Playstation phone using touchpads instead of thumbsticks?

Now that the Playstation phone is official (named the Zeus Z1, see the video under the post), we can talk about what it looks like. From the videos we can see that it's gonna have two upper triggers (L-trigger and R-trigger), the famous playstation D-Pad, the playstation buttons (X-[]-/-O), but most importantly, two thumbstick, the thing that everyone asked for from the playstation portable (PSP). But there is a catch. From what we've seen, it doesn't seem to stand out at all.

So, what are those thumbsticks? Well, from the looks of it, it seems like a touchpad instead. A touchpad with, not buttons, but with small centered ruggy "positionners" for your thumbs. Or is it those small round metal centers that are the touch pads?

Well, I'm wondering about the usability of those. Simple the thumbsticks are the most used parts in recent games, we can only hope that it's gonna be responsive like we're used to with playstation technology. Because we all know how responsive are touch screens for gaming...
(I mean, for "real" gaming). 

So what do you think? Are touch pads as good for your gaming needs as physical thumbsticks (analog sticks)?