I’ve seen a lot of questions on people’s blogs and forums asking about the exact same question, is a touch screen a sensor or is it nothing more than a capacitive membrane? There are basically two different technologies that make up modern cell phones and one of them is resistive and the other is infrared. Capacitive is the most commonly used technology and the others are infrared and hybrid. I’ll explain what each of these technologies is and how they work and then answer your question, is a touch screen with a sensor.

Resistive technology was the first type of screen found on a phone. This type of screen works by allowing the electric fields around the sensitive parts of the phone to push the display screen surface in the direction that the electric field dictates. This is extremely smooth and feels like you are actually touching the phone this way.

Infrared was the second type of technology that was used on a phone. Touch screen displays use this infrared technology. Instead of using electric fields to tell the phone screen what to do, this uses radio frequency. What this means is that the phone has an individual radio frequency which is picked up by the censoring when you place your finger on the screen. This is a bit more expensive than resistive technology but it has the advantage of being much smoother. You can also type without looking at the screen, which some people think makes the phone more personal.

So we know the difference between capacitive and infrared touch screens, now, back to the original question, is a touch screen a sensor? In actuality it isn’t a sensor at all, it is a pressure sensitive membrane that lets you tell the phone screen what to do based on the amount of pressure that you apply with your finger. Each finger has a different amount of pressure which tells the phone what to do. It is basically a small digital machine that is very easy to program and use.

This technology is found on many electronic gadgets today including cell phones. The reason why cell phones have this kind of technology is because it would be very difficult to make a phone that had this kind of precision control without using some kind of hardware. However, if the phone did have this kind of sensing device it would be much less likely to get dropped and would last much longer. It would also be very convenient for those that are always on the go.

The answer to the question is a touch screen is yes, it is a sensor. The only question left is if you want a phone that only allows you to make calls with a touch or one that allows you to browse the internet and do other things. If you are the person who likes to perform multiple tasks, it would probably be best to get a phone that lets you do both. If you only call the phone when it’s important then you might want to get a phone that only allows you to make a call and nothing else. Whatever your preference is, just make sure you know what it is you need before you buy from any touch screen phone.