HTC Tattoo has resistive touchscreen, a few regrets
By Paul Miller 
posted September 8th 2009 10:04AM
posted September 8th 2009 10:04AM
[Thanks Pilou; via MobileTechWorld]
posted September 8th 2009 10:04AM
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Since when does kinetic scrolling have anything to do with touchscreen technology? It's purely a software trick, the only thing the touchscreen does is report back to the system which pixel point is currently being touched. After that it's all software.
The reason why people tend to prefer capacitive screens is because they're solid. There's no film to flex under your finger when you press the screen. They're also less prone to scratching and don't require calibration.
Yes Engadget Bring it on!!!! At least you guys are consisitent with your resisitive touchscreen hate. When Nokia was being trashed talked for the use of resisitive screen, all the android and apple fanboys were like "I would rather die, than to use a resisitive touchscreen"... Now that an android device uses the same technology, you guys are now scrambling to justify HTC's use of a resisitive touchscreen...
Hahaha... this really gives you guys a taste of your own medicine!!!!
Now we just have to wait and see how Engadget reacts to Apple's use of a resistive touchscreen(If ever).
Rock on Engadget!!!!
"Now that an android device uses the same technology, you guys are now scrambling to justify HTC's use of a resisitive touchscreen"
Uh, what article did you read? This is clearly cast in a negative light. The only bit of "justification" they did was to admit that the resistive screen was used to bring the price down. The N97 was a different matter, being a super-expensive flagship device from the biggest phone manufacturer in the world.
Engadget = Hating on stuff they don't understand since 2004
My biggest problem with resistive screens has nothing to do with accuracy (they're actually quite a bit more accurate since you can use a small stylus tip instead of your fat finger) but with the scratchability. Resistive screens get microscratches in them if you just look at them the wrong way.
I've become too used to carrying touchscreen devices (G1 for a while, now an HTC Magic) loose in my pocket with no screen protector or case and I'm not going back.
Also, does anybody have any guesses on whether or not this resistive screen will support multitouch? I'm guessing it won't, since resistive technology doesn't really lend itself to multitouch (though I know it's possible, I recall seeing a demo of it a while back). That would take away some of the nice web browser enhancements that HTC implemented with the Sense UI.
I think what he meant to say was.... "It's not an iPhone. It's not made by Apple. We don't like it."
This.
I hate Apple bias as much as the next guy, but considering this is the first ANDROID phone without a capacitive screen I think it's fair to say that they're comparing it to that, which is perfectly valid. I don't get the impression that Paul had the iPhone in mind when writing this post, just the shift from HTC's previous capacitive Android screens to this new resistive one.
If he had said something about it being crap because the screen wasn't glass and it had more than one button, that'd be one thing, but he didn't. He's just comparing this phone to all the other Android phones on the market that have hard plastic capacitive touchscreens.
I have a HTC Touch HD and the resistive touch screen works great!
ZOMG! Another device that's NOT AN IPHONE!~
RUN!!!
*Sigh*, there we go again. Funny that I find my HTC Fuze to be equally responsive as my iPhone 2G and they both have the same InvisibleShield protector. I guess these average news site editors would always believe whatever Steve Jobs wants them to believe ...
Writing this from my Pre I can say without hesitation that capacitive screens are great...however, resistive is still extremely viable and useful for what it is. Samsung and LG are pumping out devices with resistive displays and virtual keyboards and people seem to be buying them en masse because the average consumer doesn't care/doesn't know the difference. Capacitive screens do not equal success, and resistive screens do not equal failure for a device.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJWf9N_25_8
I can use with fingernail = lesser fingerprints.
Software + Digitizer > Touchscreen technology
I give up on this useless website, shite blog. You guys keep banging the same old tired drum. Real damn old.
And you know, I couldn't care less that you won't miss one reader.
"And you know, I couldn't care less that you won't miss one reader."
What?
most provocative round of comments in a thread I seen in a long time. Bravo to the majority of members who didnt succumb to the bait tactic and offered up intellectual criticism to this constant diatribe.
Engadget should see if they can hire Jason Mick from DailyTech.com. I think he would fit in very well.
I really hope to see the demise of physical keyboards. Everyone seems to LOVE the onscreen keyboards on the phones that impliment them well - and after they get the hang of it, type FASTER on them -
especially because the keys aren't too small for you fingers,
NOR do the on screen keys stop working a month or two in to the phones lifespan (like my XV6800 on verizon).
-James
I've gotten pretty good at the onscreen keyboard on my HTC Magic, to the point where I can type pretty fast and reasonably error free, but all things being equal a hardware keyboard is ALWAYS going to be better than a software one. If it was possible to add a hardware slider keyboard to a device without making it larger, then it would be absolutely no contest that sliders are always better. Since that isn't the case, you have to weigh the pros and cons, but I don't think it will ever be a clear-cut victory for virtual keyboards.
I really don't see this as too big of an issue. I am an HTC Touch user that is running Android on my phone, which uses an old resistive touchscreen. Not only is the user experience much better than WinMo, it is really awesome. I have no issues with the keyboard, or any other apps not being touch friendly. My screen too is smaller than this one.
This phone, being a really mainstream device, should not be brought down because of this. It will still be a very nice piece of hardware for the market that it is aimed at.
