IMHO this capacitive vs resistive argument is based on the fact that resistive screens have been out longer, and the older resistive screens that most people are used to are nowhere near as good as the latest capacitive screens.

But multi-touch is a nice feature, and when the N920 comes out and if it does have a capacitive screen (and OLED I hope) I would assume that it will be much better than the current range of screens.

Guessing about the N900 when the device was a few months away from production is one thing, but guessing about a device that is possibly over a year away is something else....

Wrong again.

It's not that nobody cares about running Debian (or full blown, unaltered openoffice.org or whatever) on a smartphone - or mobile computer or tablet or whatever the marketing word du jour may be.

It's that the masses don't care. But there is a relevant number of people who do and who are afraid they're about to lose their favorite platform for doing exactly that. I'm one of them.

When i said nobody i meant "most"

Lets see how the internet will now play out with the Capacitive screens, since the N900 is doing a great job navigating all the small links. and scrolling threw pages.

I know.

I just thought your post was a welcome excuse for pointing out that there are those who aren't "most".

I never really understood that when capacitive style screens hit the market that they were "better" than resistive. It's all about apples and oranges and no I am not talking about that kind of apple.

If you like multi touch ability and don't need any precision then go capacitive. If you like precision and have no need for multi touch then go resistive. People really need to stop thinking that one is "better" than the other.

Personally I love resistive screens because they are both stylus and finger friendly if the UI and Apps UI are designed right. I have had nothing but problems using a capacitive screen so I personally will never own a device with one.

Just for future reference:
This is WRONG

Has it ever occurred to you you can actually use multi touch to zoom in and get similar accuracy as stylus? In the case you're gonna need backwards compatibility this is quite useful. Or, you zoom in and read. Because you're going to zoom in anyway because resolution is different. The proclaimed useless pinch is actually useful for this specific task, and undervalued because people only think of Google Maps.

No, this use case won't work for e.g. drawing. But for that we already have professional tools ie. Wacom, or you can still use resistive screen. Nobody is saying either one is perfect.

You can how well this works today with LogMeIn Ignition. I wouldn't want to use this day by day, but for in case of emergency it works pretty well. Same for non-optimized UI. Wouldn't want to run them day to day. It could also use some serious improvements such as 'sticky windows', much akin to the zooming Fennec and MobileSafari use.

Now, by the time of Maemo 6, the plan is, in my eyes, that you're not gonna need a stylus at all anymore because beautiful, HIG'ed, non-distracting, native, finger touch Qt4 applications are providing most of the features you need. IOW, context matters.

An application meant for PCs just does not fit in that role unless it is less bloated (lightweight version), takes into account 800x480 resolution, and optimized for the UI (finger touch), and HIG'ed. Well, you might as well start over then. Although I saw a post of KOffice Mobile the other day (OO.o uses GTK so it is on longer term out of the question anyway).

Need more? Use a remote desktop. Feeling masochistic? Run OO.o.

Try using remote desktop (or VNC) and controlling traditional desktop apps at the n810/900's insane dpi without a stylus or the accuracy that comes from resistive. My n810's job is to extend my PC and give me as close to a laptop/desktop experience with something that fits in my pocket. I don't want apps optimized for handhelds or designed for a touch UI, I *tolerate* them. These are sacrifices I make for the sake of the form factor.

Personally I think if the n920 leak is true, it's right on the money. It might not be the device for me, but that's OK because the n900 is (almost). However for people looking for more of an iPhone experience, n920 fits nicely. How to solve the resistive vs. capacitive debate? Make both, and let your customers choose!

How about a hybrid capacitive+resistive screen? You would get both the acuracy and the finger friendlines?


How to tell the difference... Make the capacitive always be the one that matters when it can(as it kinda needs your capacitance to actually do it's work) and a resistive would then only function with a fingernail/sytlus.