Capacitive Touchscreens vs Resistive Touchscreens

Most phones these days have a touchscreen. Some have a resistive touchscreen and some have a capacitive touchscreen. What's the difference between a resistive and a capacitive touchscreen? Which one is better?

In this PhoneDog 101 video, Sydney discusses the main differences, the technology behind the two, and which one you should choose. It's not always easy. Though a capacitive touchscreen is generally better, some people still prefer a resistive touchscreen. When buying a phone, how are you supposed to tell the difference between the two? Is it worth it to spend more money on a phone with a capacitive touchscreen? Watch the video to find out.

[bigsteamfan]

Why does this polemic even exists ? For me, it is very clear that capacitive is better. It is much more responsive than a resistive screen, and it's generally faster and a smoother experience. I should know, I used both for quite a long time. What are the pros of resistive ? It is cold outside and you don't want your fingers to catch a cold... come on... Not to mention that there are capacitive gloves out there. Capacitive is a clear winner for me !

[XavierGMusic]

The thing about a resistive touch screen is it gets screen damage but never cracks, but capacitive touch screens crack once they get to their point of impact.

[GuitarKirillable]

I remember thoose days where the button, was cutiing edge technology.

[caponepg]

U need to do all reviews for phonedog! I like your voice & the way you talk with your hands. Also your very pretty

[TactfulOgre]

Guys, you have to understand that these 101 videos are made mainly for the general Youtube public, not PhoneDog subscribers in particular!

[MunirRahool]

For information the video is good, however few comments I am reading and it is a "trend" as well but to ME and people who doesn't need the phones/tablets for playing and surfing only - The Resistive screen offers what Capacitive screens are no where close to provide. Accuracy, freedom of input, use of stylus/pen-like input. Like I use handwriting for quick notes/number entries, I sketch concepts on logo etc on my device. I use P1i and its resistive is one of the best.

[ChrisTopheRaz]

Make up your mind. Resistive could be better if the technology were further developed. As noted and expressed by RIM. However, what sells is convenience, speed, ease. But with all the oddly timed and inevitable errors capacitive touch brings, we ignore because we are oddly kept by the popularity.

[richards]

I suspect resistive might still be used but probably as a cost cutting measure. I still seem them on some ATMs but that could be because the ATMs themselves are old. I used to have a resistive touchscreen phone and hated it.

[medman]

The one flaw with capacative touch screens is they are less acurate when penabled. Vectoring is a common issue and plam rejection is not easy to apply. This is less the case with the resistive screen. There screen that use the best of both worlds with palm rejection. The next thing would be the combination of both screen types. This would make the smartphone and tablet experience more complete, inking enabled with improved and more natural pressure sensitivity, with no need of gloves.

[YFTOUCH]

really wonderful.Very professional explaination.

[blacklovin]

Wow, I'm gonna be brutally honest Phonedog... You guys should have totally remained objective in this video, in my opinion. It was really informative though, so I still liked it :)

[asianoutcast]

texting on resistive is probably the fastest I've ever texted in comparison to capacitive. But its so inconvenient for everything else.

[Nwordplzplz]

I really enjoyed this video. Definitely going to watch more in the future.

[Hikayuhuy]

resistive screen is cheaper to make but get damaged over usage . the pro of it is that it is way more precise and have pressure sensitivity, which is necessary in some profession . capacitive while offer better display and generally more reliable, have cons such as : expensive to make, not as precise and does not have pressure sensitivity . say you're playing rockband, if coded correctly, resistive screen would make playing drum much more believable due to pressure sensitivity .

[Skylark]

@loverofpie32 some times i didnt even touch the screen but it registers a touch, is that static ?

[deathofthemagi]

Great video. I was worried about getting a resistive screen on the cheap android tablet i am looking at.Thankfully I prefer using a stylus so i guess it's ok

[drkdsz]

The Lumia 920 supports mostly all materials including gloves/keys and it uses a capacitive touch screen

[CimInc]

Great video Sydney! See you @ the live chat on Friday (I'll only be talking about my new Xperia Arc though... :P)

//Cim-Inc from ustream.

[SocaTrain]

@TacticOgre thank you for mentioning that!

[chris]

@BuffaloWarrior7 1) You can turn off capacitive off (if there was a phone that had both of them in 1 screen) and wear your gloves when its cold outside instead of BUYING new gloves that probably cost $20-$30 bucks and im pretty sure its a ressession.
2) people may like to draw art like on the ipad and not have money for a capacitive stylist when thet could use a pen or something when they have the resistive touch screen on...
it would be cool to have them both built into one phone.