It wasn’t long ago that we got a look under the hood of the unreleased BlackBerry 9550 Storm 2 (code-named Odin), revealing what’s believed to be piezoelectronic sensors that become pliable when an electrical current goes through them, but remain rigid when not powered. Although cool, it was a little tricky to determine why the new device would need something so elaborate. Well, after some additional fiddling with an early unit, apparently the screen clicking can be removed, resulting in a more traditional touchscreen smartphone experience. The option to disable clicking should be what differentiates SurePress from what has been called “TruePress”, and could easily be the clincher for many potential buyers, especially ones familiar with the original Storm’s screen.
Will and I actually got into a lengthy discussion about whether it was these four sensors that went squishy thanks to piezo technology, or if the screen itself went squishy to absorb taps before the pressure got to the buttons. The latter certainly rings a bell with RIM’s patent for a combined resistive/capactive touchscreen, although I’m more tempted to believe it would be easier to control clicking from the buttons themselves, rather than at the screen level.
Of course, there’s always the third distinct possibility that being able to to activate icons without clicking the screen is simply a bug from an in-development operating system. To judge for yourself, take a look at the short demo.
[RT @salomondrin]