A software named ForcePhone gives any mobile device, such as smartphones, pressure sensitivity — a feature that bears similarity to what is found on Apple's latest flagship handset, the iPhone 6s.
The new system, built by engineers from the University of Michigan, could give any phone the ability to sense pressure or force on its body or screen.
Computer science professor Kang Shin said that making any smartphone pressure-sensitive does not require built-in sensors or a special screen to do so.
“ForcePhone increases the vocabulary between the phone and the user,” said Shin.
Shin developed ForcePhone with doctoral student Yu-Chih Tung.
How ForcePhone Works
The software makes use of a phone’s speaker and microphone for it to work.
ForcePhone makes the smartphone emit 18 kHz buzz in a continuous manner. While human ears can’t hear the tone, the device’s microphone can detect it.
Pressing the phone’s screen or squeezing the handset’s body will change the pitch. The mic can pick it up and the software will then translate it into commands.
“Having expensive and bulky sensors installed into smartphones can solve every problem we have solved, but the added cost and laborious installation prevent phone manufacturers from doing it," said Tung.
He went on to say that their created solution can fill this gap, offering the coveted feature without modifying any hardware.
“Everything is just software,” he added.
Tung revealed that, somehow, their creation was partly inspired by The Dark Knight, a Batman movie released in 2008. In the said film, Batman transforms all the phones within Gotham City into a sonar system.
The people behind this nifty software will showcase their system at MobiSys 2016 in Singapore from June 27 through 29.
This software, though, is not ready for public release yet. In any case, this would definitely be a welcome treat for mobile device users.
In the near future, even less expensive smartphones will soon have a pressure-sensitive screen and body so users can make commands simply by squeezing or pressing their phones.
