Now you can truly caress your magical Apple devices, tenderly rubbing them in ways only known to you and your lover, Ms. iPad. This patent shows a device enclosed in a touch-sensitive casing that allows users to access various features by touching non-traditional areas of the device. Yeah, I don’t know how this would work either.
Hand held devices with multiple touch sensing devices are disclosed. The touch sensing devices may for example be selected from touch panels, touch screens or touch sensitive housings
While I expect most devices to be very tactile and responsive in the future – that’s not hard to foresee. The real question is how tactile can you get without looking like a total freak.