are lcd touch screen controls better than touch controls brands

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LCD (liquid crystal display) is the technology used for displays in notebook and other automated industry computers. It is also used in screens for mobile devices, such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

Like light-emitting diode (LED) and gas-plasma technologies, LCDs allow displays to be much thinner than cathode ray tube (CRT) technology. LCDs consume much less power than LED and gas-display displays because they work on the principle of blocking light rather than emitting it.

Each LCD touch screen monitor contains a matrix of pixels that display the image on the screen. Early LCDs screen had passive-matrix screens, which controlled individual pixels by sending a charge to their row and column. Since a limited number of electrical charges could be sent each second, passive-matrix screens were known for appearing blurry when images moved quickly on the screen.

Modern LCDs display typically use active-matrix technology, which contains thin film transistors, or TFTs touch screen. These transistors include capacitors that enable individual pixels to "actively" retain their charge. Therefore, the active-matrix LCDs touch panel are more efficient and appear more responsive than passive-matrix displays.

The backlight in liquid crystal display provides an even light source behind the LCD screen. This light is polarized, meaning only half of the light shines through to the liquid crystal layer.

The liquid crystals are made up of a part solid, part liquid substance that can be "twisted" by applying an electrical voltage to them. They block the polarized light when they are off, but reflect red, green, or blue light when activated.

The touchscreen panel a display device that senses physical touch by a person’s hands or fingers, or by a device such as a stylus, and then performs actions based on the location of the touch as well as the number of touches.

Touch screen glass can be quite useful as an alternative to a mouse or keyboard for navigating a graphical user interface. Touch screens are used on a variety of devices such as computer and laptop displays, smartphones, tablets, cash registers, and information kiosks.

A touch-screen digitizer is one piece in a multilayered "sandwich." In modern devices, the screen that produces the images is found at the bottom layer; the digitizer is a transparent sheet that occupies a middle layer on top of the screen, and a thin sheet of hard, protective glass forms the top layer.

Touching the screen triggers touch sensors immediately under your fingertip; a specialized electronic circuit receives signals from these sensors and converts them into a specific location on the screen as X and Y coordinates. The circuit sends the location to software that interprets the touch and location according to the app you"re using.

For example, when you dial a phone number, your fingers touch the numbers on a virtual keypad on the phone"s screen. The software compares the locations touched against the keypad and generates a phone number one digit at a time.

Touch Screen Glass– The bottom layer is the ITO glass, typically thickness is between 1 and 3 millimetre. If you drop your device, the cracked glass ends up resembling an elaborate spiderweb.

Digitizer – The digitizer is located above the glass screen. It is the electrical force that senses and responds to touch. When you tap your fingertip or swipe it across the screen, the mere touch acts as data input to the device’s center. If your device fails to respond to touch, it’s time for a new digitizer.

The touch screen digitizer is an electrical mechanism that is fused with the glass screen; so if you need to replace the digitizer, you’ll have to replace the glass, too, and vice versa.

Touch Screen Panel- Touchscreen is the thin transparent layer of plastic, which reads the signal from the touch and transports it to the processing unit. It is the part that you can touch without disassembling the device.

LCD – LCD display is an acronym for liquid crystal display. The LCD is the visual component underneath the glass that displays the image on the screen. You can not get to the LCD without taking the device apart first.

Capacitive surface touch screens work by using the electrical signal from the operator’s finger instead of force to complete the action of the interface.

The key benefits of using a capacitive touch screen is that they are temperature resistant and waterproof. Many home appliances like refrigerators and dishwashers use capacitive touch keypads.

However, while capacitive touch screens can only be used with the user’s finger, Projective Capacitive Touch Screens are the new standard for capacitive touch screens and allow for users to control the device even while wearing gloves.

While technically a type of Capacitive Touch Screen by its name, Projective Capacitive (PCAP) Touch Screens are the most common type and the ones used most on the market today.

PCAP touch screens get their name from the way they “project” a small electric field out past the top layer which senses the user’s input even before they come into contact with the screen. In a way, they function much like a proximity sensor. They have mutual capacitance which supports multi-touch activation.

Because of this, users can control the device with a stylus or while wearing thin surgical gloves, food service gloves, or cotton gloves. They also support excellent clarity with high light quality. They’re a great option for incorporating into outside equipment or machinery, as users don’t need to remove their gloves in a cold or rainy climate, and can still see the screen well in the sun.

They can be used in control panels, industrial automation, consumer devices, and commercial applications in retail, gaming, and signage. They are more costly than resistive touch screens.

It"s probably a little early to be warning of extinction, but in some new cars, buttons are becoming hard to find. Given that a screen has to go into the dashboard anyway (thanks to things like backup camera requirements) and the fact that people increasingly won"t consider a car without Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, touchscreens make life easier for automakers in terms of design and assembly.

It"s just that they don"t make life easier for drivers. Instead, we"re treated to bad interfaces that don"t create muscle memory but instead distract us while we should be driving. And now, Swedish car publication Vi Bilägare has the data to prove it.

VB tested 11 new cars alongside a 2005 Volvo C70, timing how long it took to perform a list of tasks in each car. These included turning on the seat heater, increasing the cabin temperature, turning on the defroster, adjusting the radio, resetting the trip computer, turning off the screen, and dimming the instruments.

