admin's blog

My recent work in experimenting with Android cell phones has reminded that there are two types of touch screens used in modern cell phones: resistive and capacitive. 

Resistive is the type of touchscreen used by Windows Mobile Professional and Windows Mobile classic devices. (Windows Mobile Standard devices don't have touch screens). These screens are traditionally used with a stylus and respond to light pressure. A finger or any improvised stylus can also work. They can only respond to one touch point at a time.  

Capacitive is the type of touchscreen used by the IPhone, and by most of the Google Android phones, such as the TMobile G1, the TMoblie MyTouch 3G, and the Verizon droid. These are designed to work with a human finger. They do not respond to a stylus unless it is specifically made for this type of screen. It can respond to more than one touchpoint at a time (multitouch) and therefore has a greater range of gestures it can respond to.