AfterDawn: News

Video Daily: iPhone has best quality touchscreen, Droid "does" not

The MOTO Development Group has published a report this week which has given the Apple iPhone, hands-down, the best marks for quality of touchscreen.

The phone was put up against three Android competitors, the Nexus One, the Droid and the Droid Eris.



The test itself was pretty simple: "Although we usually use sophisticated tools to test touch screen accuracy, MOTO has also developed a simple technique anyone can use to evaluate the resolution and accuracy of a touchscreen device. All you need is a basic drawing program (download one if necessary), a steady hand, and a few straight lines drawn very slowly on the screen."

The iPhone had the smoothest, straightest lines, although it notably had the worst sensitivity towards the edges of the screen. The Droid had the worst sensitivity all-around, while the Nexus One and the Eris had some trouble with "light contact."

MOTO concludes that the iPhone has a small sensor size and smarter processing that determines where the fingers are moving. The Droid's sensor may be "too coarse."

Check the video and picture:

DIY Touchscreen Analysis from MOTO Development Group on Vimeo.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 10 Jan 2010 16:03

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• 14 comments

• Morreale

  Droid "does" have real keyboard.

  10.1.2010 17:36 #1

• defgod

  Originally posted by Morreale: Droid "does" have real keyboard.That "doesn't" take up half of the screen when you're using it.

  10.1.2010 20:15 #2

• lamain

  Quote:Droid "does" have real keyboard. And it seems has a problem with the quality of its touch screen....
  
  I am just glad the nexus one seems to be respectable.

  10.1.2010 20:56 #3

• lxhotboy

  Originally posted by Morreale: Droid "does" have real keyboard.lol. Give the droid a pat on the back. I have read the droid has a prblem with playing some videos. I'm not sure if it was streaming or whatever but it was noted as choppy compared to the iPhone.
  
  An jailbroken iPhone is still the measuring stick for all smartphones. AT&T is soon to loose their exclusive rights to the iPhone and every other carrier will probably have a version so what smartphone on the market can actually give u a better package of features and capabilities for a better price? Got my iPhone for $99. Wouldnot trade it for anything. Apple, though they do have issues, is a leader and other have to follow in their footsteps.
  
  Now if they would just learn to lower the price of those high dollar laptops
  they sell and maybe their sales numbers would skyrocket.
  
  P.S. This post was done from an iPhone. A phone that as stated has no slide put
  Keyboard. Honestly once u get use to the onscreen keyboard it's not half bad
  Love it.

  10.1.2010 22:24 #4

• xnonsuchx

  Originally posted by Morreale: Droid "does" have real keyboard....that a lot of people complain about too!

  11.1.2010 02:32 #5

• djeazyg

  Quote:Originally posted by Morreale: Droid "does" have real keyboard.lol. Give the droid a pat on the back. I have read the droid has a prblem with playing some videos. I'm not sure if it was streaming or whatever but it was noted as choppy compared to the iPhone.
  
  An jailbroken iPhone is still the measuring stick for all smartphones. AT&T is soon to loose their exclusive rights to the iPhone and every other carrier will probably have a version so what smartphone on the market can actually give u a better package of features and capabilities for a better price? Got my iPhone for $99. Wouldnot trade it for anything. Apple, though they do have issues, is a leader and other have to follow in their footsteps.
  
  Now if they would just learn to lower the price of those high dollar laptops
  they sell and maybe their sales numbers would skyrocket.
  
  P.S. This post was done from an iPhone. A phone that as stated has no slide put
  Keyboard. Honestly once u get use to the onscreen keyboard it's not half bad
  Love it.Jailbroken is key. If it wasn't jailbroken I might have a different opinion. But otherwise I couldn't agree more. Over priced but worth it.

  11.1.2010 02:55 #6

• lxhotboy

  You're right. Originally I was going to get the android but found out that the iPhone can do pretty much the same things after being jailbroken. I have made my own ringtones from music on iPhone right on phone itself, recorded video (3G iPhone), run multiple apps, tethered to laptops, put pictures in my contacts list next to names, and much more since being jailbroken.
  
  The android and iPhone are really about the same. Each maybe better in certain areas but do exactly the same thing. I wish iPhone could upgrade memory and change battery as easy as the droid does. Oh yeah.. And the droid has superior battery life I think even to the 3GS iPhone. I recommend them both as I have watched multiple reviews comparing these two heavy weight powerhouses. Each won there share but really it was not like either phone just left the other behind.
  
  
  Does anyone have any input on other phones that are actually as good and coparable the the android and iPhone? I had blackberry in the past and they don't even need to be mentioned in comparison.

  11.1.2010 11:10 #7

• NeoandGeo

  I experimented with with my Droid using the drawing program Simply Draw and mine came out looking like the Droid Eris

  11.1.2010 15:09 #8

• shaffaaf

  butthe thing is bboth the iphone and anroid there is a hell of alot of tapping rather than gesturing. i would love to see this on a palm pre where geastures have replaced any reasons for buttons on the face of the phone (even the iphone has a home button).

