Apple unveiled the Taptic Engine for the first time on the Apple Watch two years ago - released last year - and was used to send a pulse to those who own the watch from your friends or use it to sense alerts when it arrives. Over time, Apple adopted this technology in its other devices such as the Mac and most recently the iPhone 7. So let's take a closer look at this technology and what it can do.
A closer look at the Taptic Engine of the iPhone 7

When Apple wanted to use the click engine in the new iPhone, it had to remove the headphone jack to take advantage of the space it uses. With this, you can add a click engine to the device and make it waterproof.

Apple uses the click engine to sense the user that he has done the thing he wants by sending a reaction from the device, which is a simple shake that the user feels as if he touched him. What is its mechanism of action and what is the difference before and after its existence?


Pre-engine click.

Most smartphone manufacturers use a vibration motor called ERM, which is an acronym for Eccentric Rotating Mass, and its main function is to send vibrations for the user to feel.

The ERM motor is based on rotating at a very high speed, which makes it produce vibrations perpendicular to the axis of rotation. In the iPhone 5, for example, the vibration motor is located in the upper left and rotates horizontally. The vibrations are produced vertically, which makes them strong in places and weak in others (yellow arrow).

Before the iPhone 6, Apple used the ERM Vibration Drive for all devices, except for the iPhone 4S and iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. It used a motor that does the same function of converting electricity into kinetic energy, but with a completely different mechanism of action and bears the name LRA, which is an abbreviation of the Linear Resonant Actuator. Apple preferred the LRA over the ERM because it can deliver twice the power with less than half power.


Beyond the “Taptic Engine” ..

As we mentioned, the click engine main function is to notify the user that he has completed something. On the iPhone 7, Apple canceled the home button and replaced it with a dummy button. When you press the home button, the click engine simulates the feeling of being pressed. Meaning, if the phone is locked, you will not be able to press the Home button, because the click engine is not working.

Not only that, with iOS 10, Apple gave developers the opportunity to access the click engine through their applications. For example, it is possible when browsing an application that uses the Taptic Engine API, when reaching the end of the page, the user will feel as if he has bumped into something.


Apple did not allow developers the opportunity to use the Taptic Engine API before iOS 10 was officially released. For this, not many apps are using this engine yet.

What do you think of Apple's idea of ​​providing the Taptic Engine in the iPhone 7? Do you feel that it will add something new to the future of technology?

Sources:

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