Touchscreens As Fast As Possible
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2016-05-06
·
954 words · ~4 min read
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when touchscreen technology first hit the mass market the general opinion was
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that it was a fad that would pass much like any other with many people clinging
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tightly to the analog buttons on their phones and claiming that things like
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texting could never be the same without them but
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fast forward to today and it's practically impossible to find any of
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those previous skeptics who don't currently have their faces buried in a
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new touchscreen device tapping and swiping away but how did it all get
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started well the first touchscreens were developed all the way back in the 1960s
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using a capacitive design which works by
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coating glass with an electrically conductive surface now as we all
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remember from the first matrix film human beings are basically just
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batteries waiting around to be harvested by the machine so whenever one of our
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conductive little digits comes in contact with this type of screen the
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processor can sense the difference in charge as an input and although this
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technology was developed decades ago the same basic idea is used in even the
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highest end smartphones today cool right
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but just like anything else these wonderful devices don't function well
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under certain adverse conditions condensation from cold damp weather can
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get to your screen and get it wet causing it to register random presses
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and surface materials such as dirt or even the oil from your fingers can also
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impede a capacitive touchscreen's functionality i mean not to mention that
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they can't normally be used with a gloved hand so in cases where speed and sensitivity
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are not as important as reliability and functionality resistive screens can be a
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better option you'll often see these on kiosks cash registers atms and other
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places where durability really counts so
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these operate by having two thin sheets set apart by a small gap one of which
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has a current applied to it while the other is connected to voltage sensors
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whenever the screen is touched it causes the current and sensor layers to make
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contact registering an input because the outer surface of the screen
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doesn't contain any sensitive electronics resistive touch screens
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stand up very well to environmental hazards and careless users and can be
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used with styluses gloves and really any
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blunt objects though you won't see them very often in phones or tablets due to
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their bulk and lack of precision now as great as current touchscreen
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technology is i mean are we ever going to see it do more than just allow us to
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pick stuff on a display what if touch screens could touch you back well
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researchers are now trying to answer that very question with a number of
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different approaches for instance the prototype fusa 2 display from japan is
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made of optical fibers making it feel furry and aside from making your dog
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jealous because you couldn't stop petting your new phone it could have
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applications in interior design marketing i mean imagine a football
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field made of these fibers that could change the appearance or or detect
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exactly where the receiver's feet were when he fell out of bounds cool stuff
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right but it's not for everyone and if you don't want your screen to feel like
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a puppy there are a number of cool things in the works that can provide all
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sorts of tactile feedback a project called ultra haptics out of england is
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launching a system that enables both touch inputs and feedback in mid-air
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using ultrasonic pulses and disney research is working on a similar system
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that uses precisely directed blown air
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for virtual reality experiences gaming and more and speaking of disney research
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they're also developing the tesla touch system which uses minute changes in
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voltage on the touchscreen itself to actually make the screen mimic different
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gestures i mean imagine a picture of sandpaper feeling rough when you run
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your finger across it or a large file feeling heavier than a small one when
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you drag it to a different folder i mean who knows maybe one day you'll be able
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thanks for watching this episode as fast as possible guys if you liked it then
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touch me here if you didn't like it then you can touch me
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