Exercise 8

Compare Resistive Touchscreens and Capacitive Touchscreens in terms of technology, cost, power consumption, touch sensitivity, display quality, and abundant raw material. Can you name any other technologies used in touch screens besides these two?

Differences between resistive and capacitive touch screen:

Difference	Resistive Touch Screens	Capacitive Touch Screen
Technology	Two thin, electrically conductive layers separated by microdots. When touch is received, the two become connected and electrical current flows through, which are sent to the processor.	The glass panel is coated with a special material that is able to store an electrical charge. The partial charge transferred to the user is registered by the panel control.
Cost	Cheap	Expensive
Power Consumption	Low	High
Touch Sensitivity	Accurate when used with stylus or pointing objects but not sensitive with fingers.	Sensitive, enables multi-touch.
Display Quality	Low light output, diffused resolution	High Quality
Abundance of raw materials	Indium Tin Oxide- running out	Indium Tin Oxide- running out

Resistive Touch Screen

Capacitive Touch Screen

Another technology used in touchscreens is the Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW). It uses ultrasonic waves that pass over the touchscreen panel. When the panel is touched, a portion of the wave is absorbed.