Apple hardware-driven touchscreen patent?

[bgstcola]

I read this:

The touchscreen sensitivity on the iPhone is better than any I’ve seen on Android. That’s because Apple holds a patent on the hardware-driven touchscreen, meaning Android screens can only be software-based. The problem with this is especially evident in the keyboard and in gaming, but really only when compared side-to-side.

http://www.gnorb.net/1949/iphone-4-review-and-observations

I that true and does it mean that Android screens can never be as responsive as iphones?

 

[pm]

Because I'm crazy, I actually pulled up a list of all of the Apple patents that I could find that related to touch screens and I didn't find one that mentioned hardware acceleration. There were a lot of patents though, and I just did a quick scan through them, and the legal language of patents is intentionally hard to read so I could have seen it and not recognized it.

Try for yourself:
http://www.google.com/patents

But, that said, I've never heard of Apple having a hardware touchscreen patent. The closest that I've heard of is their controversial multi-touch patent that they were awarded earlier this year (after the linked article was written).

So, no, I don't believe it is true. I've also heard - but not experienced myself - that the Nexus Prime running ICS is pretty well matched for responsivneness against the iPhone 4S.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

So, no, I don't believe it is true. I've also heard - but not experienced myself - that the Nexus Prime running ICS is pretty well matched for responsivneness against the iPhone 4S.

Yeah, not surprisingly Samsung has touchscreens that are competitive with the ones Apple uses.

 

[MrX8503]

I'm not sure if thats true or not, but I remember a line drawing test that a third party did. The iPhone Gen1 screen blew away the competition, it was much more accurate than everything else. This was the first iPhone, so I assume that the 4S is as good as it gets.

Back then the iPhone was in another class, but now everything has improved since then so most top tier phones today should be about the same.

 

[notposting]

Here's a report on the line drawing test, unfortunately the actual site is gone now...

http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile...us-one-in-touchscreen-accuracy-test-20100111/

That being said, the Windows Phone I'm using is easily as responsive and accurate as an iPhone, and blows away the various Android models I've used. I think a big part of it is the software intelligently interpreting finger touches.

 

[pm]

So I tried a Samsung Galaxy Nexus this morning - one of my co-workers bought one from expansys last week and he got it yesterday and brought it in this morning.

I own an iPhone 4S and I have to say that the Nexus is silky smooth to use. It's very fast, very responsive, and zooms in and out very smoothly. I think it's as fast to use as an iPhone 4S, so in answer to the question above, I think Android can be just as smooth... because I've seen it myself.