Here’s the best thing to come out of CES 2013 so far. A screen called the “Morphing tactile surface” from Tactus is the physical married with what was once a 2D experience. And it’s blown us away. Watch this vide, right now.
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Tactus is against “feedback” tech, such as the haptic vibration found in mostly every smartphone. Push a button, the phone vibrates. Tactus is having none of that. We’re going to try our best now to explain how the screen works, so bear with us.
The screen is between 0.75mm and 1mm thin and has “certain special properties”. A thin, dynamic microfluidic layer is pumped with fluid which takes the shape of whatever the internal controller tells it to be. This internal controller is governed by the devices software which in turn creates physical buttons. According to Tactus, button creation takes “less than a second” and any button array can be configured. This image shows how the screen will integrate with current tech.
There’s an insane amount of detail and tech innovation that goes into the screen of course, and for those who’d like to geek out to the nth degree, the whitepaper outlining Tactus’ innovation can be found here.
Implementing greatness
According to Tactus, the screen will replace existing touchscreen technologies, offers minimal power consumption and can be scaled to any size. Imagine this sick tech on a 80-inch 4K TV?
This single invention is the silver bullet we’ve waited for. The floodgates are now open, and Tactus is the way forward. Imagine being able to game correctly on a touchscreen device for once in our bloody lives. Controls can rise from the surface of the device, mimicking the feel of a gamepad. And when on a phone call, the screen can shape itself into a comfortable position for our poor, overheated ears. We’re exceptionally excited for this, and thankful that CES can deliver one true innovation in the midst of 4K TVs and ugly Chinese tablets.
