Stantum shows off resistive multitouch Slate PC, we're awed again
By Vlad Savov 
posted November 27th 2009 6:01AM
posted November 27th 2009 6:01AM
posted November 27th 2009 6:01AM
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Resistive > Capacitive, period
@AA Alex argeed.
@AA Alex
Not the current ones sadly. I will start agreeing you when something like this comes in the market and becomes wide spread
@AA Alex yeah, until you see him trying to touch the corners to clear the screen, then you remember why capacitive is better.
@(Unverified)
On my HTC Touch Pro, if I miss the corner button I can almost always get it on the second try.
But on my iPhone, when I have a rearrangeable list (with the small draggable "bumps" on the right), it takes me 10 to 20 tries because the capacitive display is not accurate enough to tell whether I'm trying to drag the item or trying to select it -- particularly because the draggable area is at the very edge of the screen.
@AA Alex This is amazing.
@y3knik I agree. the current ones suck ass, and its probably why everyones like "ZOMG Capacitive is teh sex and resistive is teh suxorz"
I recently had the horrible time of playing with a sligtly older HTC phone (can't quite remember the model) and it was horrible, and innacurate without the stylus.
The iphone's done a good job, but I'll still continue to try my devices first.. and like any sensible person, If i find a resistive screen to be as good/better than a capacitive.. I'll go for it.
@(Unverified) the reason he was missing the edge of the screen has more to do with the physical bezel than the touch screen technology.
The screen bezel is a pain in the ass on ANY touch screen technology. I know because I put up with it for a year when I had an HTC Wizard, and tried using the hacked on HTC virtual keyboard. The edge letters, and the close button were annoying because of that. When I switched to a phone with a flush screen a couple of years ago (HTC Vogue) that problem completely disappeared.
In short, you don't know what you're talking about. ;)
Personally, I'll take the Stantum technology, allowing me to use a paintbrush, and having sub-pixel resolution, over any capacitive screen.
Ran pretty fluid on a lowly Atom proc too... I hope screen kits come out.
awesome! how long before we see it on phones? ;)
@Ripper do you mean iPhone right ?, iPhone already have it from first lauched. :)
@iPhoneMessenger
wait when did the iphone get pressure sensitive touch or the ablity to work with non fleash fingers
troll is a troll
@D3fPo3t Original: June 29, 2007
@iPhoneMessenger
Look, I'm going to bite here because it gives me a chance to explain technology.
Resistive touchscreens work on the principle of pressure. Push on the surface and voila, the device recognizes your imput. This makes it easy to record precise imputs with a stylus, but hard to recognize imputs like your finger when trying to hit small areas, such as a corner.
Capacitive touchscreens rely on a conductive surface touching them-- usually your body. They don't rely on pressure, so you don't have to push hard, but they also don't handle precise control well, and you have to buy special conductive styli to get them to recognize handwriting. They also don't work if you're wearing gloves, or if you want to use an object like a paintbrush. However, up until now, it was hard for resistive screens to do multi-touch.
This is a proof of concept that shows that it can be done. The iPhone uses capacitive screens, as do an growing number of touch-based devices. So you are correct in believing the iPhone can do multi-touch.
You are hands-down wrong, however, in believing that it can accept input from a person wearing gloves, from a typical stylus, from a paintbrush, or that it can differentiate between certain amounts of pressure.
Personally, I think that the ability to have pressure-sensitive multi-touch is important. It could differentiate between a real keystroke and a bump in the pocket. It would allow you to use a real paintbrush with varying amounts of pressure much as you would on a canvas. In short, if the technology pans out, it would likely be far more versatile that capacitive.
of course, mixing the two would probably be the best bet...
@(Unverified) Actually, capacitive touch is capable of detecting pressure - note that a touchpad is an early form of a capacitive touch panel. However, it's not been implemented in current displays.
But, I'm wondering if this is a combination of resistive and capacitive technologies. I never saw more than one non-conductive implement used at a time, and it could only detect one pressure level, not one for every multitouch finger.
Here's how I could see it working... have a resistive sensor on top of the capacitive sensor. Then, it can detect as many finger inputs as their capacitive sensor can handle, and that also explains their resistive sensor not needing calibration - fingers automatically calibrate it to the capsensor. Now, when you're pushing multiple points on a resistive display, you end up getting an average of those points... so, all you have to do is add in the skew from what's known on the capsensor, and you can detect one non-conductive object in addition to all of your conductive objects.
I've suggested that approach before, actually, somewhere...
@(Unverified) Exactly, The ability to have a pressure sensitive capacitive screen would be pretty kick ass,
@(Unverified) Replying to myself.
http://www.stantum.com/en/offer/technology-ip
Looks like I was wrong, they basically divide the panel up into a row/column-addressed resistive display. It does mean that there's a hard upper limit on precision, but they're saying that they're pixel-precise, so they're obviously able to make the resistive "cells" small enough to not matter.
Touchscreen on steroids!
This is epic.
And, you can use it with gloves!
What a finger orgy... O.o
The irony that the Apple tablet will probably lack the versatility of this screen - therefore restricting it's use in 'creating' content, and therefore be limited to (like the iPod Touch and iPhone) just the consumption of media. (An no, finger painting just does not work for serious art.)
