Nokia’s newly unveiled patent filing shows us that the company is looking for a way to bring active bezels to phones and tablets. Basically the problem Finns want to solve comes in the form of accidental touches on the edge of screen, which number increases as our phones get bigger.
Nokia’s solution is to “react” to touch-based input only after the user presses down on part of the bezel with a force that would exceed a predetermined amount. This in turn would mark these touches as legit as opposed to accidental ones. Moreover, the software would acknowledge the input either by showing some visual indication or haptic feedback (or both). Here’s a snippet from the patent filing:
A force component of the touch input may be detected and compared to a predetermined force threshold. In cases in which the force component of the touch input exceeds the predetermined force threshold, user interaction with the content at that location may be enabled. In this way, the force exerted by the user in applying a touch input in the bezel area may be considered an indication of the user’s intent to interact with corresponding content within the bezel, and such interactions may be provided for accordingly.
It’s an interesting approach though unfortunately we’ve no idea when this technology will appear in Nokia smartphones and/or tablets. As usual, we’re hoping this will be a short wait. 😉
[Via: NokiaPowerUser]