Capacitive Touch Screen

[Black93300ZX]

A capacitive touchscreen panel is coated with a material, typically indium tin oxide that conducts a continuous electrical current across the sensor. The sensor therefore exhibits a precisely controlled field of stored electrons in both the horizontal and vertical axes - it achieves capacitance. The human body is also an electrical device which has stored electrons and therefore also exhibits capacitance. When the sensor's 'normal' capacitance field (its reference state) is altered by another capacitance field, i.e., someone's finger, electronic circuits located at each corner of the panel measure the resultant 'distortion' in the sine wave characteristics of the reference field and sends the information about the event to the controller for mathematical processing. Capacitive sensors can either be touched with a bare finger or with a conductive device being held by a bare hand. Capacitive touchscreens are not affected by outside elements and have high clarity. The Apple iPhone is an example of a product that uses capacitance touchscreen technology: the iPhone is further capable of multi-touch sensing.
Capacitive sensors work based on proximity, and do not have to be directly touched to be triggered. In most cases, direct contact to a conductive metal surface does not occur and the conductive sensor is separated from the user's body by an insulating glass or plastic layer. Devices with capacitive buttons intended to be touched by a finger can often be triggered by quickly waving the palm of the hand close to the surface without touching.

The HTC/T-Mobile G1/Dream is also equipped with a capacitive touch screen.

[Nocturnal310]

is the Xperia X1 also equipped with Capacitive touch screen? because i noticed its not as sensitive as iphone

[yodafone]

Without opening up the phone, there are several ways to find out if a phone uses a capacitive or resistive (i.e. pressure-sensitive) screen.

1. Look at the screen off-angle in bright light. You may be able to see a grid of dots that looks something like this and extends over the entire screen surface:
. . .
. . .
. . .
If you can, it's probably not a capacitive screen.

2. Can the screen be operated by a non-conductive object i.e. a toothpick?
If so, it's probably not a capacitive screen.

3. Does the device come with a stylus/"plectrum" and does it require screen calibration?
If it does, it's probably not a capacitive screen.

No mass-market WM device to date has a capacitive touchscreen, including the X1. The first post of this thread will help you understand why: http://discuss.pocketnow.com/showthread.php?threadid=23389

[orelsi]

is the Xperia X1 also equipped with Capacitive touch screen? because i noticed its not as sensitive as iphone

My Xperia is more sensitive than an iPhone. Granted I did some tweaking, but still.

[enigma1nz]

No, Xperia is like the rest of our phones has resistive screen. It can be very sensitive, but stylus will be your main indication. I have LG Prada that has capacitive screen and LG Viewty that has a resistive one.

[orelsi]

No, Xperia is like the rest of our phones has resistive screen. It can be very sensitive, but stylus will be your main indication. I have LG Prada that has capacitive screen and LG Viewty that has a resistive one.

No? So, you have spied on me using my phone and know that it is not more sensitive? Pffft...

[jesse_g]

im sorry but no phone is as sensitive as an iphone!

[orelsi]

im sorry but no phone is as sensitive as an iphone!

You should be sorry, because you are wrong. Do your research better and come back to apologize.

[darren shan]

sorry but i have the same idea...... i think iPhone is more sensitive than xperia

[Biker1]

Do capacititve screens have a separation issue like some of the HTC resistive screens have?
Where the layers of a resistive screen including the digitizer start to separate causing a rectangular shape in the center that looks like oil on water.
Has happened to me and many others where the screen eventually has a complete failure.
I do know that the capacitive screens on the iPhone are prone to breakage due to the fact that it has a glass surface.
The resistive screen of the Diamond is less prone to breakage because it has a plastic type film on the surface.
Btw, my screen is pretty sensitive, whether using the stylus or touch.

[proace069]

You can tweak your resistiv screen by allign screen.

If you dont press the screen and move little circles between the arrow you can make screen more sensitiv


Sorry for my english cause i am german :)

[Dr.Gonz0]

A capacitive touchscreen panel is coated with a material, typically indium tin oxide that conducts a continuous electrical current across the sensor. The sensor therefore exhibits a precisely controlled field of stored electrons in both the horizontal and vertical axes - it achieves capacitance. The human body is also an electrical device which has stored electrons and therefore also exhibits capacitance. When the sensor's 'normal' capacitance field (its reference state) is altered by another capacitance field, i.e., someone's finger, electronic circuits located at each corner of the panel measure the resultant 'distortion' in the sine wave characteristics of the reference field and sends the information about the event to the controller for mathematical processing. Capacitive sensors can either be touched with a bare finger or with a conductive device being held by a bare hand. Capacitive touchscreens are not affected by outside elements and have high clarity. The Apple iPhone is an example of a product that uses capacitance touchscreen technology: the iPhone is further capable of multi-touch sensing.
Capacitive sensors work based on proximity, and do not have to be directly touched to be triggered. In most cases, direct contact to a conductive metal surface does not occur and the conductive sensor is separated from the user's body by an insulating glass or plastic layer. Devices with capacitive buttons intended to be touched by a finger can often be triggered by quickly waving the palm of the hand close to the surface without touching.

