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Predictive text and sensory-based technology put users in touch with navigation and usage.
As handsets become increasingly complex, as well as the applications and content they access, one of the industry's goals has been to make them easier to use despite their intricacy. One of the answers to the dilemma is to add even more complexity to the devices.
That may sound counterproductive, but that's what a number of technology companies have in mind. The goal is to use technology to diminish the effects of complexity.
A number of technologies address this ease-of-use issue, some that have been in use for a number of years and some either just emerging or still in development. Voice-dialing is a reasonably common approach. So is text prediction for SMS. Less common is the use of touch or even the integration of various input mechanisms - for instance, speech recognition, handwriting recognition and predictive texting.
Touch, using either haptics technology or biometrics, is making its way into handsets for a variety of purposes.
One is pure sensation, designed for gaming and to make messages more compelling. Silicon Valley's Immersion Corporation has a technology it calls "VibeTonz" that uses a motor in a phone that can add emotional touch sensations to a message, among them a "slap" or a "kiss." Samsung is expected to start shipping a phone by the end of the month using VibeTonz.
Immersion recently released a study it conducted that shows consumers...