Approaches to Educational Technology

Resistive or capacitive Touch screen

Tablets use a touch screen for imput. In this way you don not have tou use an external mouse and keyboard. Touch screens for tablets come in two different types. Resistive and capacitive. But what is the best type of screen to choose?

Touch screen

The name touch screens comes from the way to operate them. You literally have to touch the screen to give signals to your tablet. You do not have to use an external mouse or a keyboard to send information to your tablet. Touch screens come in al lot of different sizes. For tablets 7" and 10" (9.7") are the most common. There are a lot of different teckniques for these touch screens. But the major difference between touch screens is the way it responds to touch. Resistive responds different than capacitive, and that is the main difference.

Reststive touch screen

A resistive touch screen uses resistant technology. It consists of two layers with an air gap or microdots in between. By pressing the screen with a stylus or just your finger, you can give signals to the device. Resistive is only the tecknology of the screen type, the screen being HD or not is not different for resistive or capacitive screen.
You can ude object to operate a resistive screen. A stylus is mostly used to operate a resistive touch creen, but you can also use your hands, pen, pencil and all kinds of things. But a special stylus (pencil like plastic stick) is recomended.

Capacitive touch screen

Capacitive screens use capacitive tecknology. Today it is the most used screen on tablets. Only cheap tablets tend to use resistive screens because of cheaper prices. A capacitive screen can only be operated by touch of a finger or a special stylus (not the one you would use for a resistive touch screen). It reacts better and it is possible to use multi touch (resisitve screens can sometimes use multi touch, but only two points for zooming).

Resistive or capacitive

Tablets like the iPad, Galaxy Tab and Sony tablet S all use capacitive screen tecknology. It is more advanced and reacts better to touch of the finger. Cheaper brands tend to use resistive screens more often. That is mainly becauso of the lower costs. Resistive screens work well, but if you want more optins like zooming and two player games (multi touch) a capacitive screen tablet is advised. If you like to use a stylus or you wear gloves a great deal of the time, a resistive screen would be better.