VibeTonz extends tactile feedback way beyond the capabilities of your typical vibrating cell phone. With it, an application developer can independently control both vibration strength and frequency for what Immersion calls high-fidelity touch sensations.

So with VibeTonz, mobile games can deliver orchestrated touch feedback, for instance. It can also be used to provide tactile cues for touch-screen interfaces; enhance handset operation by pairing audio/visual with tactile cues for events such as a dropped call and ringing; or make alerts more discernible by varying how they feel—from a reverberating gong effect to a subtle tapping, according to Immersion

A developer enables haptic-based touch sensitively through the VibeTonz System software development kit (SDK) and a composition tool that addresses a handset-embedded haptic player, which tells the phone when and how much to vibrate. To create this level of control manufacturers must replace the usual "on/off" pager motor in a phone with Immersion's hardware and control software.

Under its license with Immersion, Nokia has the right to use the VibeTonz Mobile Player in any of its cell phones or smartphones sold worldwide. Immersion said it would supply its VibeTonz SDK to Nokia's Forum Nokia developer community for creating downloadable applications and content for VibeTonz-enabled products.

Nokia didn’t reveal which of its mobile phone or smartphone lines would integrate VibeTonz.

VibeTonz is already embedded in more than 4 million phones around the world.

It can be found, for example, in Samsung’s SCH-W559—the first mobile handset to use Immersion's VibeTonz system to provide tactile feedback for touch-screen interactions—and SGH-F700, as well as its SCH-n330 and SCH-a870. Verizon Wireless offered these last two in the U.S., with the former being the first VibeTonz-enabled device made available here.

LG, which signed up to be a Immersion licensee a little less than a year ago, doesn’t appear a VibeTonz-enabled handset yet