When choosing a touchscreen device, it’s important that you consider vibration time. Whether it’s a smartphone, tablet computer or human machine interface (HMI), nearly all touchscreen devices produce vibrations as a form of a tactile feedback. But the time is takes a device to produce these vibrations varies depending on the device.
What Is Vibration Time?
Vibration time, when used in the context of touchscreen devices, refers to the length of time it takes a touchscreen device to vibrate after the user performs a touch command. As previously mentioned, most touchscreen devices vibrate as a form of tactile feedback. When you perform a touch command (e.g. tapping an icon or using a virtual keyboard), the device will respond to your command by vibrating. Known as tactile feedback, it’s designed to reduce input errors by notifying you that the device registered your touch command. If you tap an icon but the device doesn’t vibrate, you’ll know that your touch command wasn’t registered, thus you can tap the icon again.
Vibration time is exactly what it sounds like: the length of time from when you perform a touch command to when the device responds with vibrations. To the average user, it may seem like a touchscreen device responds immediately with vibrations. However, there’s always at least some delay — and that delay is referred to as vibration time.
What’s a Normal Vibration Time?
You might be wondering what a normal vibration time is for a touchscreen device. Well, it varies depending on the specific type of touchscreen device and how it was designed. With that said, high-quality touchscreen devices should have a vibration time of 15 milliseconds (ms) or less. If a touchscreen device has a vibration time of 10 ms, it means it will vibrate about 10 ms after you perform a touch command. Some touchscreen devices have a vibration time as short as 5 ms, meaning it will respond twice as quickly than a device with a 10-ms vibration time.
Does Vibration Time Matter?
It absolutely matters! Touchscreen devices with a long vibration time promote a poor user experience. Due to the long delay between touch commands and vibrations, they can lead users to believe that their touch commands weren’t properly registered when in fact they were registered.
In conclusion, vibration time is the length of time from when you perform a touch command to when the device vibrated. High-quality touchscreen devices should offer a vibration time of 15 ms or less. This is incredibly fast, thereby reducing input errors while simultaneously promoting a positive user experience.
