itself could have small ridges or dots to guide the fingers. Brilliant!
I'm astonished that I have not heard this discussed before. Seriously, pick up a small book and try it for yourself.
I have been thinking along the same lines. What if Apple offered a mode where we hold the device in portrait mode and we type on the back. I would expect more of a 'chord' typing on the back. For those who prefer on-screen typing that would work also.
The nice thing about holding it in two hands and typing is that the screen is the right width when in portrait mode. People wanted landscape email on the iphone for a larger keyboard but it ends up with no useful window to view the text. With a larger screen and portrait operation, you get both. You can use the keyboard on screen with thumb typing or use the back sensitive areas for chord typing. I bet the younger generation could switch to chord typing faster than a drop of a hat!
As for those who use a case, I think that the larger Slate, the chord locations could be cut out.
Well, way too many forecasters becomes comic to some extent. But Apple's research in how to employ the back side of the device may mean further development of iPhone as gaming platform. The obvious major inconvenience with iPhone is controls have to be placed on the game screen of just 320x480 px.
Nice idea. Would be nice to get some of the display back from the on-screen controls. Still, I?d rather see a gaming API so that proper portable gaming competition can ensue.
I'm going out on a limb to say that a touch sensitive back on the tablet would be a BRILLIANT solution to the problem of text input. The Touch and the iPhone seem too small to make this work effectively, but pick up a small book and hold it in two hands, thumbs in front, fingers behind. You can move all of your fingers freely and comfortably while still maintaing a firm grasp on the book. With practice, I have no doubt that this could be as natural as a full size keyboard. It would constitute a new form of typing! Brilliant!
Of course, this sensitivity would be completely context dependent, and the screen could provide many different forms of visual feedback, and the back itself could have small ridges or dots to guide the fingers. Brilliant!
I'm astonished that I have not heard this discussed before. Seriously, pick up a small book and try it for yourself.
This doesn't work for me. It would be very difficult to get used to typing while holding something with my hands in a non typing position. Besides, hitting "space" might cause you to drop it.
Well, way too many forecasters becomes comic to some extent. But Apple's research in how to employ the back side of the device may mean further development of iPhone as gaming platform. The obvious major inconvenience with iPhone is controls have to be placed on the game screen of just 320x480 px.
Input for gaming does make sense. Holding the phone in one hand and operating a small mouse pad with your index finger might work for other applications, including starting apps.
Still, I am seriously doubting we will see this any time soon.