A new Samsung patent registered in 2014 shows an interesting new concept regarding touch controls. It appears that they intend to bring more touch actions to their Edge devices which involve the side and the back of the device.
The Galaxy S6 Edge and the Note 4 Edge brought forth a lot of interesting new actions based on their funky new design. The curved area of the display can display smart notifications and flash different colors based on who is calling you, and Samsung is going to take this design in a new direction. The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) recently published Samsung's patent which is actually very interesting if you take a closer look. There's no clear explanation on how the patent works but Samsung is basically experimenting with different grips and actions that could perform various actions. It's worth noting that the new grip involves your palm as well, not just your fingers, which is interesting.
There are many uses for such a patent, for instance using your fingers to swipe on the side of your screen could turn the volume up or down faster than any physical button, not to mention it would wear off much slower. Scrolling up or down should also be much more flexible and easier, but what's really interesting here is the potential for keyboard controls. Figure 12B of the patent shows an interesting concept where your palms are somehow involved in the process of typing, and the keyboard is rendered in the old style where one key represents three symbols. It could be that applying pressure on the side of the display makes the keyboard show up, whereas your thumbs are used to type. This leaves the rest of your fingers available for other controls on the back of your device.
In any case, it looks like an exciting concept and we could see it in production pretty soon, given that it was registered last year. What are your thoughts on the possibilities of this concept?
