Touch Screen Reliability

[Mloren]

The Nintendo DS was reasonably infamous for having a touch screen that would lose calibration after strenuous use. I know mine now is practically useless, even after recalibrating it, it still doesn't work properly.

I was wondering how well the Pandora's touch screen goes in similar situations. Has anyone put to through some serious stress tests?
Elite Beat Agents was what killed my DS. Sharp jabbing at the screen for hours every day.

Actually this could make a cool video, like if a pandora was set up with some kind of mechanized hand holding the pointer and jabbing at the screen non stop for a few days... mmmm robots... is there anything they cant do?

 

[Nintendo]

WTF? Do you have a DS phat?

 

[Tokiopop]

WTF? Do you have a DS phat?

Why the fat? All DS's have that problem. Half the time you actually need to take the thing apart, peel the touch part off the screen, clean it, and stick it back on then recalibrate it about 5 times.

 

[ThaDSman]

I've had my DSlite for a couple of years now, and I've never had a problem with my touchscreen(I just had to calibrate it once and thats when I first bought it), I would say I used it heavily with both commercial roms and homebrew roms, maybe you stab the crap out of it and that's why it needs to be re-calibrated.

Or maybe you wanna see some sick disturbing test like this one
It nearly gave me a heart attack the first time I saw it

 

[Nintendo]

I've had my DSlite for a couple of years now, and I've never had a problem with my touchscreen

Same here, mate. All my DS/DSi consoles are sweet~! B)

By the way, that vid made me throw up. Twas sad to see it.

 

[zhasha]

under regular point'n'click strain it can probably last for years and years; but of couse, if you don't use a stylus to tap the screen but opt to falcon punch it instead, it'll probably die fairly fast.

 

[WizardStan]

There are now 5 DSs of various types in this house. One of them suffers from hinge crack, and one of them has gone through 3 LCD protectors because the user jabs it so hard they eventually wear out, and one is used by a three year old, but over the years not a single one has ever needed to be recalibrated. Personal anecdote and a quick google search suggests that it's just you, or at least a much less common problem then you're trying to make it out to be.

 

[Tokiopop]

There are now 5 DSs of various types in this house. One of them suffers from hinge crack, and one of them has gone through 3 LCD protectors because the user jabs it so hard they eventually wear out, and one is used by a three year old, but over the years not a single one has ever needed to be recalibrated. Personal anecdote and a quick google search suggests that it's just you, or at least a much less common problem then you're trying to make it out to be.

Hundreds of YT videos, and thousands of comments say otherwise. The DS's hinge and touchscreen are major issues.

 

[Nintendo]

Hundreds and thousands of YouTube vids compared to all the DS consoles in the wild...115million +

 

[WizardStan]

Hundreds of YT videos, and thousands of comments say otherwise. The DS's hinge and touchscreen are major issues.

Let's assume you're correct. Even if every comment counted for 100 failures, that's still less than 1% of total sold. Even if every comment counted for 1000 failures, that's still only a few percent of total sold. Less than 1%, or even a couple of percent failure is not only not a problem, it's unbelievably amazing! To expect one hundred million units to be absolutely perfect is crazy.

 

[alucart1984]

My Ex Girlfriend has a pink DS Lite and the first week she had it the touch screen messed up on it, but my DS Phat worked great. After we took it to Best Buy and used the protection plan to get it exchanged I watched her play the new one when she got it and she was jabbing the screen HARD. She just didn't realize how sensitive those screens are. If you jab it too hard then it will lose its cablibration and can be damaged. My DS Phat worked fine for three years with I think two cablibrations total. I was very gentle with it. Untill it died. I could of got the fuses for it to fix it but I decided to get a DS Lite instead. Its working great and I play a ton of games on it including homebrew. I played Quake 1 over my network at home, with my Son on the PC, Me on the DS and my "now" ex girlfriend on the PSP it was quite fun.

 

[Nintendo]

Yeah, I would have dumped her for treating the DS oh so violently too.

 

[Sphinxter]

The heel of your shoe does not make a good stylus.

 

[zhasha]

It's like when you go to a store and there's a touch screen interface for "something". Some people don't realize that you just need to tap it, and thus when you get there you do in fact need to kick the shit out of the screen in order to get a response, whereas I have several touch screens lying around and have never had one die on me despite a lot of use over the years.

 

[alucart1984]

Yeah, I would have dumped her for treating the DS oh so violently too.

I told her play nice and she did.....only later that night.

 

[SiegfriedCroes]

I still have a working DS that I bought on launchday (March 11, 2005), I never had to calibrate it and it still works as good as it did almost 5 years ago (only a few small scratches on the screen). It just depends on the way you use the stylus, you can tap or stab the screen.

 

[WolfSpider]

All mine work. Maybe you have dirt in the part that holds the screen in.

 

[Poem58]

Wow, Haven't read the whole thread but was wow'ed by seeing how supposedly bad the DS touchscreen is supposed to be from this thread. I have the DS Phat bought on day 1 of availability in the US. The Hinge is broken and I have it mangled together with Superglue to the point where it almost closes but not quite and it's holding together enough to play as long as I'm not leaning backwards. I never calibrate my screen. If I have I've calibrated it less than 5 times since I bought it. It's always accurate despite the damage my (then 2 year old) inflicted 3 years ago as well as being perfectly functional aside from that. Got a used one for my son and the D-pad seems wildly inaccurate on that one as the previous owner must have pressed the crap out of the buttons and it feels like it's sloppy or something, yet that screen as well seems fine.

I have yet to have issues with a touchscreen as even my old HP Jornada despite all it's shorting of controls and stuff still worked just fine as does my old Dell Axim X3. So I'm laying odds this is not a common problem to have Touchscreens fail to stay calibrated or even just fail.If I had known someone who's screen failed then I would be worried, but I guess if it's never happened to you or someone you know, it makes you feel safer?

 

[alucart1984]

I still have a working DS that I bought on launchday (March 11, 2005), I never had to calibrate it and it still works as good as it did almost 5 years ago (only a few small scratches on the screen). It just depends on the way you use the stylus, you can tap or stab the screen.

I had a DS phat and I got it November 21st 2004 (US launch day). I was so excited! I got Super Mario 64 DS that day and played it all day that day. It was so awesome. I also played the Metroid Prime First Hunt alot also. None of my friends got a DS launch day so they were all jealous. I waited outside a Target till it opened. I was the only person that was there waiting. The DS sure did catch. I now have a Black DS Lite and I really like playing it every now and again. (EDIT) My DS Phat died shortly after I got my DS Lite, guess it knew it was its time. The fuses on the board that control the incoming power blew. Its a semi-common problem for all DS. Its easy to fix if you know how to solder but I don't so I trashed my old DS. It was truly a sad day. I thought about keeping it but decided against it.

 

[iprice]

I still have a working DS that I bought on launchday (March 11, 2005), I never had to calibrate it and it still works as good as it did almost 5 years ago (only a few small scratches on the screen). It just depends on the way you use the stylus, you can tap or stab the screen.

I too have had my DS Phat from day one (imported from the US on launchday), and I have NEVER callibrated it in all those years and it's been used constantly throughout, with no problems whatsoever. I refuse to trade it in for a newer DSLite or DSi.