Module Idea( Back Touch Screen)

[Ryu Fitzgerald]

This is an idea that has to be done to  at least one of all module types.   This includes Speed, camera, battery ect...

Have a touch sensor on the back of all of these.  When you touch that spot on the module, it will act as if you touched the spot on the other side.  This is basically the sensor the PS Vita has on the back.  This way, you can press on the back of the device to manipulate the objects on the front screen.

[Ryu Fitzgerald]

[Tim Southwick]

It sounds like you mean rear touch panels (that can't display content themselves) to control the front panel, but I could be mistaken - I haven't used a PS Vita. I'm not sure how useful that would be for a device that already has a touchscreen on the front if it's configured to do exactly the same thing. However, if it is configured to perform a secondary action, such as instant long presses, then I imagine it could have many creative applications. My only other concern is the potentially lower precision of pressing from the back of a screen where you can't see your finger tips, but I imagine that since you are suggesting implementing technology already used on the PS Vita, that it works well enough in that case that it would be precise enough for some or many cases with Ara.

I believe one of the ideas the Ara team had was to provide a full touch screen (screen with touch capabilities) for rear modules, so that people could preview phones they wanted made for them. Perhaps rear touch control could be expanded for such configurations?

[Garrett Kinsman]

This is cool! Like really cool. I want one on a 2x2

I think it would be easy to do as well. You just custom design a flex fit against the inside of the module shell (preferably shielded from the electronics).  It would be thin as well so it could be added to almost any module.

I think the whole part might be a few cents if manufactured at scale. Here's a similar part used in old iPods:

(Howstuffworks.com)  

I think its just a two layer flex cable, which is super cheap to make. I don't know much about the control electronics but I assume they are quite cheap and small.

Anyone know how the EE would be implemented?

[Garrett Kinsman]

Okay you've sparked my curiosity. Here is the panel for the Vita (via Ifixit)

And the control circuits I was not sure about in the previous post:

This would all easily fit in a module and could likely be made much smaller. All this with plenty of room for a regular fully functioning module. Total cost? My guess is maybe two dollars to add your touch panel to a module at scale. 

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/PlayStation+Vita+Teardown/7872

Now that we got the problem of manufacturing and a EE out of the way, anyone know how to implement the software for something like this?