All articles tagged with #haptics
The article compares Logitech's MX Master 4 with Apple's Magic Mouse, highlighting the MX Master 4's new features like improved durability, quieter clicks, USB-C charging, and haptic feedback. While the MX Master 4 is technically superior and more customizable, the author prefers the Magic Mouse's intuitive touch controls and sleek design, making it a personal choice between advanced features and familiar, effortless gestures.
Razer has launched the Kishi Ultra, a versatile gaming controller that can be used with various devices including iPhone 15 series, Android smartphones, tablets, and PCs. It features Razer’s Sensa HD immersive haptics, which converts audio into haptic feedback, and is equipped with Chroma RGB lights. The controller is compatible with Android 12 or above and Windows 11, and requires the Razer Nexus app for operation. Additionally, Razer has also introduced a new version of its Kishi V2 with a USB-C port for iPhone 15 and Android. Both the Kishi Ultra and Kishi V2 are available for purchase at $150 and $99, respectively.
Google has rolled out the April 2024 update for the first-gen Pixel Watch, introducing new features such as haptic feedback for gestures on the watch face and improvements to auto brightness settings. The update, with build number TWD9.240405.001, is currently being rolled out to Pixel Watch owners and includes bug fixes and performance updates. Users can check for the OTA update in their watch's settings. It remains unclear whether the update includes the recently tested tracking app downloads feature, but it follows the March feature drop that brought pace training, heart zone training, and auto workout mode to the original Pixel Watch.
Razer has unveiled Project Esther, the world's first HD haptics gaming chair cushion at CES 2024, featuring 16 haptic actuators and ultra-low latency, compatible with most gaming chairs and offering automatic audio-to-HD haptics conversion. The cushion is the result of years of haptics development and utilizes technology from Interhaptics, providing a plug-and-play solution for an immersive gaming experience.
OnePlus has unveiled the OnePlus 12, featuring an upgraded vibration motor called the 'Bionic Vibration Motor Turbo,' surpassing the haptic capabilities of iPhones. The new motor offers higher vibration volume and bandwidth, faster start and stop speeds, and utilizes a new magnetic material called N54. The OnePlus 12 is thicker than its predecessor due to the larger motor and a massive 5,400mAh battery. The improved haptics aim to enhance the user experience in navigating the phone's UI and playing games.
The fourth beta of iOS 17.2 introduces the option to change the default notification sound and haptic feedback. Users can now select a sound for all incoming notifications, except for texts, mail alerts, and calendar alerts. Additionally, the default haptic feedback can be customized or reverted back to the previous version. This update is significant as Apple had not previously provided an interface for modifying the default notification sound.
Engineers from Beihang University and the City University of Hong Kong have developed a VR headset that can emit 30 different odors to its wearer, including coffee, mojito, pancakes, and ethanol. The headset uses small paraffin wax pads infused with scents that are heated by an attached electrode to release the scent. The technology aims to expand the range of haptics for VR users and could be used beyond gaming, including to enhance remote learning classrooms and help amnesic patients recall lost memories. The engineers aim to shrink the overall size of the odor generators to extend the longevity of the scents and limit the delay time when users switch between the odors.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a new technology that allows for dynamic interfaces on touchscreens, with the ability to create physical bulges in the screen for notifications and other signals. The technology, which uses embedded electroosmotic pumps for scalable shape displays, could have accessibility benefits for people with visual impairments. The researchers suggest the technology could also enable the return of keyboard physicality to touchscreen smartphones. While BlackBerry-maker RIM attempted something similar in 2008, the researchers' hydraulics-based haptics are much smaller and more versatile, potentially making them more useful.
Carnegie Mellon University's Future Interfaces Group has developed flat panel haptics, a technology that could replace physical keyboards with touchscreen ones. The technology uses embedded electroosmotic pumps to create pop-up buttons that measure almost five millimeters in height with enough pressure and rigidity to make them feel solid when pressed. The long-term goal is to implement this tech at a pixel level, so that keys can be any size and shape.
Researchers have found novel ways to induce eye blinks on demand in VR, which can be used to sneak small changes into a scene in useful ways. Humans experience a form of change blindness during blinks, which can be used to implement hand redirection and redirected walking imperceptibly. Triggering the menace reflex by simulating a fast-approaching object is a particularly suited method to induce blinks in VR. Leveraging eye blinks allows for even larger adjustments and changes to go unnoticed by the user.