Mobiles Technology are on the move... All the Mobile Phone Manufactureres are trying to squeez in as many features and functions in one handset as possible and make it as economical as possible. A US Company by the name "Immersion" is now researching how you could replicate your touch feeling to the other person via your hand held.
Within a year you could be able to "touch" someone over your mobile phone. A US company called Immersion has adapted the sensory technology used in gamepads and joysticks to send physical sensations via a mobile. "We're thinking in terms of virtual touch," Immersion's Jeffrey Eid told BBC News Online. "Today you can't really physically touch someone across the Cell phone. With this technology you can."
The company has been talking to mobile manufacturers to build in touch into future phones. Good vibrations The system developed by Immersion is based on the force feedback technology commonly found in video game controllers.
The company has miniaturised the technology so that it fits inside a mobile. The technology works by making the phone vibrate in a number of ways. The vibration in today's mobiles is of a single strength and frequency. With Immersion's system, the strength and pitch of the vibrations can be controlled and varied.
Would you buy a touch technology mobile? Read what you had to say "The vibration in mobile phones today all feels the same," explained Mr Eid. "It is like a single note on a piano." "What we can do is play multiple notes or combine the notes to make them feel like chords." Play time The company has developed a prototype which it was demonstrating at the Consumer Electronics Show recently held in Las Vegas.
It showed how the technology could be used to bring games on mobiles to life. On a driving game, you could feel the engine vibrations, as well as the feeling of the car changing gears. On a shooting game, the phone provided different sensations when you were firing and reloading. "It delivers a much more compelling and fun experience," said Mr Eid, who is Vice-President of Consumer Markets at Immersion. "But we don't look at it as just a toy; it can do some things to enhance the interactivity of the phone itself." Say it with feeling Immersion has developed what it calls vibe-tones which are similar to ringtones.
But instead of a tune, the phone would play a range of vibrations which can be linked to a specific caller. It has also produced a series of vibrations designed to express emotion, which could be sent with a text message. A slap delivers a short, sharp buzz to the hand, while a high five is gentler and longer.
Immersion said the technology would add about a dollar to the cost of manufacturing a phone and could, in the future, be adapted for handheld computers. Mr Eid was reluctant to say which phone manufacturers are interested, but said phones with touch technology could be in the shops within a year.
