California-based Tactus has a solution to satisfy demands for both touchscreens and physical buttons-- "morphing tactile surface" technology making real buttons appear on a touchscreen.

The technology inflates "tixels" (Tactile Pixels) at specific areas of the screen with small amounts of fluid, forming squishy, tactile buttons. Once the buttons are disabled the display returns to conventional touchscreen form.

A CES 2013 demo has the technology integrated into a 7-inch Android tablet, but Tactus says the system is scalable to larger devices (such as TVs) and platforms.

First seen in 2012 in early prototype form at the Society for Information Display (SID) conference, the Tactus technology sees a number of improvements at CES 2013, including a glare-reducing coating, reduction in controller size and increased keyboard activation speed.

While still in early days, morphing tactile surfaces show plenty of potential. Tactus says it is already working with OEMs, and the production of devices carrying the technology should start production this year.

Watch Tactus Technology at CES 2013

Go Tactus Technology Announces Integrated 7-inch Tablet Demo at CES 2013