BlackBerry Storm to Feature Haptic Keyboard

One of the most anticipated features rumoured to be making an appearance on the new BlackBerry Storm is the Haptic keyboard.

What Exactly is a Haptic Keyboard and Why do I Care?

Haptic feedback, often referred to as simply “haptics”, is the use of the sense of touch in a user interface design to provide information to an end user - source

So in the case of the new BlackBerry Storm, when you press on the screen it depresses inwards a small fraction - actually the whole screen is quite like a big button. A button press will provide immediate feedback - after pressing a button on the screen of the new Storm, you will hear an audible clicking sound and you will even feel a buzzing sensation in your finger where you actually pressed on the display.

So this means that when you press a button on the BlackBerry Storm, it will feel like more like a key and less like a piece of glass. This is in sharp contrast to the iphone keyboard which has no Haptic features and is widely acknowledged to be fiddly to use at best.

Much Easier to Write Emails with a Haptic Keyboard

Ask anyone who has ever tried to write an email using the iphone - they’ll tell you it takes some getting used to. Unlike the BlackBerry Storm, one of the big disadvantages of the iphone keyboard is that there is no Haptic feedback to help users type text and navigate around the multitude of menu systems.

So, the BlackBerry Storm’s touch keyboard looks certain to be the best one you’ll ever smear your grubby fingerprints on.