BROMONT, Québec, May 17, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The new NexusTouch™ sensing and localized haptic platform from Boréas Technologies allows designers to expand touch-based user interfaces on the sides of smartphones and gaming phones. The platform enables seamless context-sensitive swipes, taps and clicks—all while delivering rich haptic feedback. Blending advanced gesture sensing with localized haptics, NexusTouch™ supports a range of new use cases, from finger-clicks that makes a smartphone feel like a DSLR camera to customizable trigger effects that replace mechanical toggles on a premium gaming phone.
NexusTouch™ also features dynamic virtual button-mapping, which allows manufacturers to replace traditional mechanical power and volume buttons with area-specific system functionality and tactile effects.
“One of the most promising advancements in smartphones is the rise of touch-based gesture interfaces, which let users ‘swipe’ to look around a panoramic scene or tap virtual ‘trigger points’ on the phone to engage in gameplay—all without the use of mechanical switches or buttons,” said James Hayward, principal analyst, IDTechEx. “While adding immeasurably to the phone’s user interface, existing gesture-sensing solutions are still limited by a lack of haptic feedback. Suppliers who can offer both capabilities in a single device will enable manufacturers to achieve greater product differentiation.”
Touch technology is evolving. Old-fashioned capacitive touch technology has forced users into mechanical switches and button pushes on the sides of the phone. Newer ultrasonic technology provides gesture detection, but not the sensory feedback. In contrast, NexusTouch™ piezoelectric sensor technology supports both manufacturer-customizable gestures, and intuitive, localized haptic effects—essential requirements of a satisfying user experience.
“The race for competitive advantage in smartphones is fierce—and the user interface is a vital part of that competition,” said Simon Chaput, founder and CEO, Boréas Technologies. “While manufacturers have tried replacing traditional buttons and switches with different sensor technologies for gesture detection, they’ve not caught on in the mainstream because all lack the reassuring physical sensations of haptic feedback. Our NexusTouch offers the best of both worlds, opening new real estate for the first time on the sides of the phone to advanced gesture detection with localized haptics.”
Core Technology
NexusTouch™ is based on Boréas CapDrive™ Technology, a patented, scalable high-voltage, low-power piezoelectric platform that enables high-definition (HD) haptic effects for a wide range of applications, from wearables and smartphones to automotive infotainment and next-generation safety applications. NexusTouch™ marks the introduction of gesture detection to the Boréas portfolio of user-interface technologies.
For More Information
Boréas today launched NexusTouch™ from its booth at the all-virtual Display Week Symposium and Seminar (May 17-21), presented by the Society for Information Display (SID).
For more information on Boréas NexusTouch™, including updates on the reference design (available Fall 2021), visit and subscribe at www.boreas.ca/nexustouch or email info@boreas.ca.
About Boréas Technologies
Boréas Technologies Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company commercializing product-differentiating piezo IC platforms in consumer and industrial markets. With origins in research conducted at Harvard University, Boréas was founded in 2016 in Bromont, Québec. Its proprietary CapDrive technology platform—on which the company’s ICs are based—is ideal for resource-constrained devices such as smartwatches, fitness trackers, smartphones, game controllers, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
Stay in touch with Boréas on LinkedIn, YouTube or visit us online: https://www.boreas.ca
The Boréas logo is a registered trademark, and CapDrive is a trademark of Boréas Technologies Inc. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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