  11.1.2010 19:12 #9

• jetyi83

  I own a droid and am impressed with it, but really im still waiting for the newer phones to come out. This battle with nexus and droid and iphone is pretty meaningless. Android is coming out with probably 10 new flagship androids this year while the iphone will maybe have one. Android phones will eventually surpass the iphone unquestionably in most areas. Their speed of evolution is so much quicker than apple. Major updates come out every couple months, and there are new android phones every couple weeks. Apple has a great phone, but its not a fair war. They have only held on so long and will continue for the next year or two because of their very innovative and industry leading design and technology. But now that its all caught up its a different industry. Apple cant hold on to the "best phone ever" title for very much longer. It will be undeniable that the iphone wont be the best within the next year or so.

  12.1.2010 18:20 #10

• lxhotboy

  Originally posted by jetyi83: I own a droid and am impressed with it, but really im still waiting for the newer phones to come out. This battle with nexus and droid and iphone is pretty meaningless. Android is coming out with probably 10 new flagship androids this year while the iphone will maybe have one. Android phones will eventually surpass the iphone unquestionably in most areas. Their speed of evolution is so much quicker than apple. Major updates come out every couple months, and there are new android phones every couple weeks. Apple has a great phone, but its not a fair war. They have only held on so long and will continue for the next year or two because of their very innovative and industry leading design and technology. But now that its all caught up its a different industry. Apple cant hold on to the "best phone ever" title for very much longer. It will be undeniable that the iphone wont be the best within the next year or so.I must say i am enjoying the other companies showing that they can keep up with apple and maybe show them a few new things. The one thing with having so many diff android phones is going to be inconsistency with performance with each diff maker of a phone that has the Android OS.
  
  As far as apple being knocked off their throne with the Iphone. Well, they do already have the next iphone in development and i have read some lucky individuals actually already have beta versions of the 4th generation iphone so apple doesnot plan to give in without a fight. Will be interesting though.

  12.1.2010 20:23 #11

• jetyi83

  The new Iphone might be a great phone, but it still will be competing with at least 4 other major manufacturers that have basically caught up as far as technology. Googles nexus 2 could come out with a dual core snapdragon 1.5ghz with qwerty and an update for google voice VOIP, befor e the holiday season, maybe way before.
  
  As far as this whole article is concerned, it's also meaningless to me. The "best" quality touchscreen to me isnt which screen is slightly more smooth to the run of your finger, especially when there is no noticeable difference in any daily use. The real difference to me would be pixels, brightness and size. The Droid wins all 3 of those. Id the droids touch smoothness were under par that would be a different story, but it performs perfectly for any application ive ever used.

  13.1.2010 19:15 #12

• Jimathome

  It would seem to be an American thing about the multitouch as the Droid here in Europe renamed by Motorola the Milestone has multitouch as does the HTC Hero, pehaps it has to do with US patents as both phones work fine using it. I believe the new Nexus One can do the same it's just been deactivated by the manufacturer. I have been following all the latest developments in the smartphone arena with some interest, I think Apple will certainly be given a good run for it's money, there are a few things that really turn me off about the Iphone being amongst others the battery, odd for a phone, in fact it must be the only phone in the world that you can't just walk in to a shop buy a new battery and replace it yourself which say after 1.5 years of use you will need to do anyway or end up recharging it every day. Plus it's really nice to have an extra battery that you can just swap out if need be.
  To the memory 16 or 32 gig's but again you can't swap it out and once it's full that's it, maybe it does have a lot more apps but it has been around a lot longer than the competition plus most of the Google apps are free,then there is the resolution of the screen much better from the competition and the processor. Last but not least it is in fact foremost a phone and Iphone performs really bad in this respect a good friend of mine has the 3GS and he often has a poor signal in the same place and same time as me on the same network and i'm just using a simple Sony Ericsson K770i. So for the price and limitations i'm afraid the fruit company will have to make some pretty drastic improvements before I would consider purchasing their product.

  14.1.2010 09:03 #13

• lxhotboy

  Originally posted by Jimathome: It would seem to be an American thing about the multitouch as the Droid here in Europe renamed by Motorola the Milestone has multitouch as does the HTC Hero, pehaps it has to do with US patents as both phones work fine using it. I believe the new Nexus One can do the same it's just been deactivated by the manufacturer. I have been following all the latest developments in the smartphone arena with some interest, I think Apple will certainly be given a good run for it's money, there are a few things that really turn me off about the Iphone being amongst others the battery, odd for a phone, in fact it must be the only phone in the world that you can't just walk in to a shop buy a new battery and replace it yourself which say after 1.5 years of use you will need to do anyway or end up recharging it every day. Plus it's really nice to have an extra battery that you can just swap out if need be.
  To the memory 16 or 32 gig's but again you can't swap it out and once it's full that's it,
  maybe it does have a lot more apps but it has been around a lot longer than the competition plus most of the Google apps are free,then there is the resolution of the screen much better from the competition and the processor. Last but not least it is in fact foremost a phone and Iphone performs really bad in this respect a good friend of mine has the 3GS and he often has a poor signal in the same place and same time as me on the same network and i'm just using a simple Sony Ericsson K770i. So for the price and limitations i'm afraid the fruit company will have to make some pretty drastic improvements before I would consider purchasing their product.I agree with mostly everything as I have posted almost idenitical complaints myself but remember that with a JAILBROKEN iPhone ... Pretty much all apps are free so the apps comparison isnot really valid.

  18.1.2010 17:24 #14