Code License:	GNU General Public License v3
Labels:	iphone, haptic, tactile, touch

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File-o-Feel-1.0.zip HapticKB-1.1.zip

Links:	Tactons Navizon GPS for iPhone
Blogs:	Malcolm Hall Eve Hoggan
Feeds:	Project Feeds

How to join?

Project owners:
	indiekiduk, evehoggan

Update: HapticKB does not intermittently crash on the latest iPhone firmware 1.1.4. Apple kindly fixed the problem.

iphone-haptics

Iphone-haptics is a project run by the Computing Science Department of the University of Glasgow, Scotland. Our aim with this web site is to publicly experiment with user interface design prototypes, implemented on the Apple iPhone utilising its built-in variable intensity actuator and multi-touch screen.

Why Haptics?

Current mobile device user interface elements are based on desktop widgets not originally intended for small screen finger-based interfaces. Given the dynamic nature of mobile environments, many interaction scenarios can arise and mobile UIs should be designed to accommodate these.

The term haptic, in general, refers to the sense of touch. Mobile devices can provide users with haptic feedback. Using recent devices, this feedback can be presented via a touchscreen by applying forces, vibrations or motion to the user’s fingertip. Our various different haptic UI concepts and widgets revolve around interaction afforded by fingertip controlled interfaces with an aim to revolutionise mobile device interaction design and escape traditional desktop designs haunting our mobiles today.

The majority of interaction on a mobile device is visual thus placing a huge demand on the users visual attention which can be dangerous in certain mobile situations or socially inappropriate in meetings for example. Furthermore, when interacting with a button - for example, with the fingertip - the image of the button is covered by the fingertip and therefore any visual feedback can go unnoticed.

By using haptic feedback, users can physically ‘feel’ their interface and any feedback provided thus reducing the visual demand and allowing for more socially appropriate and subtle interaction.

Prototype 1: Haptic Keyboard

Although the keyboards used on touchscreen devices are based on the original physical mobile keyboards, one important feature is lost: the buttons cannot provide the tactile response that physical buttons do when touched or clicked. Without the tactile feedback, users can only rely on audio and visual cues which can be ineffective in mobile applications.

One of the key features lost in touchscreen interaction is the ability to feel the buttons. For instance, although touchscreen keyboards are based on physical keyboard designs, they do not produce the natural haptic response which occurs when a button is touched. There have been recent studies into the use of mobile touchscreen devices and the incorporation of virtual tactile feedback with fingertip interaction (1). It has been shown that tactile feedback can be added to button presses using standard mobile phone vibrotactile actuators and can be beneficial to mobile device users, increasing typing speeds and reducing errors.

Prototype 2: T-Bars and File-o-Feel

Mobile device user interface elements tend to be based on desktop widgets that were not originally intended for small screen finger-based interfaces. Mobile scenarios afford different interactions from desktop scenarios, so should be designed accordingly. This prototype demonstrates a new type of widget, the T-Bar (tactile bar), designed specifically for finger-based touchscreen interfaces using tactile feedback. Through the addition of tactile feedback, the user’s fingertip is guided along the T-Bar until an item is successfully selected.

T-Bar Interface Widget

T-Bars 3 are user interface widgets that take on the role of buttons, named as such because they are both tactile and have a vibro-map shaped like the letter T, shown in a horizontal layout in the image below. Tactile feedback is most useful when used to enhance gestural interactions, we have designed an element where the fingertip is used to slide and activate, using tactile feedback to guide the user to a successful activation and make adjusting movements along the way. The slide movement is analysed and, if the length of the slide is above the threshold and the fingertip touches the top of the T-Bar, an activation event is triggered.

File-o-Feel

File-o-Feel 3 is a prototype T-Bar list interface based on the traditional file-o-fax/rolodex concept of a scrollable tab-divided collection of information. Most mobile UIs present catalogues of information in large scrollable lists; if there is a large amount of content to be displayed in the list, each index heading can be extremely small and difficult to select with the fingertip. Furthermore, the finger may often occlude the index text, making rapid lookup difficult or impossible. This type of interface was chosen for our prototype because it is typical of many mobile applications containing lists of items; for example, lists of songs in music players, emails in mail applications and contacts in address books. File-o-Feel (pictured below) is designed to utilise a vertical row of T-Bars. The horizontal edges of a vertical list of items can be felt, and by sliding along the edge the item may be opened to fill the display.

Left hand side shows File-o-Feel interface with T-Bar rows and left-to-right gesture. Right hand side shows two- finger gesture required to scroll through the list.

As T-Bars have been designed for touch interfaces and these increasingly support multi-touch functionality, the File-o-Feel interface also exploits multi-touch capabilities, allowing users to simultaneously use multiple fingers, rather than just one. File-o-Feel operates in two different modes, selection mode and scrolling mode. Scrolling mode is activated when the user places two fingers on the screen. File-o-Feel allows users to quickly scroll through the list of information using two fingers, whilst ‘feeling’ and interacting with the T-Bars can be accomplished with one finger in selection mode. This technique eliminates the need for traditional scrollbars, whilst continuing to support the traditional requirement for lists longer than the height of the screen, and also preventing problems that can occur with touchscreen lists when users intends to scroll but their touch triggers a selection event instead. In File-o-Feel the user can touch anywhere on the list whilst using two fingers without selecting anything, because ‘feel’ or selection mode is disabled. Then, using one finger, users can slide along the T-Bar of the item they wish to select. Here they will feel another tactile bump to indicate that the item has been selected successfully. Whilst traditional UIs have the concept of focus we deliberately ignore it. For example, if a button is pressed in a traditional interface only that button can receive movement events until the press is released once more. The concept of focus is not used in our interface so that users may start by selecting one item via its T-Bar and then move their finger to another T-Bar, without lifting it off the display.

File-o-Feel will soon be available for you to try.

Future iPhone Haptic Elements

We are continuing to develop new haptic interaction concepts for use with the iphone which enhance interaction with lists and a completely new interaction technique solely for fingertip interfaces. Stay tuned.

References

1. Hoggan, E, Brewster, S.A. and Johnston, J. Investigating the Effectiveness of Tactile Feedback for Mobile Touchscreens. In Proceedings of ACM CHI2008 (Florence, Italy). pdf

2. Brown, L. M. and Brewster, S. A. Multidimensional Tactons for Non-Visual Information Display in Mobile Devices. In Proc MobileHCI 2006, ACM Press (2006), 231 - 238.

3. Hall, M., Hoggan, E. and Brewster, S.A. r "T-Bars: Towards Tactile User Interfaces for Touchscreen Mobiles," in MobileHCI' 08, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2008. pdf

Contact Us

You can contact us by email. Our addresses are the project owner names in the top right box, and append @gmail.com

Disclaimer

Our applications use undocumented methods and as a result can be unstable, we have not damaged any iPhones ourselves but please be careful and use our software at your own risk. If the vibrations get "stuck" on, then run the application again and, on the next tap, they will stop. The long-term effects of continually using the vibration actuator in this way are not yet known, for example, battery life or vibrator failure. These should be investigated before making long-term use of this software.