Droid has the worst touch screen?? How so!?

**XCalibration17** · 01-10-2010, 11:06 AM

check this out guys.. How does this even work. I think the touchscreen on my DROID works perfectly. Anybody else wanna chime in on this crap?

**Jeremy** · 01-10-2010, 11:34 AM

I wrote about this over at the iPhone blog yesterday. They are not saying it is bad it just does not perform as well as others such as the iPhone. If you have ever used an iPhone the difference is clear as day.

**XCalibration17** · 01-10-2010, 11:39 AM

Sorry, i never look at the iphone blog. My apologies lol

**Jeremy** · 01-10-2010, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by XCalibration17

Sorry, i never look at the iphone blog. My apologies lol

No need to be sorry! I was just saying I wrote about that yesterday is all.

**Dave12308** · 01-10-2010, 01:24 PM

Originally Posted by Jeremy Sikora

I wrote about this over at the iPhone blog yesterday. They are not saying it is bad it just does not perform as well as others such as the iPhone. If you have ever used an iPhone the difference is clear as day.

I own an iPod Touch, which has the same screen as an iPhone IIRC. I see no real difference in quality between it and my Droid. If anything, my Droid has the more sensitive screen.

Note, I do not mean this comment to sound anti-iPhone, as I think my Touch's screen is GREAT.

**Jeremy** · 01-10-2010, 01:26 PM

Originally Posted by Dave12308

I own an iPod Touch, which has the same screen as an iPhone IIRC. I see no real difference in quality between it and my Droid. If anything, my Droid has the more sensitive screen.

Note, I do not mean this comment to sound anti-iPhone, as I think my Touch's screen is GREAT.

Opinions is what makes this world go around...

**snydahh** · 01-10-2010, 01:33 PM

As an owner of the iPhone 3G for 6 months and the 3GS for 6 more months I'd have to say, in my opinion, that the iPhones touch screen is a tad bit better than the Droid. However, I was also an Eris owner and for that video to say the Droid was the worst sounds very opinion biased to me. I feel the Eris was worse than the Droid. The Droid is very comparable to the iPhone is my eyes, and I've only had my Droid for two weeks now. I'm sure after I've owned the Droid for a year its touch screen will be as good, if not better, than the iPhones for me.

**Cory Streater** · 01-10-2010, 01:33 PM

It looks like he used an entirely different piece of software to test the Droid than he did the Eris? How does the tester know the app didn't skew the results somehow?

**Jeremy** · 01-10-2010, 01:36 PM

Originally Posted by Cory Streater

It looks like he used an entirely different piece of software to test the Droid than he did the Eris? How does the tester know the app didn't skew the results somehow?

Quoting the testers:

On inferior touchscreens, it’s basically impossible to draw straight lines. Instead, the lines look jagged or zig-zag, no matter how slowly you go, because the sensor size is too big, the touch-sampling rate is too low, and/or the algorithms that convert gestures into images are too non-linear to faithfully represent user inputs.

And don't worry, I still love my Droid.

**PJnc284** · 01-10-2010, 01:36 PM

meh, that looks like hardly a reliable test since there's too many variables. And I guess this just means that if you want to be an artist and draw on your phone, you should get an iphone.

**Jeremy** · 01-10-2010, 01:39 PM

Originally Posted by PJnc284

meh, that looks like hardly a reliable test since there's too many variables. And I guess this just means that if you want to be an artist and draw on your phone, you should get an iphone.

The OP of this thread posted a link that showed a single aspect of testing. For the full test and results check out . There is a lot more involved that drawing on the phone...

**Cory Streater** · 01-10-2010, 01:53 PM

I'd still like to know why they used thick purple lines on a black background for the Motorola Droid test vs. skinny black lines on a white background for the iPhone and Eris test. You'd think he could of at least used the same colors, thicknesses, and backgrounds on the Droid as he did with the Eris. He could have used an entirely different piece of drawing software on the Droid than he did with the Eris.

**Jeremy** · 01-10-2010, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by Cory Streater

I'd still like to know why they used thick purple lines on a black background for the Motorola Droid test vs. skinny black lines on a white background for the iPhone and Eris test. You'd think he could of at least used the same colors, thicknesses, and backgrounds on the Droid as he did with the Eris. He could have used an entirely different piece of drawing software on the Droid than he did with the Eris.

