Ignoring the sick jokes about rear touching, it seems that the PSP2 (and possibly PSPhone) rumour about having a rear touch pad has some grounds for belief due to a series of patents filed 13 months ago by SCE.
The touch pad obviously won't work for stuff where you need to 'point and touch', but could work for relative motions (ie FPS games or scrolling through menus).
Essentially, the typical laptop style touch pad, but on the back of the device.

- Source: [ITWorld]

I don't really like the sound of it. It doesn't seem easy and comfy to use.

it's an interesting idea. question is, will it be any good?

I think a rear touch pad could be usable.  With a front facing one, you can somewhat rest your finger on it.  But you typically have some fingers resting on the back of the PSP.  If they can make it reasonable (ie, you can touch the thing with your middle finger and rest your other fingers elsewhere without touching the pad) I think it could be invaluable for FPS lovers.  Could also be used as a more usable mouse (compared to the current use of the joystick).
Positioning would obviously be vital.  If you typically interact with the PSP using your thumbs, and pointer fingers on the trigger, the rear pad would need to suit the middle finger well.
Though I find for some rhythm games, I tend to press the front buttons with my pointer+middle finger, rather than thumbs.

(This post was last modified: 30/11/2010 03:20 AM by ZiNgA BuRgA.)

Looks like something that would enable quite easy copy + paste. I wonder how finger accuracy without seeing your fingers would work out... though it does seem like something someone could get used to.

When I use the touch pad on a laptop, I never watch my fingers...  After you use it enough, you know the relative dimensions of the thing.

(30/11/2010 03:28 AM)ZiNgA BuRgA Wrote:  When I use the touch pad on a laptop, I never watch my fingers...  After you use it enough, you know the relative dimensions of the thing.

Yeah that's what I thought. This could indeed be an interesting addition to the PSP2 - as long as it doesn't end up like a relatively pointless distraction (like SIXAXIS for PS3).

%^^Courage

rear touchpad,..   nice very nice! too!!