Multi-Touch Screens

[Kangal]

I've heard that multi-touch enabled resistive screens are out/coming.
I always thought resistive screens were better than capacitative screens in all aspects excpet multi-touch and accuracy.

Both are Asus netbooks here is the T101MT and here is the T91 (jump to 19sec for demo).

So What are the advantages/disadvantages between multi-touch resistive and capacitative screens?

Accuracy?
Responsiveness?
Distinction? (eg if i pressed the screen with 2 styli at opposite ends and brought them closer, which screen will allow the closest point where both cursors meet)
Flexibility? (capac=finger of special stylus) (resis=most objects)
Feel? (ie surface has to be plastic or glass, fingerprints?)
Price?

I know no-one has particularily tried it, but any usefull input is much appreciated :lol: !
1+ to Awakening for informing me !

 

[zhasha]

Multi touch resistive screens are relatively easy to make using TouchCo's technology. Note that TouchCo was recently acquired by amazon for use on the Kindle. Resistive has the advantage of higher resolution, object distinction, they can be made transparent AND flexible, and they're extremely cheap. Plus you can literally make one yourself with the right materials.

 

[SNESFAN]

I've always been a fan of capacitive touch screens. I've owned both resistive and capacitive touch screen devices and capacitive touch ones are just more accurate when using your finger. I've had nothing but problems with finger navigation accuracy with resistive touch screens in the past, and I'm not a huge fan of a stylus on handhelds. Tablets... maybe, something that is going to live in my pocket... no thank you.

Resistive touch screens also don't feel as sturdy, and have to flex to an extent because of the nature of the technology. Both can be glass I believe, but the resistive touch has to have the flexible outside layer that touches the glass lcd. This flexible material is more prone to scratches than glass outsides.

Capacitive touch can have the outermost layer be a tempered glass witch can be extremely scratch resistant (unlike "scratch resistant" marketing mumbo jumbo on resistive touch screens and some hard plastic capacitive touch ones)

I've had very responsive resistive touch screens and somewhat lacking responsiveness capacitive touch screens. But I can also say the exact opposite, I think this part depends mostly on the other hardware, software, and the actual manufacturer of the screen, not the technology as a whole for the bottleneck. I do have to say I've honestly seen more responsive capacitive touch screen devices than I have with resistive, what exactly that is dependent on is a mystery to me.

I did read an article recently on the accuracy of fluid(ity?) of movement and gestures based on different hardware and software used and the "smoothing" algorithm used to reduce some of the accuracy when doing certain gestures and movements across the screen. It didn't specify if the problem was hardware or software related, they didn't use 2 different os's on the same hardware, but they were comparing the droid, palm pre, iphone, and nexus one. All with capacitive touch screens from different manufacturers and different OS software (except the droid and nexus one) the iphone won, but it didn't specify where the problem was... could be any one or many variables. I'm guessing it depends on the actual hardware chosen for a certain device. But I'm anxiously awaiting to be proven wrong. As I like the idea that a firmware update, or custom firmware could "fix" the screen performance of some of these devices.

My opinion is that with the current technology as it is today capacitive multi touch screens are just better, and the cost probably reflect that, but I don't know about that so much anymore, devices with such screens are getting cheaper and cheaper.

EDIT: and glass is more fingerprint prone, touch your monitor (if it's lcd) now touch your window... which one shows fingerprints more?

 

[PhonicUK]

Resistive, because I want to use my fingernail or something that isn't my skin.

 

[SNESFAN]

Move to off-topic?

well the screen might change in pandora v2, it could be mildly pandora related.

 

[Awakening]

I know no-one has particularily tried it, but any usefull input is much appreciated :lol: !
1+ to Awakening for informing me !

I didn't think anybody noticed

There are capacitive styli these days right? Otherwise that would be one reason to go resistive.

The main reason I would prefer a resistive screen is the multiple levels of pressure, that is so nice when drawing stuff.

I would also assume that the plastic resistive screen doesn't break as easily as those glass screens, which is something I would prefer on any device, especially when they are small mobile devices and pretty much covered by the screen.

 

[mali]

There are capacitive styli these days right?

.

 

[zhasha]

I would also assume that the plastic resistive screen doesn't break as easily as those glass screens, which is something I would prefer on any device, especially when they are small mobile devices and pretty much covered by the screen.

