GTA03 Touchscreen Capacitive (was Re: OT: iPhone howto)

[Al Johnson]

On Thursday 26 February 2009, Shawn "Trash" Thompson wrote:
> Ever used an iPhone? their screen is nice, responsive and the gui is
> designed where a stylus isn't needed. I actually was rather fond of the
> iPhone screen and was very unimpressed with the GTA02's touchscreen in
> comparison.

I've tried both the iPhone and the G1, and the touch response was equally bad. 
They don't work well with my fingers. Perhaps my finger tips are too small, 
too dry, or the skin too thick, but my touches often just don't register. 
That's before getting to the lack of precision or the inability to use them 
while wearing gloves. Gloves are a real issue when I'm on my bike or 
snowboarding, but not detecting my fingertips would be a problem very day.

Apple have produced an interface where the lack of precision (mostly) doesn't 
matter in their apps. I found the keyboard very frustrating, but that may have 
been down to not knowing some of its intricacies, as it was when I first 
encountered the illume keyboard. On the other hand the iPhone doesn't get to 
run apps that weren't designed for it, and which may actually need the 
precision.

I'm not denying the advantages of capacitive touchscreens, but they do have 
drawbacks too.