Resistive And Capacitive Touch Screen

Have you ever wonder how touch screen technology is function? And what is the touchscreen technology use in Nokia 5800 especially?

Traditionally, there are four major four major types of touch screen input devices:

• Resistive
  

• Capacitive
  

• Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW)

• Infrared

however, in this post, i would like to describe the two main and famous touch screen technology in smart phone industry which is Resistive and Capacitive technology.


Resistive

Resistive is the most common type of touch screen technology. It is a low-cost solution found in many touch screen applications, including hand-held computers, PDAs, consumer electronics, and point-of-sale-applications.

A resistive touch screen uses a controller and a specially coated glass overlay on the display face to produce the touch connection.

The primary types of resistive overlays are 4-wire, 5-wire, and 8-wire. The 5-wire and 8-wire technologies are more expensive to manufacture and calibrate, while 4-wire provides lower image clarity.

Two options are generally given: polished or anti-glare.

• Polished offers clarity of image, but generally introduces glare.
  

• Anti-glare will minimize glare, but will also further diffuse the light, thereby further reducing the clarity.

One benefit of using a resistive display is that it can be accessed with a finger (gloved or not), pen, stylus, or a hard object.

However, resistive displays are less effective in public environments due to the degradation in image clarity and the need for periodic recalibration caused by the layers of resistive film deteriorating, and its susceptibility to scratching. Resistive displays are susceptible to vandalism and touches will not register if the resistive sheet is cut or scratched.

Despite the trade-offs, the resistive screen is the most popular technology because of its relatively low price (at smaller screen sizes), and ability to use a range of input means (fingers, gloves, hard and soft stylus).

Nokia 5800 use this technology in detecting input from the user. That why we need to give a little bit pressure on the screen when use this Smartphone. As an owner of Nokia 5800, I like this technology very much. I still can apply my sms without looking at screen skill when i use nokia 5800. Giving a little bit of pressure feel same as i use my previous nokia with keypad.

Capacitive

Capacitive touch screens are all glass and designed for use in ATMs and similar kiosk type applications. A small current of electricity runs across the screen with circuits located at the corners of the screen to measure the capacitance of a person touching the overlay. Touching the screen interrupts the current and activates the software operating the kiosk.

Because the glass and bezel that mounts it to the monitor can be sealed, the touch screen is both durable and resistant to water, dirt and dust. This makes it commonly used in harsher environments like gaming, vending retail displays, public kiosks and industrial applications.

However, the capacitive touch screen is only activated by the touch of a human finger and scratches in the coatings can cause dead spots on the screens. A gloved finger, pen, stylus or hard object will not work. Hence, it is inappropriate for use in many applications, including medical and food preparation. The technology was originally created for small screens and will not scale to larger screens easily and can require periodic recalibration.

Smartphone that use this technology as I find out throughout the internet is iPhone, G1 Android phone, LG Viewty phone, BlackBerry Storm and so on.

So what is the technology of your smartphone that you want to own?

I have do some survey between this two technology, spend a second to rate in this poll.