VB says that "one important aspect of this test is that the drivers had time to get to know the cars and their infotainment systems before the test started." With my devil"s advocate hat on for a second, most drivers who drive regularly will regularly drive the same car, building more familiarity over months and years than a journalist will after even a week with a new model. But that kind of long-term adaptation is the user conforming to the vehicle"s wishes, and shouldn"t good design be the opposite of that? Advertisement

VB lays the blame for the shift from bottons to screens with designers who "want a "clean" interior with minimal switchgear." That"s fair, but I don"t think we can count out the accountants either. If everything can be achieved by touching the screen, then the company doesn"t also have to pay for the plastic and wires that buttons are made from, nor the time it takes someone to make that into buttons or install them in a car.

Even with touchscreens, though, we can see in the spread of scores VB gave to different all-touch cars that design matters. You"ll find almost no buttons in a Tesla Model 3, and we called out the lack of buttons in the Subaru Outback in our review, but both performed quite well in VB"s tests. And VW"s use of capacitive touch (versus physical) for the controls on the center stack appears to be exactly the wrong decision in terms of usability, with the ID.3 right at the bottom of the pack in VB"s scores.

I"m not surprised that the BMW iX scored well; although it has a touchscreen, you"re not obligated to use it. BMW"s rotary iDrive controller falls naturally to hand, and there are permanent controls arrayed around it under a sliver of wood that both looks and feels interesting. It"s an early implementation of what the company calls shy tech, and it"s a design trend I am very much looking forward to seeing evolve in the future.

Again, there are examples of automakers doing this better than others. Over the past couple of weeks I"ve spent time in an Acura MDX and Mazda CX-50, neither of which uses a touchscreen infotainment system. Neither managed to do better than 19 mpg either, which is frankly appalling in 2022, but the CX-50 did at least distinguish itself for ease of use when it came to the infotainment system. Advertisement

Mazda"s latest system has been criticized for being bare-bones, but odds are, a driver is using Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, and it"s actually quite easy to use with the rotary controller and its hard buttons, which, again, are right where your right hand expects them to be (or left hand, in a right-hand-drive car).

Volkswagen"s infotainment software in the ID.3 can be frustratingly laggy, and while there are permanent controls for the climate and audio, they"re capacitive touch, not real buttons or dials or knobs.

The more expensive Acura also places the infotainment screen far out of reach. It"s a much higher-resolution display befitting a much more expensive car, and the MDX"s infotainment system is much more capable than the CX-50"s in terms of apps and features. I also quite like the layout and fonts, although obviously that"s a pretty subjective thing.

I won"t subject you to the depth of my current feelings about Acura"s "true touchpad," just a high-level, mostly polite version. It has a 1:1 relationship between the screen and the pad, so it doesn"t work at all like any other trackpad in any other car you might have driven. And that means it requires a lot of concentration to use, particularly if you"re trying to interact with CarPlay. And it doesn"t need saying that "requires concentration to use" is likely the last quality anyone wants in an infotainment system.

I"m not that surprised that the old Volvo won, dating from a time when most functions were controlled by individual buttons and when infotainment didn"t really yet exist. And in some ways, the tests played to its strengths—there"s no Android Auto or CarPlay, and the only safe way your phone is showing you directions is if you bring a suction mount. Do be careful what you press if anyone"s sitting in the back seat, though. In Volvos of that vintage, one of those buttons drops the rear headrests, which are rather heavy and very much wish to return to a horizontal orientation with absolute disregard for the skulls of anyone sitting in their way.

Buttons will be lower cost, you see a button you know it is there to be pressed. Touchscreens need content that makes it clear that the display is touch-sensitive and where to touch.So many businesses still need a little convincing to scrap all of their old-buttons.

Actually more and more businesses are looking into how solutions such as touch screen tablets, monitors and kiosks can improve their efficiency, customer experience and revenue.

No more mouse and keyboard touch screen provide direct navigation and accessibility through physical touch control, thus eliminating the need for a traditional computer mouse and keyboard.

Many industries in which touch screen monitors are most useful are extermely limited on space, such as restaurants, hotels, retails stores and other fast-paced, demanding indutries.

Intuitive: Buttons are very intuitive, you see a button you know it is there to be pressed. Touchscreens need content that makes it clear that the display is touch-sensitive and where to touch.

Dynamic function: With a touch screen it is relatively easy to make the button function context sensitive. Buttons can have on-screen descriptions (as with ATM cash machines) but that can lead to alignment issues.

Selecting the most suitable type of touch screen for your project can improve device functionality and durability, which can mean a significant increase in customer adoption.

This article highlights the unique advantages and drawbacks of common touch screen technology, to help product design engineers make an informed decision.

Resistive touch is a legacy form of touch screen technology that was broadly popular for many years, but has been replaced by capacitive touch for many applications. Currently, resistive touch has a smaller range of common uses, but can still capably address certain needs.

The core elements of a resistive touch screen are two substrate layers, separated by a gap filled with either air or an inert gas. A flexible film-based substrate is always used for the top layer, while the bottom layers substrate can be either film or glass. A conductive material is applied to the inner-facing sides of the substrate layers, across from the air gap.

When a user applies pressure to the top surface, the film indents and causes the conductive material on the top layer to make an electrical contact with the conductive surface of the bottom layer. This activity creates a difference in voltage that the system registers as a touch. The location of this contact is pinpointed on the X and Y axes, and the touch controller then interprets the action. Because physical force is needed for a resistive touch screen to function, it is similar to a mechanical switch.

Resistive touch screens must be calibrated before they are used to ensure accurate and reliable operation. A user must apply pressure to the four corners of the screen, and sometimes on its center, to calibrate the screen with the rest of the system via a lookup database.

