By David Ponce
The loudest opponents of touchscreen-only mobile phones have often cited the lack of tactile feedback as the main reason for their reluctance. We think that it’s a small price to pay for the added screen real-estate, but we see their point; somehow we’ve gotten used to the feel of buttons and we’re going to miss them now that the iPhone’s making them uncool. So, to address this “need”, Samsung is releasing the SCH-W559, the “world’s first” to utilize VibeTonz technology as a means of tactile feedback. In other words, with this touchscreen-only handset, every time you press on one of the screen’s buttons, the phone will shake or vibrate a little; how much and for how long is user-programmable. The shaking is meant to make it feel a little more like the real buttons are still there, though it better be some kind of special shaking to fool us into confusing it with the satisfying feel of a bumpy button underneath our thumbs.
Still, it’s an interesting concept that we’re likely to see more and more as button-less phones are getting more popular. Unfortunately for now, there’s no word on price or availability.
