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Posts: 28 | Thanked: 10 times | Joined on Jun 2008
#151
Originally Posted by ewan View Post
Since you've used both designs, why would you prefer capacitative? As I understand it, the pros are that it allows multitouch, and it doesn't require any pressure to use, whereas the cons are that you lose precision and the ability to use the screen with anything other than a bare fingertip (so no nails, no stylus). On the face of it that doesn't sound like a good trade-off, particularly on a device like the N900 which will likely run quite a lot of apps (desktop ports and web apps) not designed specifically for a fingers only interface.

Clearly, on something like the iPhone that lacks a separate keyboard the multitouch is useful for things like game controls (though at the cost of having the user's thumbs obscure the display), but I what would capacitative add to the N900?
Well, for a resistive it's pretty good but when I put it down and pick up the iPhone, the difference is very noticeable. There's a reason why Maemo 6 is going for capacitive.

The UI has never made me feel like picking up a stylus though.

Also multitouch is important for the sake of the onscreen keyboard. The on screen keyboard on this phone is just plain bad if you've used the iPhone keyboard. I mean your maximum typing speed is less then half what it would be on the iPhone.

Otherwise the browser and links functions just like the iPhone and you have control over what you are selecting with just a fingertip.

Because of the resistive screen engaging hover mode is difficult and sometimes you need to use your fingernails. I think capacitive will make for a better device for most people. The exception would be for people who want to input Chinese characters with a stylus but apparently iPhone has solved that problem. I haven't tried it myself but I have heard it works well.