14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is currently working on several new ways to improve its smartphones, and it could do that not necessarily by fitting better hardware under the hood of the device, but outside of it.
A project that Microsoft is developing together with the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria could bring us the very first case that can double as a secondary touchscreen, providing additional functionality that extends beyond the display of the phone.
Support for a wide array of new gestures
Called FlexCase, the case uses piezoelectric circuitry to detect all kinds of gestures, including presses, pinches, and flexes, which are more or less quick shortcuts to perform specific tasks. As Gizmodo notes, such a case creates a wide range of new features and can even allow you to manage clipboard content for easy pasting between apps.
“Touch and flex sensing can be combined to support a novel type of gestures, which we call Grip & Bend. We also describe the underlying technology and gesture sensing algorithms,” Microsoft explains in the description of the video that you can watch below.
“Numerous applications apply the interaction techniques in real-world examples, including enhanced e-paper reading and interaction, a new copy-and-paste metaphor, high degree of freedom 3D and 2D manipulation, and the ability to transfer content and support input between displays in a natural and flexible manner.”
It’s worth noting that this case is still in development stage, and this is one of the reasons you can see all those wires hanging outside, but if everything goes according to plan, who knows, maybe Microsoft could actually produce it at some point in the future.
Clearly, this would be one very clever way to enhance mobile interaction by offering more features outside the screen and providing users with functionality that’s not yet available on the devices that are already on the market.
