How to Choose a Capacitive Touchscreen

Jan 15, 2021

Capacitive has become the world’s most popular and commonly used touchscreen technology. It powers everything from smartphones and tablet computers to human machine interfaces (HMIs), smartwatches and more. If you’re looking to buy a capacitive touchscreen, though, there are several things you need to know. Following these tips will help you find the perfect capacitive touchscreen.

Backlighting

All capacitive touchscreens require backlighting. After all, they must illuminate the display interface so that you can see the icons, virtual keys or virtual buttons. There are different types of backlighting used in capacitive touchscreens. Some of them use electroluminescent (EL), whereas others use light-emitting diode (LED) backlighting.

EL and LED are both energy efficient, and they both last a long time. Nonetheless, there are nuances between them. EL is an older backlighting technology that’s more susceptible to temperature fluctuations than its LED counterpart. Even though it’s energy efficient, EL also uses a little more energy than LED backlighting.

Projected or Surface

When choosing a capacitive touchscreen, you’ll need to determine whether it uses projected or surface capacitance technology. All capacitive touchscreens are defined by their use of capacitance to detect touch commands. They can identify your touch commands by measuring an electrostatic field on the surface. However, there are two types of capacitive touchscreen technology: projected and surface.

Surface capacitance and projected capacitance are similar technologies. The main difference is that projected capacitance uses intelligent processing to deliver a higher level of accuracy. They are able to detect touch commands more accurately than surface capacitance touchscreens.

Resolution

Don’t forget to consider the resolution when choosing a capacitive touchscreen. Resolution refers to the number of pixels included in the display. As previously mentioned, all capacitive touchscreens — as well as other touchscreens — have a display. Within these displays is a grid of pixels that are responsible for producing visible images when illuminated by the backlighting.

The resolution of a capacitive touchscreen’s display can vary. Some of them have a higher display resolution than others. With a high-resolution, the display will produce clearer and more detailed images.

Size

You should consider the size when choosing a capacitive touchscreen. Capacitive touchscreens are available in a variety of sizes. You can even order them in a custom size to meet the needs of your application. Capacitive touchscreens can be small or large. If you’re planning to use for a custom business-related application, you’ll need to choose an appropriate size for it.

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