eli5: How does a smart phone know you are touching the screen with more than one finger, or doing a gesture?
In: Technology
Depends on phone.
Multi-touch – the screen can detect the presence of more than one points of contact for input. A “10-point” touchscreen will distinguish all ten of a person’s fingers separately.
Pressure sensitivity – the amount of pressure applied to the screen is also detected. This adds another layer of input and is used in the Apple Watch as Force Touch and 3D Touch in the iPhone 6S.
Gesture recognition – the touchscreen recognizes certain finger motions as separate commands, such as double-tapping to select text or pinching to zoom out.
Haptics – recreates the sense of touch with motion. In today’s smartphones, it often refers to vibration generated when touching the screen.
Fingerprint resistance – since most users will be using their fingers, newer screens are have oleophobic coating (Greek for “fear of oil”) that prevents oils from sticking to the surface.
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