Because resistive touch screens interpret physical pressure as a touch, they are effective in a variety of environments using single touch. Any object capable of applying force to the screen can be used with the same result. For example, in applications where end users wear gloves, resistive touch screens offer reliable single-touch functionality.

Since resistive touch screens area actuated via mechanical force, they continue to function as intended even when liquids or debris are present on the surface. This makes them especially useful in situations where substances could disrupt the function of other types of touch screens. For example, on single-touch applications within agricultural equipment, boats and underwater machinery.

Besides the functional advantages of resistive touch screens, price is a common reason why OEMs select this option. In projects where cost is a top concern, companies can use this option to realize savings that may not be possible with alternatives.

The configuration of a resistive touch screen removes the possibility of gestures, such as pinching and zooming, or any actions requiring multi-touch functionality. These screens cannot determine the location of a touch if more than one input is present.

In terms of visibility, the film substrate commonly used as the top surface in resistive touch screens is less transmissive than glass. This leads to reduced brightness and a certain level of haze compared to touch screens with a top layer of glass. The film layer can also expand or contract based on temperature, which alters the distance between the two layers and affects touch accuracy. Additionally, the film substrates are susceptible to scratches and can start to wear away with repeated use, necessitating occasional recalibration or replacement over time.

Capacitive touch screens were invented before resistive touch screens. However, early iterations of this technology were prone to sensing false touches and creating noise that interfered with other nearby electronics. Due to these limitations, resistive touch screens and other options, like infrared touch screens, dominated the industry.

With more development and refinement of controller ICs, projected capacitive (PCAP) touch screens became the preferred touch technology for a majority of applications. For example, this technology is now commonly used on tablets, laptops and smartphones. Though PCAP stands for “projected capacitive (PCAP) touch”, it’s more commonly referred to as “capacitive touch”.

The foundation of PCAP touch screens is an array of conductors that create an electromagnetic field. As a user touches a PCAP screen, the conductive finger or object pulls or adds charge to that field, changing its strength. A touch controller measures the location of this change and then instructs the system to take a certain action, depending on the type of input received.

For a device with PCAP touch technology to acknowledge an input, users simply need to touch the screen. No physical pressure is required, unlike resistive touch screens.

Another key difference from resistive touch technology is that PCAP screens can accommodate a variety of inputs, with different gestures and more contact points instructing the system to take a variety of actions. PCAP touch can support multi-touch functionality, swipes, pinches, and zoom gestures which aren’t possible with resistive touch screens.

A PCAP touch screen is very similar to a solid state switch, as its mechanism of action requires a change in the electrical field over a control point.

The value that comes with recognizing multiple inputs is a clear and positive differentiator for PCAP touch screens. Users can initiate a variety of commands, providing more functionality in devices where this technology is used. Consider how consumers now expect smartphones, tablets, and interactive laptop screens to support actions requiring two fingers, like pinching and zooming. In more specialized settings, such as multi-player gaming applications, PCAP touch screens can support more than 10 inputs at a single time.

PCAP touch screens do not require initial calibration, offering a simpler experience than resistive touch screens. Additionally, PCAP touch screens are highly accurate even as they support a variety of gestures and subsequent actions by the system.

Since their top layer is usually made of glass, PCAP touch screens offer a high degree of optical transmission and avoid the appearance of haze to users. Additionally, the glass top layerprovides improved durability compared to the film top layer of resistive touch screens – even for the largest sizes of up to 80 inches (and growing).

Operation in environments where a PCAP screen may be exposed to liquids or moisture — including conductive liquids like salt water — is possible through specialized controller algorithms and tuning. PCAP technology has evolved to support medical glove and thick industrial glove operation, as well as passive stylus operation.

PCAP touch screens can be customized with different cover lens materials (soda lime, super glasses, PMMA) based on application specific needs. Cover lenses can be ruggedized with chemical strengthening and substrates that improve impact resistance. This can be especially valuable for public-facing applications, like ATMs, gas pump displays, and industrial applications. Specialized films or coatings – such as AG (anti-glare), AR (anti-reflective), AF (anti-fingerprint) – can be added to the cover lens substrate to improve optical performance.

Unlike resistive touch screens, PCAP touch screens depend on variations in an electrical field to operate. While a passive stylus can activate this screen, a non-conductive tool like a pencil can’t.

If cost is a top concern for a project, PCAP may not align with budget limits. It is a more expensive technology than resistive screens, although it continues to grow more accessible in terms of price as the technology advances and improves.

The below table compares the advantages and disadvantages of projected capacitive touch vs resistive touch screens.CharacteristicsPCAP TouchResistive TouchRequires calibrationNoYes

As a leading manufacturer of touch and display products, New Vision Display can help you determine the specific needs of your project and tune your PCAP touchscreen controllers to meet them. Our PRECI-Touch® products are based primarily on PCAP touch technology and can be customized for a variety of applications using a wide range of materials, stacks, and controllers.

Whether your product will be used in a life-saving medical device, the center console of an automobile, or the navigation controls on a yacht – we can deliver an effective solution for your application. To get started on your project, contact our specialists today.

Ready to get started or learn more about how we can help your business? Call us at +1-855-848-1332 or fill out the form below and a company representative will be in touch within 1 business day.

The ever-increasing reliance on touch screens in cars is a controversial topic. With each new product release, the comment sections of articles and youtube videos are filled with negative remarks. Yet, carmakers are totally committed to the race of creating ever-bigger screens. If public opinion is so against touch interfaces in cars, why do car companies use them? I dove into this topic and confirmed my hypothesis: touch screens are not the problem per se, but car companies" design execution is.

