How can tactile sensations improve the user experience?

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Since their development, smartphones have become an integral part of our daily life. Today, users rely on their phones for everything from talking to seeing. However, at times, people can’t effectively use their devices because they can’t feel that they’re supposed to.

It sounds weird, but what if we could feel things on our smartphones like we experience them when using our hands every day?

From birth, we begin to recognize things by how they feel when we touch them. As adults, we know how things are supposed to feel; we know the materials and textures through our sensation.

What if we could feel something on our smartphone screens?

As I discussed this topic with a few friends, several question came up. Why do we need this technology? How can it help improve the user experience?

Let’s explore some ways that tactile sensation can improve how we use smartphones.

Functional

These days, we make use of textures or sensation for everything from sandpaper and buttons to the groceries we shop for.

Now, what if we make the assumption that we can improve a mobile user experience by including sensations.

According to WHO.org, there are approximately 205 million visually impaired individuals in the world.

And it is important to improve accessibility for them. There haven’t been many improvements made for visually impaired people from Windows 95 to iOS; blind people still can’t really feel what they are supposed to. Adding tactile sensation to smartphones will help this population immensely.

Blind people would be able to read articles without using headphones or speaker. They would also be able to feel the beauty of images.

Since the creation of digital camera, the shooting button has had a large impact on user experience. When I got my first digital camera, the feature I loved the most was autofocus. I was able to press the button halfway to focus and press it fully to take a photo.

By adding tactile sensation to the camera app button on smartphones, the user could have a similar experience to taking photos with a digital camera.

Material

We learned how to walk, how to stand, how to touch, and how to grab something from our sensation. We experience and improve our sensation throughout our activities including sleeping, the material design is not just for Google design language, or animation principles, but materials can communicate to users.

The user can feel differences in levels when they drag and drop items, such as repositioning apps, or rescheduling events.

We already know how to use the keyboard, but using tactile sensations with the on-screen keyboard will improve typing speed and accurately.

We can bring analog game controller to our smartphones.

Delightful

I remember the teddy bear I had as a child, I spoke with him and loved to touch his soft fur. I played with him until I felt asleep, and because of the sensation of his softness, I was delighted. The tactile sensation would allow for delight to be included in the user experience. It could even surprise users.

Have you ever played with water? I have, and I love the sensation. Sliding one’s finger over the screen is like sliding a finger through the water. This allows users to know what they are doing and experience the touch feedback.

The tactile sensation can show us where we’re supposed to be, as every piece of land feels different.

But are we there yet?

Yes, there’s good news! This type of technology is already there, Big company such as Tesla, LG, and some tech firm are developing these type of screen. In the nearest future, I hope users will be able to experience tactile sensation on their mobile devices.