The HTC/T-Mobile G1/Dream is also equipped with a capacitive touch screen.

interesting... I didn't know that

[Spoofy]

im sorry but no phone is as sensitive as an iphone!

sorry but i have the same idea...... i think iPhone is more sensitive than xperia

Hey guys there is a cab called iTouch for blackstone and it tweaks the resistance to ultra-sensitive, works like a charm. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=469865 , try it.

[danger-rat]

1. Look at the screen off-angle in bright light. You may be able to see a grid of dots that looks something like this and extends over the entire screen surface:
. . .
. . .
. . .
If you can, it's probably not a capacitive screen.


Not necessarily true. The Nexus One has a capacitive screen and also has the dots...


Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

[eulalie]

So.. I guess I'm going to show my ignorance, but here is my question.

There are several posts on several sites talking about how you can't do multi-touch unless you have a capacitive screen. Then I go to Pandawill and look at the G10. It says it's a resistive screen but there are videos of it doing pinch-to-zoom.

Can someone help me understand how multi-touch relates to the screen type?

Sorry if i'm too much of a n00b :confused:

[ozy944]

Sorry to add fuel to fire but a capacitive screen will always be more sensitive (speaking purely about the physics of it) than a resisitive screen.

Why?
Capacitive screens rely on charge and comparative charge of two bodies. In some instances, capacitive screens can work without the finger actually touching the screen.
Resistive screens rely on a minute deflection from contact to connect two conductive layers. You can touch a resistive screen lightly enough to not result in a UI interaction. Resisitve screens can be tweaked to work at a very high sensitivity but still not as sensitive as a capacitive screen.

Go ahead, compare two phones with opposing screen tech side by side. I thought nothing could be as responsive as my Topaz till I bought a Nexus, then Desire (which have other issues btw! )

Sorry but thats the blunt science behind it. Bear in mind the perception of responsiveness to touch can very well depend on the quality/smoothness of the software written or the user interface.

Source:
HTC Touch Diamond 2 vs. HTC Desire
Source 2:
My university degree.

[ozy944]

Sorry for the double post but to answer your question,

Yes resistive screens can be used to provide multi touch support. Where this support isnt built into the drivers for the digitizer, its a lot harder. Bear in mind most older phones were launched before the mainstream advent of multi touch. Thus no drivers...only brilliant minds at XDA :)

However, using a resisitve touch screen to provide multi touch has some serious drawbacks, mainly on smaller screens.

I hate to break it to you but the reason behind this is actually the size of your "pinch" fingers with respect to screen size.

Multi touch on a small resistive screen cause deflection at multiple points on the digitizer but due to the reliance on deflection, the software will inevitably struggle to understand what sort of multitouch gesture you're trying to do! Your fingers with relation to screen size are simply too big!

When you have a bigger screen or a well designed digitizer + software, it can determine positions of multiple points much more accurately, thus allowing multi-touch.

So.. I guess I'm going to show my ignorance, but here is my question.

There are several posts on several sites talking about how you can't do multi-touch unless you have a capacitive screen. Then I go to Pandawill and look at the G10. It says it's a resistive screen but there are videos of it doing pinch-to-zoom.

Can someone help me understand how multi-touch relates to the screen type?

Sorry if i'm too much of a n00b :confused:

[eulalie]

Sorry for the double post but to answer your question,

Yes resistive screens can be used to provide multi touch support. Where this support isnt built into the drivers for the digitizer, its a lot harder. Bear in mind most older phones were launched before the mainstream advent of multi touch. Thus no drivers...only brilliant minds at XDA :)

However, using a resisitve touch screen to provide multi touch has some serious drawbacks, mainly on smaller screens.

I hate to break it to you but the reason behind this is actually the size of your "pinch" fingers with respect to screen size.

Multi touch on a small resistive screen cause deflection at multiple points on the digitizer but due to the reliance on deflection, the software will inevitably struggle to understand what sort of multitouch gesture you're trying to do! Your fingers with relation to screen size are simply too big!

When you have a bigger screen or a well designed digitizer + software, it can determine positions of multiple points much more accurately, thus allowing multi-touch.

Right.. I get that pinch is tougher on a small screen thats less sensative. The question was posed because there isn't a, what i consider to be cheap (in the 250$ or less range), 10 in capacative android tablet on the market.