@Oflife Yeah, let's lay into Apple for lacking features in a product that has not only not yet been released but has not even been announced or had any intention shown in being announced.
But engadget told me that capacitive screens are far superior than resistive ones?!
In practice, unfortunately they are at the moment.
There are always pros and cons... for example resistive normally = cheaper as you don't have to pattern the transparent conductor (Indium Tin Oxide). Capacitive is more robust (no moving parts - and you can clearly see the screen moving in the video - check out the reflection) looks better since there doesn't have to be an air gap as part of the touch sensor construction. Resistive usually has this and has more glare as a result...
I'm sure more exciting touch screen developments are around the corner - very hot R&D topic at the moment!
wonder how long will it take to shrink this tech down to mobile phone size.....
@mocax If you would read, you would see that they have the technology down to 2.5" - well into smartphone territory.
@mocax
You can see a video of it here, running on a mobile sized screen, with all the same features. Actually, the mobile apps looked almost identical to this Dell Mini test.
http://www.rgbfilter.com/?p=304
i meant to shrink the electronic stuff to tuck nicely behind the screen...
Maemo 5 or 6 device with this technology would be awesome.
@(Unverified) Any OS, mobile or otherwise, would be awesome with this technology. ;)
Some of the first demos gave the distinct impression it was a little slow at processing the touches (which would annoy you like a PC game running at 15-20fps), but the later vids, esp those with simpler graphics shows that its quick as you'd ever need it - must have been the slow response of the system, not the touch technology.
Yes indeedy, I want one yesterday!
This is absolutely amazing!
Damn am in Love...So imagine this on the N900...
@(Unverified)
Next version of Maemo should have this.
In September 2009, an engineer from TouchPark approached Steve Jobs with a prototype for a 10.1-inch tablet which could be used to display different sorts of media, run app store-style games and featured an advanced resistive touchscreen display.
He then died.
@Jamesy
in a bizarre unexplained accident
would not mind seeing a lot more on this subject
apple should make one so everyone would feel a tremendous urge to buy them all of the sudden heh
forgive me for not being an uber-nerd on this subject but
Is there any way to make capacitive pressure sensitive?
@tylersmyler I don't know if it can be made transparent, but touchpads are an example of capacitive pressure-sensitive (and nowadays, even multitouch) devices.
@tylersmyler You can put little piezo sensors along the edges of the screen to feel the weight pressed down on the screen (this can't determine the pressure of each finger), and you could measure the size of the finger balms being pressed against the surface. These together could work well in theory, it would not be real pressure sensitivity, but I don't know if people would be able to tell the difference.
I can see myself in the future using improved versions of this in Photoshop and Painter. Wacom and other graphics tablet makers may end up goin outta business of face huge loss of sales due to this and future variations...
Doesn't dispute the fact that resistive is still inferior to capacitive. I believe that all or most capacitive screens are multitouch capable, yet you have to change hardware manufacturing to make a resistive screen mulitouch capable.
@iLuvvGoogleAndroidz yes, and and one point in time, the idea of controlling an mobile operating system without the ability to do handwriting recognition was considered low-tech.
Debating the state of something as it stands today doesn't really have an impact in a conversation about future tech. I'll agree- capacitive today is better than resistive today.
Tommorrow? If this tech spends another year or so in development, it will lead the way for tablets of the future. Imagine the posibilities of having the benefits of capacitive (namely, multi-touch and small responce area) with all the benefits of resistive. Tell me an iTablet wouldn't be better if you could take hand-written notes or use your studio paintbrushes to paint as you would on a canvas.
@OG Phenix Don t forget that money is probably also put into improving the capacitive screens :-) who knows what will come out of it ...
Wow, Im surprised at this digital resistive response. With such a response, this is waayyy better than capacitive, with the added pressure data this can gather.
Just like Wacom, these guys want someone else to bring their products to consumers. With Apple and Microsoft tablets still looking fanciful maybe another brand with a history of bringing change could step in to this. Asus? You out there?
that would be awesome for drawing.
"A clever man commits no minor blunders."
The concept of this resistive touch screen tablet is interesting. But come on, who needs brush painting on a phone? Working with gloves, maybe useful sometimes but it is not a must have. From the video there is one point which sure beats the capacitive touch screens, which is the pressure sensitivity. But again the responsivnes of the capacitive screen is again better than this resistive screen. Why nobody makes comparation of prototypes like this which uses capacitive and resistive touch screen on a same hardware platforms.
Is it possible that the responsivity of the screens drops down if the size of the screen goes up? Capacitive screen works perfect on iPhone screen and recent HTC handsets, but how the capcitive concept works if it is used on a screens which are 5-10 times bigger than the phone screen?
@zlatkoa
Our technology runs from 100Hz up to 250Hz and over, depending on the implementation, and the scanning rate is consistent when multiple touches are detected. Capacitive touch-screens' response is slower, and decreasing when adding touches. If you happen to visit Mobile World Congress in Febuary (Barcelona, Spain), do not hesitate to try our demos at our booth to make yourself an idea.
Best,
The Stantum Team