Gadgets (3039)

Apple's iGlove patent revealed

For iPhoners in cold climes

2 January 2009 13:59 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Good news for iPhone owners in colder climes, it's been revealed that Apple has previously filed a patent for what's effectively a pair of "iGloves".

Originally filed a day before the original iPhone's launch, the patent covers a means of using a multi-touch device with gloves.

Capacitive touchscreens like those on the iPhone are described as "problematic" in colder weather as they depend on the electrical response from a user's fingertips, which is blocked off when the user wears gloves.

Apple's idea would give gloves a second, inner layer, exposed on the fingertips, that is said to simulate the electrical feedback of human fingers.

Just a patent application for now, there's no word on a launch for the iGloves as yet.