A touchscreen is an electronic visual display that users can control by simply touching the screen and making movements directly upon it, either with their fingers or a designated tool, like a stylus. Coordinated gestures can move what is displayed, zoom in and out or scroll up and down.
The beauty of the touchscreen is that it removes the need for an intermediate device, such as a mouse or touchpad. A stylus is still more direct, and generally optional anyway. Tablets and smartphones are probably the most common use of touchscreens. Further, they can be attached to non-touchscreen devices like a computer and used as a terminal. Larger touchscreens are seen on computerized services, such as ATMs and kiosks at the airport. Still, they are likely to become more and more standard for personal, portable electronics.
Several components go into making the touchscreen respond so easily to your fingertip or stylus. The most noticeable of these is the touchscreen panel, or part with which you actually interact. Manufacturers have a number of options when it comes to touchscreen panels, and how to construct them. The most popular methods are the capacitive and resistive approaches. In both, four layers comprise the touchscreen panel itself:
* The top layer is polyester coated on the topside, and coated with a transparent conductive metal on the underside.
* The second layer is an adhesive spacer between the top and third layers.
* The third layer is glass coated, with a transparent conductive metal coating on the topside.
* The fourth and bottom layer has an adhesive on the back for mounting.
As you touch the screen, that environmental change is recorded by the system with an electrical current. The two conductive metal coatings work together, as they touch when pressure is applied by a finger or stylus.
With some touchscreen panels, users can increase accuracy, spread less oil on the screen and slide more easily over the surface by using their fingernail as a stylus, rather than the pad of their finger. The keratin in human fingernails is actually, in some ways, similar to a stylus, and so will not damage the panel. In another vein, some touchscreen panels contain optical coatings to reduce the appearance of fingerprints on the screen.
Touchscreen panels are likely to become more and more commonplace as people want to carry less and do more with their personal electronics. Be sure that the device you have offers the kind of touchscreen panel you’ll enjoy the most.
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