The CRT touch display was not that bad, but it took some decades before touch screens were good enough to be widely adopted in cars. After Tesla launched the Model S with its 17" touch screen, carmakers have been eager to design increasingly bigger touch screens. Today, it is an exception if a car is not fitted with one. There are many reasons why this is happening. To dive into those, we first have to define the different types of interactions that occur while driving and how they evolved over time.

The first set is the primary interactions. They include all the functions that are directly related to driving and safety. Examples are monitoring the speed, turning on the indicators, and operating the windscreen wipers.

The secondary interactions are actions that occur frequently but take little time to accomplish. These can be changing the music volume, changing cabin temperature, or turning on the airconditioning.

The tertiary interactions are the opposite of the secondary ones. They are infrequent but require a high cognitive load and take longer to accomplish. Examples are filling in a destination in the navigation system or changing personal settings in the car.

Over time, these sets of interactions have evolved in mostly the same way. The interior of the Volkswagen Golf is an excellent demonstrator. The first generation Volkswagen Golf has a simple interior. The primary actions are limited to two gauges, some buttons, and a stalk for the indicators. The same goes for the secondary settings, consisting of three sliders to control the temperature and some volume controls. The only tertiary interaction is to find and set a radio channel.

All three sets of interactions increase in quantity, even the primary ones. In the Golf, for example, instead of some basic gauges and controls, the latest generation"s primary interactions now also include adaptive cruise control, speed limit warnings, and a range of other safety systems. Even something as simple as turning on the windscreen wipers or lights has increased in complexity with different modes, sensors, and settings.

Similarly, the secondary controls include countless different ways to set the right cabin temperature. There are buttons for heated seats and windows, airconditioning, individual climate control, and more.

Initially, all these interactions were controlled via indirect, physical controls. But over time, with each generation, the display grows in size, and the number of physical controls decreases.

The latest generation Golf is another important step because even the secondary interactions are not moved to the touch interface. Most of the physical buttons that remain are the ones that are legally required.

Over time, just like most in-car infotainment systems, BMW adjusted iDrive for use with touch interaction as well. Why did they decide to include touch interaction in the later version?

A lot of it has to do with the increasing complexity of tertiary interactions. As the number of these interactions increases with each generation, indirect controls seem to perform worse than touch interaction, especially in two areas: task completion time and adoption.

Even compared to other possible interaction techniques like gesture interaction and voice interaction, touch interaction performs equal, if not better.

Naturally, task completion time is only one way to measure the success of an interaction model. Touch screens score differently when it comes to visual attention, lane deviation, reaction time, and others. Carmakers have to weigh the time it takes to complete the tasks versus the gravity of the distraction. In a lot of scenarios, touch interactions are the preferred method.

The second solid argument is the adoption rate of touch interfaces. Once drivers enter their cars, their focus is on driving and not on learning a new system. So one way to decrease driver distraction is to make the interaction as close to other familiar digital products as possible. As such, touch screens are preferred over indirect controls.

The next reason why car makers use touch screens has to do with decluttering. It is a term that is often heard in design departments. It means to reduce the visual overload or perceived complexity of the interior. Getting into a car and seeing a dashboard full of buttons gives a busy, overwhelming look. Instead, a calm-looking interior with few buttons has a positive impact on comfort and perceived quality.

Additionally, many customers relate a big touch screen to a technologically advanced car. As an interior designer, you don"t want your car to be perceived as old-fashioned so fitting a giant screen shows your brand is futuristic.

Compared to a dashboard full of different buttons, knobs, and screens, a single touch screen is a much more straightforward part to design, spec, and maintain. Therefore, carmakers may prefer to fit a standardized touch screen instead of a range of custom buttons and knobs because of the development cost.

Another advantage is the possibility to modernize the interior of the car by updating the UI design. Digital design trends move much faster than interior design trends. Tesla has shown that updating the interface of the Model S helps to delay an expensive redesign or new model introduction because the car looks less outdated.

In mobile environments, like cars, the users" primary focus is on controlling the vehicle. So touch interfaces not only have to be usable and accessible, but they also have to ensure road safety. As discussed before, even though task completion time is the fastest with touch interaction, there are other driver distraction measures where touch interaction is not the preferred method.

One of those is visual attention. When interacting with a touch screen, drivers need to move their visual attention from the road to the screen to find the object they want to select. Furthermore, they have to coordinate their finger to that object without any tactile objects guiding it. With physical controls much less visual attention is needed to perform the interaction, leading to less distraction.

What is the impact of this difference in visual attention between touch controls and indirect controls? Experiments have shown that reaction times are slower, and there is a higher variance in driving behavior like lane departure and maintaining speed

Other disadvantages are the lack of haptic feedback when selecting an object and the display"s placement, which is a trade-off between readability and reachability.

When weighing the positives with the drawbacks of touch screens, they are the right solution for tertiary interactions in most cases if they are optimized for task completion time.

Designing a touch interface is difficult, especially in the context of driving. As task completion time is the most significant advantage of touch screens, you would expect it to be one of the main acceptance criteria. Yet, many car companies don"t seem to focus on that enough.

The perfect example of that is the latest trend of including secondary controls in the touch interface. For secondary interactions, the task completion time is already at a minimum with physical controls. On top of that, the physical controls require less visual attention. By moving those to a touch screen, both the task completion time and visual attention are compromised. It is not only annoying for end-users, but it is also dangerous.

