Concept in Definition ABC

The iPhone was a revolution in the world of mobile telephony smart for various reasons, including the fact that it was the first and, at the time, the only one to have a screen with multi-touch support. What is the difference compared to a touch screen?

Usually, we refer to the ability to interact with our smart mobile phone through the fingers saying that it is tactile when, in fact, we should say that it is multi-touch, since it recognizes several pressure points simultaneously and "understands" actions with two or more fingers

An example of this is the zoom action, the popular pinch-and-zoom, by means of which, and with two fingers, we enlarge what we have on the screen.

Such an action would have been impossible on a touchscreen device from the pre-iPhone era (nowadays, when we refer to a device having a screen "Touch", actually what we mean is that it is multitouch), since they could not recognize more than one pressure point simultaneously, and even less actions with several fingers on the screen.

Today, many devices that have a multi-touch screen accept up to 10 touch points simultaneous, and are able to interpret orders and interactions carried out from all these points

However, the usual use of any mobile device with a multi-touch screen is done with two fingers, which is why these devices tend to recognize fewer fingers on the screen, such as five, per example.

While the hardware recognizes the pulsations, is the software the one in charge of interpreting its meaning and impact on the app or, in other words, what should the operating system then.

Although it seems a very new technology, in reality multi-touch screens began their journey in 1982 in the field of digitizing tablets

But it wasn't until Apple revolutionized the mobile phone landscape with the iPhone that the industry it did not adopt multi-touch screens. Previously, physical keyboards, stylus that allowed interaction with a touch screen and, at most, the interaction of a finger on a touch screen, it was all you could get out of a smartphone.

The technology to recognize multiple touches and interactions is not unique. In the market we have capacitive technology, which uses various types of sensors, so more than talking about technology in singularWe often refer to capacitative technologies in the plural.

We also have resistive technology, based on the superposition of two slightly separated sheets, calculating where they meet by the action of tactile pressure.

There are other technologies, although they are much less used.

Photos: Fotolia - robu_s / mast3r