With very rapid advancements in the mobile phone industry, new features like the touch screen have come out. In the past, all phones had the regular LCD screens that merely displayed data. These screens are still in use today, but they are fast becoming passé as more and more phones, especially the newer high-end ones, now sport a touch screen that can be touched to quickly input data or commands.

Most people know what a touch screen is, but not everyone knows that there are actually two main kinds of touch screens. The first one is called resistive, and the other capacitive. They use technologies that are quite different. If you are planning to buy a high-end or a smart phone, you may be told that this model has a resistive touch screen, while that model has a capacitive touch screen. It pays to know the difference between these two touch screens to help you choose better.

Resistive touch screens, as the name implies, use resistance or pressure. Exerting pressure on the screen, either from a finger or a stylus, is the equivalent of pushing on a specific part of the screen that then triggers an action (like clicking a mouse button when using the computer). In contrast, capacitive touch screens don’t need pressure; instead they respond to the conductive property of your fingers. An object that doesn’t conduct electricity—such as a rubber stylus—won’t work at all on a capacitive touch screen, no matter how hard you push the stylus. (Not only will this not work; too much pressure might damage the touch screen.) Thus, another name for capacitive touch screen is conductive touch screen.

Styluses for mobile phone touch screens also come in two kinds: resistive and capacitive. Resistive styluses are the regular ones which also work with gaming devices like the Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation. They look like small pens or sticks whose function is simply to point and exert pressure on the screen. In contrast, capacitive styluses are specially made ones that have conductive properties. They aren’t merely cut from rubber, wood or just any material that can be used for resistive styluses. Thus, capacitive styluses are generally more expensive than resistive ones.

Going back to the touch screens, the resistive type, because it requires pressure, needs a harder prod than a capacitive one. Just a light touch is often what’s needed on a capacitive screen, and flicking or swiping gently on the screen also works quite well. This is so because the finger only has to touch the surface to make contact with sensitive electrodes that then relay or conduct the command to the underlying circuit.

A resistive touch screen also tends to be thicker, because it is made up of many layers. The topmost layer flexes under pressure from a finger or stylus, and then pushes back on a layer under it, which then pushes on another layer below, and so on, until the circuit is completed. In comparison, a capacitive screen doesn’t have that many layers since it uses electrodes within a circuit that can all be contained in a single layer.

Perhaps the most famous mobile phone with a capacitive touch screen is <strong>Apple’s iPhone</strong>. Some phone models that have a resistive touch screen are the Samsung Jet, Nokia N97 and HTC Tattoo. These use sophisticated types of resistive touch screens that come close to the sensitivity of capacitive touch screens.

Which then is better: capacitive or resistive?

Capacitive may be the obvious answer, but it is not as simple as that. It is true that capacitive touch screens are more sensitive, needing just a light touch of the finger, but they offer less accuracy compared to resistive screens. Using a stylus on a resistive touch screen will give you pinpoint accuracy that can’t be possible with using your finger on a capacitive screen. The smaller the screen and the icons, the more accuracy is needed so that you can tap on the right buttons or icons, and on the right letters and numbers on an onscreen keypad.Another point to consider is the price. Mobile phones that have capacitive touch screens tend to be more expensive.The prudent thing to do then is to try using the phone, and play around with it to see which feels right to you. Do not judge solely based on the capacitive or resistive nature of their touch screens.