New Apple Patent Hints of Cool ‘Squeeze’ Features for iPhone 5S, iPhone 6?
Apple reinvented the touch screen manipulation of mobile devices. Now a new patent application pointed to upcoming iPhone versions that will read users' commands via squeeze gestures.
First reported by Apple Insider, the patent gained approval on Tuesday, paving the way for future smartphones and other mobile devices from the tech giant that are able to interpret "quantified hand pressures."
Labelled by Apple as 'Sensing capacitance changes of a housing of an electronic device', this new feature would allow the conveyance of commands aside from usual tapping on touch-enabled phones, tablets or music players.
"By measuring the electrical characteristics of the housing, such as the housing's capacitance, the user's interaction with the housing can be measured in a manner that is independent of the user's electrical characteristics and/or in a manner that may allow the pressure applied to the housing to be quantified," Apple Insider quoted the patent as saying.
In practical application, phone owners can wake up their handsets or perform certain functions on the phone by simply squeezing its body with the specific commands determined by the amount of pressure applied.
For instance, while gripping the phone inside your pocket a soft squeeze would prompt the unit to read out your schedule for the day, delivered through a wired or wireless earpiece. A sequence of squeeze numbers would prod the phone to dial a certain number.
In theory, Apple is extending not only the manner of navigating through its devices but also its productivity potentials, also providing more avenues for Siri to be of assistance to iPhone users.
Sufficient amount of accuracy is included in the new Apple technology, using "a sensor to detect if you're actually holding the device and only then react to the pressure of your touch or grip," CNET said in a report.
Potentially, the new Apple patent will further streamline the future make of iPhone, eliminating the need for capacitive buttons or even screen icons to perform specific tasks, the same report added.
There is no certainty, however, that Apple is deploying this new feature to the upcoming iPhone 5S, budget iPhone, the iPhone 6 and two iPad versions that the company is expected to unleash in short successions starting Q3 2013.