Exploring tapping with thumb input for flexible tablets

Abstract

Flexible displays offer new interaction techniques, such as bend gestures, but a little work has been done to support touch input, the most common input for handheld displays. In this paper, we explore touch input using the thumb of the holding hand, and compare it for different tapping tasks, between a flexible and a rigid tablet. We present initial design guidelines to use touch input with thumb in flexible devices. Our result suggests that users can perform tapping interaction using thumb input in both rigid and flexible devices with similar accuracy, and they prefer holding the display on the side or the bottom corner over the bottom center.

Augmenting bend gestures with pressure zones on flexible displays

“…Wagner et al's results suggest that participants significantly preferred bimanual taps (with the thumb) over other bimanual gestures. Riyadh explored tapping with the thumb of the holding hand on flexible tablets and found that users can efficiently interact with their thumb on both rigid and flexible devices [6]. He identifies a preference for holding the device on the center of the sides or the bottom corners (analogous with BiPad's findings).…”

“…This leverages Riyadh's findings in terms of hold position and touch targets [6]. We chose to use pressure sensors as a quick and inexpensive prototyping material, since flexible transparent touch sensors are currently difficult to find.…”

“…Our research goal is to reduce the amount of bends a prototype might have to support while keeping the directionality and tangibility bend gestures provide. To achieve that, we leverage recent work that found that users can efficiently interact with the thumb of the holding hand on both rigid and flexible devices [6]. Hence, we propose that the behavior of one gesture can be modified by using three pressure zones ( Figure 1).…”

An Exploration of In-Game Action Mappings with a Deformable Game Controller

“…They believe that the flexible film could be used as a lens that, when folded back, could reveal new information, apply photo effects, navigate in z-depth, or be used to create paper-like animation. Md Riyahd looked into tapping interaction done by the thumb of the holding hand of a device (Riyadh, 2014). They compared a rigid device to a flexible device and found that the accuracy of tapping interactions remained mostly constant between devices.…”