They're probably about the same. With a capacitive screen the upper layer is glass and might break, but with a multi-touch resistive overlay, the actual screen is more at risk unless you protect it with something exceptionally hard.
The main reason to go resistive would be if you want things like object recognition. Capacitive multi-touch screens only really detect points, not "touches". A resistive multi-touch screen can however, produce an image of the pressure applied to the screen.
The most obvious drawback to capacitive touch screens is that they only detect objects with parasitic capacitance. Another, less obvious one is that they're actually quite hard to produce and expensive in comparison to resistive.

 

[lulzfish]

EDIT: and glass is more fingerprint prone, touch your monitor (if it's lcd) now touch your window... which one shows fingerprints more?

Now there's a fingerprint on my monitor in addition to all the dust and LCD cleaner streaks. Thanks a lot.

 

[may88]

I tried to vote but it would not take it and now I have finger prints all over my monitor.


edit: Just once I'd like to proof read my comments and still not have to correct them later.

 

[Consequence_9]

I've heard that multi-touch enabled resistive screens are out/coming.
I always thought resistive screens were better than capacitative screens in all aspects excpet multi-touch and accuracy.

Both are Asus netbooks here is the T101MT and here is the T91 (jump to 19sec for demo).

So What are the advantages/disadvantages between multi-touch resistive and capacitative screens?

Accuracy?
Responsiveness?
Distinction? (eg if i pressed the screen with 2 styli at opposite ends and brought them closer, which screen will allow the closest point where both cursors meet)
Flexibility? (capac=finger of special stylus) (resis=most objects)
Feel? (ie surface has to be plastic or glass, fingerprints?)
Price?

I know no-one has particularily tried it, but any useful input is much appreciated :lol: !
1+ to Awakening for informing me !

I'm posting from my new eee T91MT right now (which is resistive multi-touch as you said) and I've got a palm pre plus (which is capacitive) so I'll do a quick run-down for ya.

Accuracy - As a rule of thumb resistive touch displays are more accurate, and the t91mt's is no exception. Using touch to browse the web is quite satisfying, but the experience varies depending on the site. For example - browsing the forums is much easier on a resistive screen. Hitting a specific page button can be a pain on a capacitive screen (usually I have to zoom way in to hit it accurately), but on resistive you don't have to worry much. However, I find that sites requiring a lot of scrolling (such as engadget) are far better suited to a capacitive screen.

Responsiveness - Flicking & scroll-stopping are much more responsive on a capacitive screen. I've got one of the grab & drag plugins installed for firefox & while it helps it's still nowhere near as nice as on the pre. Most of the time it's easier just to use the scroll-bar with the stylus for scrolling. Resistive screens in general I find are less responsive than capacitive. In paint the cursor lag is especially noticeable (although it may just be the program), which isn't very pleasant when trying to take notes, etc. The T91MT's screen in particular is generally very good though. It takes a lot less pressure to register a touch compared to other resistive screens (and is actually pressure sensitive as well) which is very nice. Still takes more pressure than you'd use with a capacitive, but that's obvious because capacitive screens aren't pressure-based.

Distinction - Capacitive wins this one hands down. It could be a software thing, but I feel that capacitive screens track two points in close proximity much better than the resistive one. In paint (on the eee) pinching apart yields about a half-centimeter gap between the two points and pinching together yields almost a centimeter gap. This is once again related to the method each type of screen uses to detect points.

Flexibility - Pretty much answered this one on yer own. With capacitive you are limited to using your finger, a special (crappy) stylus or special gloves. With resistive you can pretty much use anything with an edge. The T91MT's screen in particular though is much more finger friendly than normal ones. I have no trouble scrolling pages & hitting [most] buttons with the pad of my finger (and for those smaller buttons a nail works great).

Feel - Assuming you mean feel when using the pad of a finger, capacitive takes the cake here. Few things beat the feel of the pre's screen. It is extremely satisfying to the touch & I find myself fondling it just for the sake of fondling it. Using a pad on a resistive screen is significantly less satisfying; It feels similar to an old track-pad. Capacitive screens generally are easier to drag your finger along. It's not bad per se, but it's not as good as capacitives feel. The eee screen feels significantly better than most other resistive ones however (it's got a smoother finish).

Price - I don't really know how to answer this. Price of devices using them or prices of the screens themselves?

anyway, that's my summary, hope that helps (ur lucky I'm so bored ;P)