When it comes to capacitive touchscreens – like the displays found on the Apple iPhone and the Google Nexus One – it’s not always just about resolution, screen size, or whether it’s OLED or LCD. It’s good to keep in mind that a large touchscreen doesn’t do you much good if it’s not accurately interpreting your finger inputs. Well, thanks to MOTO Labs’ new touchscreen accuracy tests, we now know how the venerable iPhone and the new Nexus One fair against the popular Motorola Droid when it comes to touchscreen accuracy and sensitivity.
MOTO pitted the Apple iPhone, HTC Droid Eris, Motorola Droid, and Google Nexus One against each other in two rounds of testing to compare each handset’s touchscreen accuracy. The tests used a drawing app on each phone to trace the path of finger inputs on the touchscreens as it moved diagonally across the display. The first test used light pressure to mimic light finger-flicks and flitting taps on the on-screen keyboard. The second test used medium pressure to simulate heavier finger inputs, like scrolling through a webpage. The point of the test were to determine how closely the lines drawn on the screen matched up with the actual path of finger inputs.
The results? In both the light- and medium-pressure tests, the iPhone showed precise lines that “indicate accurate representation of finger path,” while exhibiting some loss of sensitivity at the edges of the display. Both the Google Nexus One and HTC Droid Eris showed a “fairly linear track, with some waviness,” putting both phones in the runner-up position behind the iPhone – which makes sense, seeing as how both phones are made by HTC. The worst touchscreen of the bunch was the Motorola Droid, which resulted in a “stair-stepping” pattern and “waviness” that indicates “inaccuracies in tracking travel of finger.
The takeaway here is that “all touchscreens are not created equal.” All other factors (cost, operating system, brand loyalty, etc.) being equal, if you want an accurate touchscreen, Apple’s iPhone is your best bet. If you’re willing to deal with a little inaccuracy in trade for a larger, crisper display, the Nexus One will be your phone of choice. For example, it’s easier to accurately tap a small embedded link on webpages without zooming in using an iPhone than it is on the Nexus One.
Check out the full analysis at MOTO – they have video too!
Note: MOTO is not related to Motorola. It wouldn’t make sense for Motorola to publicize the Droid’s inferior touchscreen performance compared to the Nexus One and iPhone.
[Via: MOTO]