What does a touchscreen do?
Exactly what your fingers tell it
A touchscreen is any display that you interact with by touching it.
Difference Between Resistive vs. Capacitive Touchscreens
There are two kinds of touchscreens: resistive and capacitive.
Bernhard Lang / Stone / Getty Images
A resistive touchscreen resists the touch of your finger.
It requires a stylus or electronic pen or, in some cases, some force from your finger.
Brushing your hand across the screen doesn’t have any effect.
Resistive touchscreens are found in places like the supermarket, where you provide yourelectronic signatureto pay your bill.
In contrast, a capacitive touchscreen is designed to work specifically with a finger touch.
Capacitive touchscreens are found in smartphones and tablets, which are the typical display types used in consumer electronics.
That layer below always has an electrical current running through it.
When the two layers touch, the stream changes and registers your touch.
That’s what makes it work.
Sometimes, especially on older displays, you have to press harder for it to register your signature.
Instead, they register touch whenever anything with an electrical currenthuman hands includedtouches them.
The display is made up of tons of tiny wires that are smaller than a human hair.
When your hand touches the screen, you complete a circuit that causes the display to register your touch.
Because the system knows where the buttons are, a letter or symbol appears on the screen.
You don’t need a keyboard to register taps in certain places.
Why Touchscreens Are Popular
There are several reasons touchscreens are popular.
For starters, the screens can be used as both a keyboard and a display screen.
Using the same space for multiple purposes means you might have a larger display.
For a good example, think about the original Blackberry smartphones.
They needed a traditional physical keyboard to work, so the display took up half the unit.
Users immediately had more room to play games, watch videos, and surf the web.
Another reason for moving to touchscreens is that they last longer.
Physical buttons require small parts for them to work.
Those parts wear out over time, causing buttons to stick, stop working, or fall off.
In contrast, a touchscreen can work for millions of touches.
Touchscreens are easier to cleanthan their tactile keyboard counterparts.
Have you ever tried cleaning the keyboard of your rig?
Wiping the iPhone screen down is much easier.
Why You Might Want a Touchscreen
All the major phone manufacturers have switched to touchscreens.
When it comes to computers, the reasons why you should get a touchscreen rig are murkier.
Not all manufacturers offer a touchscreen computer option, but many do.
The biggest reason toopt for a touchscreen modelis if you want to use your system as a tablet.
In that case, something like theMicrosoft Surface Prois an excellent choice.
You also get a super-light rig to tote around.
You’ll be surprised at how handy having a touchscreen is.
Similarly, you might sign a document with your finger on a touchscreen computer.
Touchscreen computers also come in handy when you’re reading a long article.
FAQ
The first touchscreen phone was the IBM Simon released in 1992.
It included a calculator and even supported email.
To turn off a Chromebook touchscreen, pressSearch+Shift+T.
You may first need to enable debugging keyboard shortcuts.
If yourtouchscreen isn’t working, kickstart your machine and clean the screen.
If your phone gets wet, remove the memory andSIM cardsand let them air dry.
If you dropped your phone, try tapping the edges of the screen.
