HTC wants to make a stylus for capacitive touchscreens
By Dusan Belic on Saturday, August 15th, 2009 at 3:50 AM PST In HTC, Technologies
HTC has filed a patent for a stylus that works with capacitive — usually known as finger-friendly — touchscreens. The trick is in using some sort of magnetically charged tip which would allow hard-core stylus fans to use it the way they did on regular resistive screens.
And while you may think this is kinda stupid — why would anyone want a stylus when a finger is all it takes — think about languages used across Asia. It’s way easier to “type” with a stylus if you’re let’s say Chinese. Or at least me thinks so. We’ll certainly watch this space and keep you guys and gals well informed. Stay tuned…
[Via: Engadget Mobile]
Only the naive think that fingers alone are always good enough.
Besides languages, a stylus is also useful for drawing or signatures.
I often use one to draw a quick diagram of dimensions before hitting Home Depot.
I would love a stylus for my next phone (HTC Hero?), just as I use a stylus on my current phone (aging Treo 755p). I tried the Palm Pre for a month, but it showed me how wrong Apple is by not including some sort of nav pad and insisting everyone use their fingers.
Well fingers are huge and blunt and block what I am seeing. Styli are thin and allow me to pick and choose and be much more precise.
Compare lists on the Treo 755p with comparable lists on an iPhone. Despite having 1/2 the resolution, the Treo will display 10 or so items in a styli/finger pickable and d-pad navigatible list while the iPhone displays 5-7 items in a finger pickable only list.
By using a stylus and d-pad friendly list the Treo displays much more information, much more context, and just wins using its ancient tech.
Not to mention how nice the stylus these days are to carry a very helpful ball point pen.