Carmakers may do this because of decluttering and cost-saving. The aesthetics are important and may persuade customers to buy a car when they first see it. But good design is finding the right balance between ergonomics and aesthetics. When considering the dangers of driving, the first job of the designer should be to minimize distraction.

On top of that, the added benefit of prioritizing safety is that the controls will be more intuitive and easy to use. An interior will look super slick in the dealership if it has no physical buttons. Still, most buyers will find out very quickly after purchasing their car that it is annoying to have to divert visual attention to simply turn on the heater if before they could do it blindly. In moving the secondary controls to a touch interface, the balance is leaning too much towards aesthetics than ergonomics.

The second example of carmakers making suboptimal design decisions is the interface design itself, which is often needlessly complicated. They are filled with features that make you wonder why you would need them in a vehicle, like the possibility to check social media, order a pizza from the car, find movie times, or set custom wallpaper.

To carmakers, offering a lot of features equals customer value. But as many tech companies have shown, customer value is actually created by ensuring users achieve their goals. Having too many features stands in the way of that, and research confirms that. Year after year, infotainment systems are the biggest frustration in new car ownership, and the majority of problems are design-related.

It may explain the popularity of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. These systems are optimized for task completion time and restrict access to certain features and apps that are deemed too dangerous. As a result, they are less distracting than native infotainment systems.

Customers want the latest technology and apps to be available in their car. Designing an infotainment system in such a way that it is not distracting is impossible. In theory, touch screens are a valid technology to facilitate these interactions. However, car companies should be minimizing the risks of distraction. Today, there are significant steps to be made to get to that point. But there are reasons to be optimistic about the future.

The interior of the car is always transforming, and so are touch screens. There is a lot to be optimistic about. Lately, the hardware powering the infotainment systems has seen significant improvements, leading to better screens and faster interfaces. There will be more innovations like haptic feedback and new input types like gestures and better voice interaction in the next years. These will help to mitigate some of the disadvantages of touch screens.

Most carmakers are also getting serious about over-the-air updates, which will allow more iterations on the interface design to weed out usability issues.

In the end, it will be vital that they tip the balance more towards usability than aesthetics. But once they optimize their interfaces, and when combined with physical controls and other modalities, touch screens in cars will be a great solution.

The best touch screen monitors allow you to interact with your desktop computer via tap, swipe and pinch-to-zoom. Alternatively, you can install it as a secondary monitor to use with an office-based laptop.

In this article, we"ve gathered together the best touch screen monitors available today – in a range of sizes from 21 inches to a special ultrawide monitor(opens in new tab) that"s 49 inches. If you"re after a smaller secondary monitor that can be carried with your laptop for use on the go, see our list of the best portable monitors(opens in new tab). (Portable monitors can also be had with touch sensitivity, but they"re smaller and are powered by your laptop"s battery, so they don"t need their own power supply.)

If you"ve already researched the best monitors for photo editing(opens in new tab) or the best video editing monitors(opens in new tab), you may have realized that none of them are touch screen monitors. But why not? Why would you consider choosing a new monitor without touch sensitivity?

After all, the best touch screen monitor will add an extra, more ergonomic form of user input, so must be better, right? Well, it"s not quite that simple. At the bottom of this page, you"ll find tips on what to look for when buying a touch screen monitor, including connectivity, size, and that all-important image quality.

Dell"s P2418HT has fairly typical touch screen display credentials: a 23.8-inch screen size and Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution. But it stands out from the crowd in other areas.

Its special articulating stand transitions the display from a standard desktop monitor to a downward 60-degree angle touch orientation. It also supports extended tilt and swivel capabilities, so you can adjust the screen to your task or a more comfortable position. Plus, a protective cushion at the base of the screen offers a buffer against bumps when the stand is fully compressed.

Marketed at commercial and educational settings as well as home use, the TD2230 boasts a 7H hardness-rated protective glass for extra scratch protection and durability. Super-thin screen bezels give the panel a modern, sleek look, plus there are integrated stereo speakers for added versatility.

The ViewSonic TD2230 boasts upmarket image quality thanks to its IPS LCD display that provides better color and contrast consistency, regardless of your viewing position, while the 1920 x 1080 screen res is high enough for crisp image clarity when spread across the 21.5-inch panel size. 250 cd/m2 max brightness and a 1000:1 contrast ratio are pretty typical, while HDMI, DisplayPort and analog VGA connectors ensure you"ll be able to hook this monitor to pretty much any computer running Windows 10, Android or Linux.

Want a larger than average touch screen monitor? This 27-inch offering is our pick, as it"s based around an IPS LED-backlit display. That translates more dependable color accuracy and contrast that won"t shift depending on whether you"re viewing the centre of the screen or the corners.

The Full HD resolution is spread a little thin across a 27-inch display, so images will look slightly pixelated, but this is an unavoidable compromise you have to make if you want a touch screen monitor larger than 24 inches. The PCT2785 does score well in terms of versatility though, as you get a built-in HD webcam and microphone, making it great for homeworking(opens in new tab) and video conferencing.

The T272HL boasts a slightly above-average 300cd/m2 brightness, along with 10-point capacitive multi-touch. There are also a pair of 2w internal speakers, and the stand allows a large 10-60 degrees of tilt to enhance touch ergonomics.

If you"re after a larger-than-average touch screen monitor, the T272HL is a reasonable choice, but there are compromises to be made. For starters, this is still a 1920 x 1080 Full HD monitor, so while it may be physically larger than a 23/24-inch Full HD display, images will simply look larger, not more detailed.