If i venture in the the flatpad/apad/epad world... is it the case that it is impossible for that type of screen to do multi-touch? From your response I'm hearing that it IS possible to do multi-touch on a flatpad.. given that there are drivers supporting it. I'd love to have a capacative screen but from what i've seen online, they're going to be twice the cost or more.

[ozy944]

Right.. I get that pinch is tougher on a small screen thats less sensative. The question was posed because there isn't a, what i consider to be cheap (in the 250$ or less range), 10 in capacative android tablet on the market.

If i venture in the the flatpad/apad/epad world... is it the case that it is impossible for that type of screen to do multi-touch? From your response I'm hearing that it IS possible to do multi-touch on a flatpad.. given that there are drivers supporting it. I'd love to have a capacative screen but from what i've seen online, they're going to be twice the cost or more.


A dilemma huh? To be brutally honest, most budget oriented tablets are simply that: budget oriented. A lot of them (im trying not to generalize) and Ive tried a fair few are poorly implemented tablets and more trouble than they are worth. Slow, laggy, bad battery life. You'll have enough issues to simply forget the lack of multi touch.

If I was after a tablet, hard as it may be, Id wait till some big players launch a proper device...that'll lead to better adoption and less half baked tablets that are more tech demo than retail product.

Bear in mind the lack of android market access on almost all of these tablets. Due to their generic nature, dev work is also a no-go. Everybody and their friends and family have a device out with a costomised, baked os that its not even funny!


Id check out the galaxy tablet from samsung or wait for it to make some waves and bring forth better implemented copycat products :)

[norodaigh]

Without opening up the phone, there are several ways to find out if a phone uses a capacitive or resistive (i.e. pressure-sensitive) screen.

1. Look at the screen off-angle in bright light. You may be able to see a grid of dots that looks something like this and extends over the entire screen surface:
. . .
. . .
. . .
If you can, it's probably not a capacitive screen.

2. Can the screen be operated by a non-conductive object i.e. a toothpick?
If so, it's probably not a capacitive screen.

3. Does the device come with a stylus/"plectrum" and does it require screen calibration?
If it does, it's probably not a capacitive screen.

No mass-market WM device to date has a capacitive touchscreen, including the X1. The first post of this thread will help you understand why: http://discuss.pocketnow.com/showthread.php?threadid=23389

The HTC HD2 is a capacitive touch-screen phone, was mass marketed on WM and has the dots (not horizontally but diagonally). Dont talk about it if you dont know about it.

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/htc-hd2-first-windows-mobile-with-capacitive-touchscreen-49303837/

[SuperDeform]

im sorry but no phone is as sensitive as an iphone!

Wrong. Amoled phones are highly sensitive as its hardware screen is glued in together in one.

[Flawd]

Wrong. Amoled phones are highly sensitive as its hardware screen is glued in together in one.

Did you even look at the date that was posted?

[Favorite1995]

I think, Amoled Displays are more sensitive than Iphone Screen !

[A_Flying_Fox]

The HTC HD2 is a capacitive touch-screen phone, was mass marketed on WM and has the dots (not horizontally but diagonally). Dont talk about it if you dont know about it.

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/htc-hd2-first-windows-mobile-with-capacitive-touchscreen-49303837/

Wow, way to make yourself seem like a jackass. Look at the date he posted that.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

[thelastlenny]

awesome :D

[nexus2515]

A capacitive touchscreen panel is coated with a material, typically indium tin oxide that conducts a continuous electrical current across the sensor. The sensor therefore exhibits a precisely controlled field of stored electrons in both the horizontal and vertical axes - it achieves capacitance. The human body is also an electrical device which has stored electrons and therefore also exhibits capacitance. When the sensor's 'normal' capacitance field (its reference state) is altered by another capacitance field, i.e., someone's finger, electronic circuits located at each corner of the panel measure the resultant 'distortion' in the sine wave characteristics of the reference field and sends the information about the event to the controller for mathematical processing. Capacitive sensors can either be touched with a bare finger or with a conductive device being held by a bare hand. Capacitive touchscreens are not affected by outside elements and have high clarity. The Apple iPhone is an example of a product that uses capacitance touchscreen technology: the iPhone is further capable of multi-touch sensing.
Capacitive sensors work based on proximity, and do not have to be directly touched to be triggered. In most cases, direct contact to a conductive metal surface does not occur and the conductive sensor is separated from the user's body by an insulating glass or plastic layer. Devices with capacitive buttons intended to be touched by a finger can often be triggered by quickly waving the palm of the hand close to the surface without touching.

The HTC/T-Mobile G1/Dream is also equipped with a capacitive touch screen.
What i got from this article is that we can use the capacitive screens by using a metal rod held in hand ...right? ?


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[ramabg]

Is is weird that my new model Android does not respond to metal. I think both metal and our hand is conductor, so Android should respond. Any idea why this happen ?