No idea but shows the lines look very similar on all devices.

**Cory Streater** · 01-10-2010, 01:58 PM

I guess I'll be downloading some drawing software today

**Jeremy** · 01-10-2010, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by Cory Streater

I guess I'll be downloading some drawing software today

Post your results then if you can.

**Cory Streater** · 01-10-2010, 02:09 PM

You guys can install a free app called DrawNoteK and run the same test as the tester did. It looks the same as the one he used on the Eris and the results were about the same as well. Like he said, if you draw faster the line looks smoother.

As far as it affecting the accuracy of they keyboard, I would put the Droid's keyboard up against the iPhone's any day. I think they are equally as accurate.

**XCalibration17** · 01-10-2010, 03:57 PM

Yeah, don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to say that I'm hearing the Droid has a bad touchscreen so I'm switching to a different phone. I love my Droid and I wouldn't trade for any other phone!

**hydrogenman#ac** · 01-10-2010, 06:10 PM

I find the droid's screen to be inaccurate, especially when trying to click on links in the browser.

it could be the contour of my fingertips but I didn't have the issue with an iPhone 3GS

That being said, I'll take the Droid's better looking and bigger screen over the iPhone's more accurate smaller screen anyday

**JGR4444** · 01-10-2010, 07:48 PM

i bought a itouch when it first came out and i can still say it is the best investment i have ever made. I have all of my music on it an if i am by a wifi spot i can hop online. I have had multiple touch screen phones over the years and i always get rid of them because none of them are up to par of my itouch but when i purchased the droid i was relieved because i finally found something with a touch screen as good as the itouch/iphone. Since i own both devices i can honestly say there is very little difference between the screen sensitivity. Although i do like apple's screen protectors a little more than verizons, but thats a different point. I think the test that the OP posted is completely bogus, iphone lovers just cant admit that there is finally a phone as good or better that has entered there everlasting dominance in the touch screen/smart phone world

**korp#IM** · 01-10-2010, 08:23 PM

I'm sorry ... hd screen? lol .... /thread.

**Adrynalyne** · 01-10-2010, 09:57 PM

That has to be one of the worst designed experiments ever.

1. A human finger testing is too big of a variable.
2. One phone each to test is too few samples.
3. Different software between each device ends up tainting results.

For what its worth, my own Droid test is below. The lines arent exactly straight. I will lend that to me being human, and capacitive screens not meant for drawing

A whole lot better than they showed though.

**ardoreal** · 01-10-2010, 10:58 PM

Originally Posted by Jeremy Sikora

Quoting the testers:

And don't worry, I still love my Droid.

Working in the electrical field I've got some other stuff to chime in here too....

Apple found the best balance between sampling rate, sensor spacing, and registering ohms. Different voltages will register ohms differently on a circuit. If your voltage is too low, ohms generally are a more reliable way to see what's going on in a circuit. In the case of these touchscreens they're simplistically just checking ohms between points on a grid under glass.

I've actually taken the time to measure the distance between sensors on the wiring grid on the iPhone and Droid and the spacing is the same. What I have no idea of is the voltages or sampling rates or what it's hardwired to. If they haven't used the best voltage, this is the best it's going to get. From what it appears this is voltage related because the slow motion of the finger is suppose to get as close to hardware capability as possible. Sampling data points as much as possible occurs on a slow moving finger, and the slower the movement the same type of squiggles occur.

For all we know they have almost the exact same hardware and the algorithms differ in the controller between what Apple and Motorola use.

Either way, it's pretty clear that Apple has a superior setup. Nobody needs to get bent out of shape about it.

**Adrynalyne** · 01-11-2010, 12:12 AM

The only thing clear is that the testing was that it was a horribly flawed method and unscientific.

**Jeremy** · 01-11-2010, 12:15 AM

Originally Posted by Adrynalyne

The only thing clear is that the testing was that it was a horribly flawed method and unscientific.

Please read what I said a few posts ago. The OP only posted a link that showed a single test. There were multiple tests done not shown but explained in a link I provided.

Hope this helps explain things a bit better.

**Adrynalyne** · 01-11-2010, 12:17 AM

If its not flawed, then why can't I come up with the same results?

Since when do the same programs that run on the iPhone, run on Android? Not all programs work or perform the same.

Since when can a human finger provide the same exact result, every time, every phone?

Too many variables to make a real test. There has to be a better way.