If you can get past the uninspiring black plastic design of the Philips 242B9T, this touch screen monitor has a lot to offer. It should be easy to connect to pretty much any computer, thanks to its full array of HDMI, DVI, VGA and DisplayPort connectivity and included cables for all but DVI. It"s even got its own built-in 2W stereo speakers, while the clever Z-hinge stand allows a huge -5 to 90 degrees of tilt adjustment, making it extra-ergonomic when using the 10-point capacitive multi-touch display.

At 21.5 inches, the Asus VT229H is one of the smaller touch screen monitors on this list, but it still sports the same Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution as larger 24 and even 27-inch touch screen displays, meaning you get more pixels per inch and slightly crisper image quality. This is also an IPS LCD, with wide 178 x 178-degree viewing angles and reliably consistent color and contrast, regardless of your viewing angle.

Most touch screen monitors are just that: a monitor, with a touch interface. But this 21.5-inch display also adds a pair of 2W stereo speakers for sound output, along with dual-array microphones and a built-in webcam for video conferencing. The IPS LCD display panel ensures decent color and contrast uniformity, while the Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution is easily enough to for crisp image quality on a screen this size.

The square black exterior is typical of Lenovo"s business-orientated products and may not be to everyone"s taste. Plus you"ll need to connect via DisplayPort only, as there"s no HDMI input. But otherwise this touch screen monitor offers a lot for a very reasonable price.

The obvious drawback with a touch screen monitor is the aforementioned size restrictions because if you want one larger than 27 inches, you"re out of luck. The next step up in size for touch screen monitors are 50+ inch displays designed for corporate presentations rather than home computing.

Even most 27-inch touch screen monitors have the same Full HD 1920 x 1020 resolution as their smaller 21-24-inch stablemates. So you"re not actually getting more pixels, only bigger ones. This can make your images just look more blocky unless you sit further away from the screen.

It"s not just outright screen resolution where touch screen monitors can fall short of their non-touch alternatives. Top-end screens designed for image and video editing are often factory color calibrated: they use LCD displays that can display a huge range of colors, or feature fast refresh rates for smoother video playback and gaming. However, touch screen monitors aren"t intended for color-critical image or video work: they tend to be all-purpose displays designed for more general applications like web browsing and basic image viewing.

Connectivity also tends to be compromised on touch screen monitors. You can forget about USB-C hubs(opens in new tab) with Power Delivery, and even DisplayPort connections can be a rarity.

These are the two primary forms of touch input. Resistive touch requires you to physically press the screen (which itself is slightly spongy) for it to register an input. It"s a cheaper form of touch input, and a resistive touch screen is also tougher than a capacitive equivalent, so they"re popular for use in ATMs and retail checkouts.

However, resistive technology doesn"t support multi-touch and won"t give the same fluid sensitivity as the touch screens we"re now accustomed to on phones and tablets. Consequently, most modern touch screen monitors use capacitive touch screens supporting 10-point multi-touch. These operate exactly like a phone or tablet"s touch screen, requiring only a light tap, swipe, or pinch to register inputs. All the monitors on this list use 10-point capacitive touch screens.

Put simply, even the best iMacs(opens in new tab) and MacBooks(opens in new tab) don"t support touch screen monitors. Consequently, all the touch screen monitors on this list will only work with Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and some Linux and Android operating systems.

Not all LCD monitors are created equal. LCD displays use three types of construction - IPS (In-Plane Switching), VA (Vertical Alignment), and TN (Twisted Nematic). Each one of these three LCD types exhibits noticeably different image quality characteristics, clearly visible to the average user.

For image and video editing, TN-based monitors should really be avoided. These are the cheapest to manufacture and deliver compromised image quality thanks to their restrictive viewing angles. This results in highly uneven color and contrast across the screen, effectively hiding shadow and highlight detail in your images. IPS-based monitorsare the gold standard for image quality. These produce color and contrast that doesn"t shift depending on which part of the screen you look at, making image editing much more precise. Most of the touch screen monitors on this list are IPS-based, and the rest are VA-based monitors. These can"t quite match the image quality of an IPS monitor but are much more color-accurate than a TN screen.Round up of today"s best deals

Touch screens are found everywhere from our smartphones to self-serve kiosks at the airport. Given their many uses, it should come as no surprise that there are several touch monitor types. Each has its advantages and disadvantages and is suited to specific tasks.

That’s right. Long before your precious smartphone entered the market in the late 00s, touch panels had already been an established technology for nearly 4 decades.

It’s quite possible that you’re not clear on exactly what a touch panel is, what the touch panel types are, or how they’re applied in your daily life, beyond that of your smartphone. For that and more, we’re here to help.

Quite simply, touch panels, which are also known as touchscreens or touch monitors, are tools that allow people to operate computers through direct touch. More specifically, via the use of internal sensors, a user’s touch is detected, then translated, into an instructional command that parlays into visible function.

Delving deeper into the technical side of things, touch panels are not as cut-and-dry as they may seem. In fact, the way they sense and react to touch can widely differ based on their inherent designs. As such, there are 4 touch panel types in regular use – Resistive, Optical Imaging, Projected Capacitive, and Infrared. Below, we’ll dig into their specifics, which include their advantages, disadvantages, and real-life product applications.

