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Touchscreen Performance Test - Iphone Beats N1

3rd-Geer

Android Enthusiast
Aug 5, 2009
302
0
Well this is a pretty interesting article. These guys performed a test by simply using a drawing app to draw diagonal lines across the screen of 4 phones. They tested the iPhone, N1, Droid, and Droid Eris.

In the test, if you draw your lines slowly, you'll be able to tell how accurate the screens touch ability is. If your lines are very straight, it means that the accuracy when pointing at things and typing on the keyboard is a lot better.

Anyways, the winner in their test was the iPhone. N1 and Eris tied, and the Droid got dead last.

iPhone Beats Droid, Nexus One And Droid Eris In Touchscreen Performance
 
Unless they are using the same drawing app on all four phones, they are entering another variable. This is not accurate scientific methodology. In fact, from the pictures compared to the video, it appears that the Eris did much better in the video compared to the still pictures. What's that all about? No doubt that the iPhone did admirably, but I suspect it has a lot to do with how well the app was designed as generally, app design on the iphone tends to be much better than Android.
 
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Unless they are using the same drawing app on all four phones, they are entering another variable. This is not accurate scientific methodology. In fact, from the pictures compared to the video, it appears that the Eris did much better in the video compared to the still pictures. What's that all about? No doubt that the iPhone did admirably, but I suspect it has a lot to do with how well the app was designed as generally, app design on the iphone tends to be much better than Android.
I agree this is a little wack. When I first saw it I assumed they had some sort of mechanical device that is capable of a perfect line do the swiping. But it's just this dude and his finger. It should be obvious that a human finger does not swipe a perfectly straight line. Just like trying to draw a straight line slowly with a pencil, it's hard. The eris has some imperfections in the video but it totally looks to be in line with the imperfection of his finger drawing. The eris has one of the most kick ass touch screens I've ever handled. I wouldn't be surprised to see a technical analysis of the iPhone beating it, but this analysis with a human finger swipe is shit.
 
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lol, true a human can not make his finger go in a true straight line right. And the iPhone one looks the most straight, while the other doesnt (at light touch), maybe the iPhone one isnt sensitive enough to notice the small changes in the human finger movement, and the droid is so sensitive, that its the only one that truly represents the path of the finger :D
 
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Stop blaming it on the iPhone "crowd." It was one test. Jeesh.

Go play with your iPhone somewhere else. I've read every single one of your posts and in every one, you're vehemently defending your precious iPhone. Doesn't it get tiring doing that on a forum dedicated to a completely different OS / Device you don't seem to care for?
 
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Ok, so I downloaded PicSo Lite. And on first try, I got straight lines on my DROID going slow. The more I tried it, the more I noticed that my finger pressure would vary. When it did, then my line would get crooked. It's incredibly hard to maintain consistent pressure while dragging your finger across the screen, but it was no where near as bad as the article said.

Then, I decided to do it a different way: Instead of dragging my finger and attempting to keep the same pressure on the screen, I put my right finger on the screen and MOVED THE PHONE with my LEFT hand. I got MUCH better results and consistently straight.

My hypothesis about the iPhone is that the screen is less resolute, so the algorithm for inputting pixels is simpler. But even so, I managed to replicate straight lines with very little edge distortion. Honestly, compared to my results, it looks like who ever drew the lines on their Android phone (particularly, the DROID) must have had Touret's Syndrome.
 
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I agree that there is a lot of subjectivity in this test, but the assertions these people are making are anything but. From a summary of the article:
"On inferior touchscreens, it's basically impossible to draw straight lines. Instead, the lines look jagged or zig-zag, no matter how slowly you go, because the sensor size is too big, the touch-sampling rate is too low, and/or the algorithms that convert gestures into images are too non-linear to faithfully represent user inputs. This is important because quick keyboard use and light flicks on the screen really push the limits of the touch panel's ability to sense."

First off, I want to point out that the report doesn't say that Droid or N1 have "inferior touchscreens". Rather he leaves the inferrence to the reader.

This test could be worthwhile if he mentioned the specs for touchscreens and controllers compared to performance. I contend that this would be good information to have when looking at devices, even including the variables you all have mentioned. Does anyone know where to find this information? What is the relationship of sensor size and resolution to performance?
 
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Right now, the high-up in power tech guys are all iPhone fanboys. BoyGenius, Engadget...both their reviews had many valid points, but more invalid points bashing the nexus.

+1

And as Android picks up more steam, it's only going to get worse. They'll soon be counting dust specks under the screens.

I could just see it:

"Once again the iPhone comes out on top with only 3 dust specs. Our Droid and n1 units didn't fare as well, we counted 5. Check back next week for our finger print tests."
 
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