# What are the different kinds of touch screens? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 3, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-different-kinds-of-touch-screens/527560 "2010-02-03T18:36:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-different-kinds-of-touch-screens/527560/1 "2010-02-03T18:36:18Z")
Some respond to fingers and some seem to respond to pens and I am just wondering what are the different types? ---
**Author:** ![Fastidiots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@Fastidiots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fastidiots)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-different-kinds-of-touch-screens/527560/2 "2010-02-03T20:44:12Z")
There are resistive, surface acoustic, capacitive, infrared, optical, strain gauge, dispersive, and the new bidirectional. Wiki has a great article on it. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-different-kinds-of-touch-screens/527560/3 "2010-02-04T22:46:19Z")
If I could ask a related question: when the iPhone was first announced, Jobs made a big deal about “this time we patented everything!” but of course there are a whole bunch of touchscreen phones coming out now from other companies. How did they get around Apple’s patents? And if it was that easy to come out with similar technology, what was the point of making a big deal out of the patents in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-different-kinds-of-touch-screens/527560/4 "2010-02-05T13:52:43Z")
Interesting Wiki article. I know about a few of the systems, but not the others. Does anyone know which technology the iPhone uses? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-different-kinds-of-touch-screens/527560/5 "2010-02-05T14:29:33Z")
The iPhone uses a capacitive touchscreen, but an unusual one - there’s a description here: > **[How the iPhone Works](https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/iphone2.htm)** > > Multi-touch systems on touch-screen cell phones allow the use of touch commands that require multiple fingers. Learn more about multi-touch systems. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-different-kinds-of-touch-screens/527560/6 "2010-02-05T16:59:07Z")
Thanks! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-different-kinds-of-touch-screens/527560/7 "2010-02-05T17:50:55Z")
My Touchsmart responds to both 😃 But each type works better when the other is switched off. (You can switch both on, so it will work with fingers and the stylus, but the using the… oh I can’t be arsed to finish this.