Article: Touchscreen technologies in phones

posted by PhoneArena Team / Aug 26, 2008, 6:35 AM

Article: Touchscreen technologies in phones

Introduction:

Touchscreen phones are becoming a part of our lives more and more each day. This is due to the fact that the touchscreen control method allows a device to be navigated much more easily, quickly and intuitively, since you can activate given applications by touch, rather than having to press a button multiple times (e.g. the D-pad). There are a few different types of technology that can be used to achieve this control method, each of them having its pros and cons.

The present article deals with all of these, used in the mobile phone industry; we’ll see what they’re sensitive to and what are their pros and cons. We’ve wasted enough time, so let’s get started.

A little pre-history of the different types of technical methods, used in touchscreens:

Images courtesy of elotouch.com

The beginning:

The father of the touchscreen technology is Dr. Samuel Hurst. In 1971, while he was working as an instructor at the University of Kentucky Research Foundation, he had to read a great volume of information during the graduation exams and it took whole two months so that two students could graduate. In an effort to save some time he invented the first touch sensor that he called „Еlograph” (electronic graphics), which allowed him to enter data faster. Alongside with this invention the company „Elographics” was born (known today as Elo TouchSystems). This device was not transparent as today’s sensors are, but this achievement was a big move towards the modern touchscreen. Three years later, in 1974, Dr. Hurst designed the first transparent touchscreen, and in 1977 Elographics invented and patented the 5-wire resistive technical method, which is still the most widely used one today.

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22 Comments

1. xmguy unregistered

Very good story.

posted on Oct 20, 2010, 1:42 AM 0

2. unregistered

Just wait until the iPhone fanboys come in

posted on Aug 26, 2008, 12:25 PM 0

3. unregistered

Primitive technology. Wait til the Blackberry Thunder comes out. Apple fanboys will be STUNNED!

posted on Aug 26, 2008, 7:26 PM 0

5. unregistered

primitive? thunder uses capacitive technology..same as iphone...thunder is just setup differently

posted on Aug 26, 2008, 11:37 PM 0

4. Dexter unregistered

Bravo Phone Arena. Great piece and you managed not to work in a spy story or other unwanted coloring. Very educational, please write more articles like this.

posted on Aug 26, 2008, 8:41 PM 0

12. Anomalies

Posts: 61; Member since: Jun 08, 2008

I agree, this was an amazing article and I learned a lot. I however do like leaked information on phones =/

posted on Aug 29, 2008, 2:39 PM 0

6. unregistered

Ha, makes me want to buy a neonode 8P

posted on Aug 27, 2008, 9:32 AM 0

7. unregistered

very nice story...keep em coming

posted on Aug 27, 2008, 11:32 AM 0

8. Shelley unregistered

Great article---so, who makes the technology? It would be great to purchase the stock/s.

posted on Aug 27, 2008, 1:03 PM 0

9. mmeee unregistered

Yes, very good article. Informative and interesting, keep em comming!

posted on Aug 27, 2008, 1:35 PM 0

10. unregistered

i second #12 phonearena who are the major producors of the infared tochsceens? and the only thing ur site is missing is more articals like this one. keep em coming, please.

posted on Aug 27, 2008, 1:47 PM 0

11. PC unregistered

Wow, could you image a phone that supports all 5 fingers. I want microsoft to get into the cell phone industry themselves. That would make Steve Jobs crap his pants.

posted on Aug 27, 2008, 8:31 PM 0

13. unregistered

when would u use five fingers simultaneously on a phone? just out of curiosity

posted on Aug 29, 2008, 7:20 PM 0

14. unregistered

I'm sure i read this at the resistive touchscreen: "Unfortunately, this method cannot report more than one touch at a time" Am I right? If yes, than the writer is too uninformed. Resistive touchscreen can report more than one touch at a time. I you don't beleive, visithttp://www.simasystems.com/index.html kthxbye

posted on Aug 30, 2008, 9:30 AM 0

15. zForce FanBoy unregistered

The Neonode zForce Technology which is opitacal/infrared touch screen based can do Multitouch, has no issues in working direct sunlight, which would be the brightest of ambient lights, and also when comparing to Capacitive and Resistive touch-screens on a same production volume, the zForce Technology is actually the CHEAPEST!!!

posted on Sep 05, 2008, 7:02 PM 0

16. evman unregistered

the iphone so far has the most advanced touch screen

posted on Sep 05, 2008, 10:10 PM 0

17. X3V3N unregistered

i agree, i like the apple Touch UI its sweet, just wish the phone part of it was better. ( i drop hella calls)

posted on Sep 13, 2008, 10:07 PM 0

18. unregistered

thats because of the network, not the phone.

posted on Oct 16, 2008, 9:54 AM 0

19. mickuza

Posts: 4; Member since: Jul 18, 2009

Good article.

posted on Jul 18, 2009, 9:44 AM 0

20. hi unregistered

ikr dats lyk so coool

posted on Sep 16, 2011, 8:24 AM 0

21. Seth570

Posts: 2; Member since: Nov 14, 2015

Any updates here? Even in 'full'-search in the Phone Finder, you don't have the option to search for infra-red as a screen technology, at least as-of yet. Has there been any more progress made with infra-red touch-screen tech? Or have they made further gains with capactive-screens to close the gap between the two?