Resistive touch panels are cost-effective variants that detect commands by way of pressure placed on the screen. This pressure sensitivity is generally limited to single-point touch, with a 20-inch maximum screen, which is fine for many usage cases. These range from styluses to fingertips. As a result, if used correctly, resistive touch panels will remain functional even if a water drop has landed on the screen.

As a result of this versatility, however, many will find that resistive touch panels are less durable than their competitors. Moreover, with its reliance on single-point touch, this touch panel type is not actually capable of multi-touch functionality. Regardless, resistive touch panels are often found in grocery stores, where stylus-based signatures are typically required after credit card purchases.

Some like it hot and some don’t. Infrared touch panels definitely fall into the latter category. By setting up a grid of infrared beams across the panel, which may be up to 150-inches, touch is detected by way of this panel’s disruption.

Although infrared touch panels are durable and support multi-touch functionality, it does possess one potential drawback. Depending on where you sit, literally.

Despite infrared implying heat, infrared touch panels actually perform rather poorly in it, particularly in direct sunlight. In those circumstances, the infrared light beams can be disrupted by the sun’s rays, as opposed to your fingers. As such, be sure to place your infrared touch panel device in an appropriately dark location.

Light, and the disruption thereof, is not just a great way to produce a shadow, but also to design a touch panel type. To take advantage of this principle, optical imaging touch panels are designed to sense touch through infrared cameras and the disruption of light strips. This can be achieved through any input you want, across its 100-inch maximum size, from gloves to bare hands, and beyond.

All in all, optical imaging touch panels are just about the most versatile option the touch-based world can offer. From durability to multi-touch, and universal input prospects, the possibilities may truly be endless. Although its only disadvantage may be its non-compact design, common applications of optical imaging touch panels include certain varieties of interactive whiteboards.

If you identify with the phrase, “go with what you know”, then projected capacitive touch panels are the touch panel type for you. For now, you can guess where you know it from.

By way of their electrical-based touch detection, Projected Capacitive touch panels are known for their high precision and high-speed response times. What’s more is that they possess multi-touch functionality and can be used within small, compact, yet expensive, devices. Due to their underlying technology, it has proven challenging to scale up to larger sizes. Figured it out yet?

Assuming you haven’t, or would like to enjoy the gratified feeling associated with being right, allow us to reveal where you interact with projected capacitive touch panels on a daily basis – Smart Phones! What’s more is that they’re not alone, with tablet computers and GPS devices also utilizing projected capacitive touch screens.

It would be a mistake to assume that the applications of all these touch panel types are limited to that of consumer-level devices, or even those that have been previously mentioned. Really, these touch panel types can be found throughout everyday life and in a variety of industries.

What’s more is that in many of these industries, these touch panel types are used less to market products to consumers, and more to sell solutions to businesses. Whether it be in regards to finance, manufacturing, retail, medicine, or education, there is always a need for touch-based solutions. In conjunction with the so-called ‘Internet-of-things’, these touch-based solutions play a key role in practices related to industry 4.0.

In practice, these solutions largely offer a form of personnel management. In hospitals, stores, or banks, for instance, these touch panel types can be used to answer basic questions, provide product information, or offer directions, based on the user’s needs. When it comes to manufacturing, on the other hand, these solutions enable employee management in the possible form of workplace allocation or attendance tracking.

At the end of the day, touch panels are here to stay. In the four decades since their inception, the level of adoption this technology has experienced is remarkable. They transform how we teach in classrooms and collaborate with colleagues.

Although you may not have been clear on the specific details of each touch panel type, we hope that you are now. This knowledge will absolutely serve you well, particularly if you’re interested in ViewSonic’s selection of touch-based solutions.

Interactive touch screens have become such an integral part of everyday life that they’re almost as likely to be found in the playroom of a preschool-age child as on the factory floor or in the field. And as touch screens become increasingly integrated with consumer and industrial IoT, their demand continues to grow across every market sector.

At Pivot International, we are the global one-source partner helping companies worldwide successfully design, engineer, manufacture, distribute, and deploy the latest in consumer and industrial touch screen technologies and IoT innovations. With more than 50 years of experience, in-house DFM expertise that spans fourteen industries, and 320,000 square feet of tricontinental manufacturing capability (including domestic options), we deliver a smooth, seamless, highly collaborative approach to NPD and successful product launch.

There are five types of touch screen technologies: resistive, capacitative, near-field imaging, infrared, and ultrasound. Each is differentially suited for various consumer and industrial applications. Let’s take a look at each.

Resistive touch screens are the most common industrial touch screen technology. They are constructed of two interfacing glass sheets or specialized films that respond to direct pressure. Traditionally, the glass sheets or films used in this type of touch screen are coated with indium tin oxide (ITO), a transparent conductive material. But this material is increasingly being replaced with more advanced materials, including copper microwires, silver metal mesh, silver nanowires, and graphene.

The switch from ITO to these other materials results from the need to integrate touch functions into the LCD panel rather than manufacturing a transparent touch screen overlay. This makes for a thinner, lighter device with enhanced optical benefits. Because resistive touch screens respond to pressure, they are more reliably responsive to touch than the capacitative versions we’ll discuss below. However, resistive touch screens offer lower resolution image quality than their capacitative counterparts. They are also slower to respond to touch and can register only one pressure point at a time, therefore precluding multi-touch functionality.

