[princemarvin]

Hi all,

I have been hearing alot about the resistive screen of the N97 & not being a capacitive one as on iPhone & others. I really do not know what is the exact difference & way is Nokia still using it while other manufacturers no longer do?

Advantages / Disadvantages of both? and so so so...

I appreciate if anyone provide me with an honest explanation from a user point of view & a technical one as well.

Thanks in advance...

[radical24 · Accepted solution]

http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/item/Resistive_vs_Capacitive_the_invisible_tech_war_in_which...

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchscreen

here you go, have a read and decide  

[zitseng]

Basically:

Resistive touchscreen requires an object to "push" down on its surface, so that conductive layers under the screen become connected and the position of the touch is registered. Any object can trigger the touch. It doesn't have to be a finger.

Capacitive touchscreen requires a conductive object, such as a human finger, to lightly touch the surface to affect the capacitive field over the surface. When the capacitive field is disturbed, a touch and its position is registered. You cannot use a non-conductive object to trigger the touch. A metal stylus would work though.

Many people condemn resistive technologies without really understanding why, other than simply that it is "old". The advantage of resistive is that you can "touch" using your finger, stylus, or just about any object. You can improvise a stylus anytime you need pinpoint accurate input, such as by using the tip of any object.

The advantage of the resistive technology can also be its disadvantage: Anything can activate the touchscreen, which can sometimes be inconvenient. Think about accidental presses. It is not a serious problem since the phones usually have a scree lock capability anyway.

From what I understand, resistive cannot have multi-touch capabilities (sensing multiple finger inputs).

[chrispyweener]

A lot of the reviews though are not very subjective - if you've ever actually used a capacitive screen they're far more fluid and responsive to finger presses and swipes than resistive screens although the resistive ones have improved a lot as the technology is more mature.

As you say though, it's pretty much a finger (or a metal stylus) only and they need a certain amount of atmospheric humidity to work properly although it's very little.

The problem most people find is not necessarily the type of screen in use but the software responding to it.  On the N97 I found that in some apps the screen felt to be very sensitive as the apps responded straight away but with others I found myself stabbing at the screen in fury, like when clicking 'back' in the web browser and trying to select a previous web pagte - it just ignored me till I pressed hard with my fingernail.  Really weird.

Many manufacturers are moving towards capacitive screens though due to the better sensitivity for finger use but the OS needs to be geared up for it too.  Removing a stylus from a WinMo device would be pointless as half of the stuff on the screen needs it cos it's so small, like the little X in the top right or the scroll bars - try using your fingertip on those!

[au_n97_user]

Honestly, I think this really is a horses for courses question and I personally think you should be able to buy a phone with either - but that may be too difficult for manufacturers to manage.

I played extensively with capacitive screens before I made my decision.  For me the lack of accuracy was just not acceptable.  As far as I am aware a stylus will not work with a iPhone, apart from which I don't like them anyway (the styluses, that is).  I never use the stylus that comes with the N97.

I live in a climate that can be cold and I have manicured nails - i.e. long fingernails - I can't accurately use a capacitive screen, but a resistive is great for me - I have 10 permanent styluses - and yes, they ARE real, just for the record!

In the cold I can use my phone with gloves on - can't be done with capacitive screens.

But a person with no nails, living in Queensland or California - they'd probably like a capacitive screen.

[chrispyweener]

I bite mine on occasion, usually when stressed so my "bio stylus's" usually aren't much use. 

Personally I think that bundling a stylus and a resistive screen is not so much about cost any more but about the fact that the devleopers simply can't make the OS not need one yet.  5th edition isn't tooo far off as the icons etc are already fairly large and cartoonish so you can almost get away with it (almost - scroll bars and calendar are still a bit fiddly) but on WinMo at the moment that's completely out of the question.  I'm hoping they address that in 6.5 or 7.0 and that may attract some business back.

I felt so geeky pulling out the stylus on the WinMo devices I had - even though HTC had tried skinning them up to be finger friendly, as soon as you got past that the interface was that numb you always ended up pulling it out of the side again just to do basic things, like scrolling and closing apps cos the things you had to touch were so tiny or narrow and your fingers were too fat.  Accuracy is a waste of time when the average human finger is way fatter than a stylus.

It's only when drawing or writing on the screen that it becomes useful and HTC use those as their 'excuse' for still using resistive screens as it suits the Asian market better - being able to write in Kanjji etc.  Having said that a lot of their new phones are becoming capacitive now like the G1 and Magic so perhaps they've changed their minds.

One thing I do agree with is the gloves thing - capacitive is no use in cold climates due to gloves, but surely that requires the O/S to be even more finger orientated as your fingernail accuracy means squat when sheathed in a pair of fat wooly mittens?  Either that or get the stylus out again, which on things like the N97 has to dangle off the side by a piece of string. Don't know why they didn't take the 5800 approach and make a slot for it.

Message Edited by chrispyweener on 31-Jul-2009 12:43 PM

[au_n97_user]

I can assure you that with gloves on I wouldn't do too much - no typing an SMS - but at least with a resistive screen I can still answer a call easily, or make a call to a contact easily - or play music.

[princemarvin]

Thanks guys for the info... It was helpful,

I believe the fight between resistive & capacitive is like the one used to be between LCD & plasma TV's..

After your input, to me resistive is more convenient & better. But I believe what really makes the capacitive more appealing & futuristic is the ability of multi touch & better transitional effects than the resistive. I which the technology of resistive will develop to include this & maintain it original benefits....

[sockatume]

Indeed, multi-touch resistive screens are in development. Resistive is important in Asia where they use stylus input to draw characters on the screen, so the technology's not going to go away. I prefer capacitive because of the "confidence" in the touch response, but honestly I've yet to be convinced by touchscreen phones in general.