Paul, you sir are an idiot.
you'll implies "you all" so writing "you'll all" doesn't make sense
"you'll" implies "you will" meaning "you will all agree"
I'm not a native speaker of the English language but as far as I know "you'll" means "you will", heh.
Anyway.
"As we're sure you'll all agree."
Oh come on, Engadget.. I respect you as a site, visit on a daily basis, like the podcasts, but... Did you read any of the comments? They've got a huge point, you know... Well, most of them. I for one don't care if a screen's resistive or capacitive, as long as it's sensitive, which with the resistive screens I've used has alwas been the case. I do prefer capacitive, but don't dislike resistive or even the use of a stylus in any way.
I honestly wanna know if there are some decent tech blogs without an apple bias?.Engadget and Gizmodo do not realize that most readers outside the USA dont care much bout apple or whatever it does.And BTW,Japan and UK do not equate to rest of the world.
There is absolutely no mention of Apple whatsoever in this article. What the hell is everybody reacting to? I can't figure out what's going on here!
While i wont go that low that i start screaming "THATS IT ENGADGET YOU SUCK I AM LEAVING THIS SITE", i think about rethinking how i get my gadget news.
I know this is a blog, and it is - and always had been - about the personal preferences of the respective writers, but recently - especially on the subject of touchscreens, but not exclusive to that subject - there is a lot of stuff where i really have to question the inteligence of the writer in question.
Let me try to formulate an allegory:
If you are a republican then i dont agree with you, but i respect your opinion, and i am willing to start a discussion with you concerning points we have different opinions.
However if you go so far as to be a KKK member i will see you as a brainless wanker, that should have been aborted long ago.
Is that a fatty trackball at the bottom? Because if so, SOLD! IMO, The trackball is the G1's best feature. Also the battery life on the G1 isn't bad if you turn off the Wifi and GPS when you don't need them, which is probably most of the time.
I think it's a 4-way directional pad.
Am I the only one who agrees with Endgadget here?
Resistive screens OBJECTIVELY suck. Just find a person who's never held a touchscreen phone before, give them a resistive and a capacitor phone to play with and tell me which one they liked using better.
I dare you!
Just because the majority of users don't know any better than resistive (cuz they can't afford capacitive) doesn't mean it's a better tech.
Yeah, I'm totally dumbfounded by the sudden surge of support for resistive touchscreens. Having used both quite a bit, capacitive seems to be the clear winner for a finger-friendly device despite its drawbacks.
I think everybody just interpreted this as a show of support for the iPhone and freaked out. Honestly, if that's how you interpret this article than you're the one who's got iPhone on the brain, not Paul. Every single Android phone on the market has a capacitive screen, think maybe he was just comparing this phone to other options from the same manufacturer? You know, in a totally reasonable and not-at-all biased kind of way?
I haven't spent enough time with android to say this definitively, but even on my friend's G1 I found myself wanting to have a stylus.
Since this is a resistive-screen device, give it a stylus and call it a day. The OS is built around being finger-friendly, so navigating the menus and tapping out the occasional phone number should be totally doable and you have a stylus for the stuff that trips you up as texting might. Why would that be so bad..?
Oh right. We're supposed to hate those now. Sorry. Sorry, Folks! My Bad. Still happily rocking the HTC Vogue here, so you can probably go ahead and ignore me...
...I honestly consider the QVGA screen to be the Click's biggest drawback - but glad to see another Android phone sporting the D-Pad over the trackball.
I think the Josh hate is misguided. Yes, he makes his view clear - over and over, which I simply find entertaining. But in reality it would take a fool to see that the simplicty of finger navigation has brought the smart phone to the masses - period. Masses = profit. Capacitive screens are the perfect match for this UI paradigm which has opend up the smart phone to millions of non technology blog readers.
Every decidion has pro's and con's and anyone can come up with some obscure example where a resistive screen might have been better (like the poor dude trying to select a seat on a capcitive HTC), but come on, the huge majority of use cases for a finger based UI favor capacitive. Going resistive on a finger based OS is purely cost cutting. HTC practically broadcasts this by putting capacitive on the high end Android devices like the Hero and now resistive on the lower end device like the Tatoo.
Now, in non finger based OS's, or Asia, etc. the use cases can favor resistive. So I think Josh's point is that in the US, with modern finger based OS's, capacitive simply is more suited to the new wave of OS's and this is directly backed up by the positioing seen from manufactures and the general trends. While people may desperately try to cling to stylus based phone OS's they are going extinct whether you like it or not and with that so goes resistive.
I think the Engadget editors are right with this one, the iPhone revolutionized the mobile phone industry by using a capacitive touch screen. This HTC is an ugly brick utilizing old technologies, which is a shame, since the revolutionary iPhone can be had for $99.
I guess with readers like iKurt, they are hitting their target market.
I have made points in the past about the lack of journalistic integrity, but I think Josh is too busy attempting to turn his gadget gig into something bigger since they let him on the Jimmy Fallon show.
It's too bad, then again, I guess when you think about it, the easiest way to make money in America is to tailor your content to the lowest common denominator, and having read their posts about the capacitive screen, it's obvious they have never worked at a real job that involved any sort of mobile productivity.
However, as Chris Ziegler said, they aren't journalists, just bloggers, so we are supposed to apply softer criticism towards their lack of a factual basis for their statements.
So essentially I read Engadget like I would the New York times, for entertainment, because they make it a point to defend their right to substitute their opinion for fact anytime, just because.