Capacitive touch screens were first invented in the 1960s but didn’t appear in the consumer market until the advent of the iPhone. The strength of capacitative technology lies in its instant responsiveness and superior image quality. Capacitive touch screens function on electrical conductivity that alters the screen’s electrical field. Multi-touch functions (think “pinch-to-zoom”) are made possible by triangulating electrical alterations to calculate paired coordinates that “read” the touch location. Unlike resistive touch screens, capacitive touch screens are unresponsive to touch that does not emit an electrical charge. (Which is why it’s almost impossible to use an iPhone while wearing a glove.)

Some capacitive touch screens include a protective layer that protects the display from moisture, extreme temperature, impacts, and solvents, making it suitable for industrial and outdoor applications. For example, our teams at Pivot created a control system for dairy farms with IoT data reporting and touch screen technology that controls milk tank temperatures and wash cycles.

Like capacitative touch screens, near-field imaging touch screens read touch commands by measuring an electrostatic field. The difference is that NFI touch screens feature a corner-configured electrostatic charge, making them more responsive to touch from almost any source. (Even if you’re wearing a glove, NFI devices will instantly register and respond.) A primary advantage of NFI touch screens is that they can withstand extreme field conditions. This makes them a perfect fit for the industrial and security and defense applications that Pivot brings specialized experience in.

Infrared touch screens rely on a grid of LEDs and light-detector photocells placed at opposing positions. The LEDs beam an infrared matrix across the screen that, when “broken” by touch, provides the basis for the device to detect the input location. Infrared touch screens require dozens of components and precision manufacturing. Despite being more expensive to produce, they are often the ideal product solution for applications that include ticketing kiosks, ATMs, office automation, medtech, and even beverage dispensers like the one Pivot created with an integrated processor and customizable I/O system.

Ultrasound technology has enjoyed cross-industry applications for more than a century. But today’s surface acoustic wave touch screens are light years beyond their earlier incarnations and make it possible to make almost any surface responsive to touch. SAW touch screens work by projecting ultrasound waves across the surface of a screen. As the soundwaves are absorbed by whatever comes in contact with the surface, the screen’s controller chip can instantly identify, read, and accurately respond to commands.

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The Crestron® TST‑902 wireless touch screen is an advanced wireless controller, engineered to deliver ultimate performance, reliability, and customization for controlling a wide range of technologies. Its thin, tablet‑style design is easy to hold and moves effortlessly between portable and stationary use.1 Its large‑capacity, rechargeable battery affords several hours of operation between charges. Dual‑mode wireless performance with roaming capability assures dependable connectivity throughout a commercial facility or home.

Featuring a high‑contrast 8.7 in. capacitive touch screen with Smart Graphics® technology, the TST-902 allows completely customizable control over media presentation and teleconferencing systems, lighting and shades, HVAC, home theater, and a host of other technologies. Additional advanced features include voice commands for controlling touch screen functions, full-motion streaming video from cameras and other sources, Rava® SIP intercom, and an internet browser.2,3

Smart Graphics® technology enables programmers to integrate fluid gesture‑driven controls, animated feedback, rich metadata, embedded apps and widgets, and full-motion video into their user interfaces. Smart Graphics provides dynamic features such as graphical buttons and sliders, lists and toolbars, drag‑and‑drop objects, dashboard widgets, screensavers, and customizable themes.1

Rava SIP Intercom Technology enables hands‑free VoIP communication with other Rava‑enabled touch screens and door stations. Rava works over a network connection, supporting 2-way intercom and paging without requiring any special wiring. Built‑in echo cancellation affords half‑duplex performance for clear, seamless voice communication using the integrated microphone and speakers.2

Customized audio files can be loaded to add another dimension to the touch screen graphics using personalized sounds, button feedback, and voice prompts.

Note: Every TST 902 installation requires a Crestron ER wireless gateway to provide essential wireless capability to the touch screen. The TST 902 will not function over Wi Fi communications alone.

Extended Range RF (Required):Primary functionality is supported via Crestron ER (Extended Range) wireless communications, providing seamless touch screen control with true feedback. A single ER gateway provides dependable wireless performance at a range of up to 200 ft (60 m) indoors.4,5 Roaming capability allows for even greater coverage using up to eight ER gateways.

Wi-Fi Communications (Optional):Advanced wireless capabilities such as streaming video, voice recognition, web browsing, and dynamic graphics are supported only by using both ER and Wi‑Fi communications together (dual‑mode). Crestron‑enhanced Wi‑Fi wireless performance supports up to 50 ft (15 m) of omnidirectional coverage indoors.5 For Wi‑Fi networks with multiple access points, the TST‑902 can hand off communication from one access point to another if the active connection is lost.6 Support for 802.11 b, g, and n protocols affords reliable, high-speed wireless performance in virtually any RF environment.

The TST‑902 has been engineered with Instant‑Waking® technology, where the touch screen display wakes instantly after being touched. Commands are also sent immediately, so spontaneous actions like muting audio, pausing video, or changing a channel can be executed without any waiting.

The TST‑902 includes a table dock for charging its internal battery while simultaneously allowing it to be used as a stationary tabletop touch screen. The table dock holds the TST‑902 firmly at a fixed upright angle while docked, and allows it to be taken off at any time for portable use. Its sleek appearance makes it a perfect fit for any home or office.1

The optional TST‑902‑DSW provides a flush mount, in‑wall docking solution, allowing the TST‑902 to be used as a stationary wall mount touch screen that can be turned into a wireless touch screen at any time.4

The 7" and 10" Tabletop Touch Sceens bring total system control to your fingertips through a stylish, industrial design. It can be completely portable or affixed to the rechargeable docking station. It"s an ideal intercom device with high-resolution video display and camera, and crystal-clear audio.

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