The bezel of the iPad seems a little bit too thick, but that seems to have a reason. A new patent application shows Apple is experimenting on ways to implement a touch sensitive bezel to the iPad. Certain areas around the iPad can have specific tasks. For example, you can switch between several applications (multitasking?), but you could also control the volume of your music, zoom in or out and games.
Maybe the second or even the third version of the iPad has a touch sensitive bezel. Apple has to come up with some nice new features in their future updates of the iPad so this could be one of them. On the other hand, Apple often registers new patent applications without doing anything with them. This could be something we’ll never hear about ever again.
The patent application says the following:
“An electronic device has a display and has a touch sensitive bezel surrounding the display. Areas on the bezel are designated for controls used to operate the electronic device. Visual guides corresponding to the controls are displayed on the display adjacent the areas of the bezel designated for the controls. Touch data is generated by the bezel when a user touches an area of the bezel. The device determines which of the controls has been selected based on which designated area is associated with the touch data from the bezel. The device then initiates the determined control. The device can have a sensor for determining the orientation of the device. Based on the orientation, the device can alter the areas designated on the bezel for the controls and can alter the location of the visual guides for the display so that they match the altered areas on the bezel.”
There’s another patent application called “User Interface Gestures”. It describes contact with the screen with multiple fingers and the palm of the hand and sliding your fingers across the screen.
Source: Patently Apple
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