Smartphone and Tablet PCs have revolutionized the way we communicate. More and more users today look for the feature rich electronic gadgets that have a touch screen.
Many of us who like to know more about these gadgets before buying them, often come across the touch screen as made with either "Resistive" or "Capacitive" technology.
What are the differences between resistive and capacitive touchscreen?
Technically, very little.
Essentially both resistive and capacitive touchscreen are based on two layers of screen material. When you press on the top layer it makes a contact with the lower layer by your touch. This contact leads to registering as a "location" on the lower screen. It is how this contact is created at the lower screen that dictates the differences between the Resistive and Capacitive screen.
Differences between resistive and capacitive touchscreen
- The resistive touchscreen consists of two thin layers of transparent, conductive film on the screen which measures the change in resistance in between the two layers occurring by pressure of your touch.
- A capacitive touchscreen, on the other hand, measures the changes in the electrical signal between the transparent grid between the user's finger and the screen.
- Resistive screens react to pressure. Hence it is possible that a number gets dialed or a function activated accidentally by any pressure while carrying the phone in your pocket, whereas in devices using capacitive screens this is not possible since they react to conduction and need to be touched with anything that conducts electricity (like human hand).
- Resistive touchscreens are cheaper, and do not support multi-touch. Hence features like "pinch to zoom" are not possible on them. You need to press down as you operate a resistive touchscreen.
- Resistive touchscreens might require recalibration as they tend to drift over time, though this is a simple operation. On the upside, you can use a stylus to operate the touchscreen very accurately. However, while dragging the cursor across the screen a definite sluggishness may be noticed.
- A capacitive screen, on the other hand, is smoother to operate because it just requires the presence of your finger, and not pressure. The flip side of this is that you cannot use a stylus unless it is made of conducting material. You also cannot operate a capacitive screen while wearing ordinary gloves.
- A resistive screen is pressure-sensitive, so that applications may distinguish between a light and a heavy touch. A capacitive screen just knows "finger present" and "finger absent". Hence the thumb rule - "resistive is best for a stylus, capacitive is best for finger-only operation".
While these are the essential differences between resistive and capacitive touchscreen, it would be pertinent to know that most of the new touchscreen mobiles and other gadgets available in the market these days are equipped with capacitive touchscreen or something more superior to that.
So which is it to be for you?
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_Benley
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