[cageface]

I think the fundamental problem isn't one of emulation, it's the lack of any kind of tactile feedback. I write music software and there's a world of difference between a real knob on a synthesizer or a real piano key and any representation you put on a screen. Touchscreens have unique strengths and weaknesses.

[dolle]

I'm totally with you. After I've aquired a smartphone (HTC Desire), I've come to the conclusion that the only thing that touchscreens are good for is scrolling. I hate writing on it, I hate pushing buttons and links, I hate that the virtual objects that I interact with gets occluded by my fingers, I hate that I have to hold my phone in awkward ways so I don't accidentally "push" virtual "buttons". Many of these irritations stem from the fact that the interface has no tactile feedback, and does not respond to different levels of pressure (like ordinary buttons).

Touchscreens are a regression in user interfaces, and I hope that the future will bring a comeback of more tactile input devices, like keyboards.

[cageface]

I think touchscreens are going to become the cheap, ubiquitous, lowest-common-denominator interface for general tasks. But I agree that they're really not that interesting for anything more than browsing. You'll notice that most apps don't go far beyond basic tap, pan, swipe and pinch gestures because anything more complex is too awkward and error-prone. That leaves a lot of the expressive potential of the human hand untapped.

[mike-cardwell]

This is why I got a HTC Desire Z instead of a HTC Desire.