Study Finds iPhone 5S and 5C touchscreens inaccurate

Interesting, but they don't go into detail of how much off they are? Maybe is 1/128 of a pixel off or something like that.

Wow those comments on that article are full of so much angst. Hysterical!

I never had a problem when testing out some 5S/C devices today. Typing wasn't a problem. The touch screen felt just the same as any other iPhone I've owned (all except original and the 5).

monkor said:

http://blog.gsmarena.com/tests-show-iphone-5s-and-5c-touchscreens-are-inaccurate/

Discuss!

I have noticed during that Dumb Ways To Die game that my 5S screen is wildly inaccurate at times when I don't take my finger off the screen. Could just be that I have a lemon, but it could also be a problem. I'd be interested to see whether or not this inaccuracy is isolated to this generation iPhones, or if it extends to the last generation ones as well. My 4S was easily the most accurate device I've ever used, so I have a feeling it may be just this gen.

(And if you want a good laugh, scroll to the comments section, where you'll find delusion and hopelessness.)

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After glancing at the actual test writeup, I can't see any reference to the use of multiple phones of the same make. How can you run a test on just one phone? You need to test a large sampling to make a definitive statement about the accuracy of the touchscreen. Maybe they got a lemon. Maybe they got the best Galaxy ever made. Who knows. But without proper testing, the results are almost worthless.

I haven't read that but I noticed that it takes sometimes, not always, more than one tap to get something to work. More of a bother in some apps than others. I figure there will be a fix for this coming also.

I definitely have noticed a difference in how Android and iOS perceive touch inputs, especially when I switched back to an iPhone from a Galaxy Nexus. But I don't think it's because of "inaccuracy." I think iOS interpolates pixel positions based on some algorithm while Android literally maps the screen coordinates to the pixel coordinates of the OS.

First, let me state that this is pure conjecture.

But here's an example:



It seems that the closer to the center you touch, the more "accurate" it is. But when you move off to the sides, then iOS "reaches" over to the edges more. I would guess that this is because Apple thinks users unconsciously skew their touches closer to the center, even when they really want to hit something on the edge.

The same thing seems to happen when you move up or down. Basically, any time you move away from the "safe" zone of where your thumb most easily reaches (i.e. the green blob in the center here), iOS "helps" you out by hitting something a little further away, because it thinks that's actually what you're trying to hit.

Again, this is pure speculation, and I have no actual evidence to back any of this up. But I don't think this is out of the realm of possibility; iOS does other stuff similar to this, like when you clearly hit one key on the keyboard but iOS instead presses an adjacent key, because (I think) it interprets the most likely target based on the previous letter you typed.

da-vid said:

I definitely have noticed a difference in how Android and iOS perceive touch inputs, especially when I switched back to an iPhone from a Galaxy Nexus. But I don't think it's because of "inaccuracy." I think iOS interpolates pixel positions based on some algorithm while Android literally maps the screen coordinates to the pixel coordinates of the OS.

First, let me state that this is pure conjecture.

But here's an example:

Image

It seems that the closer to the center you touch, the more "accurate" it is. But when you move off to the sides, then iOS "reaches" over to the edges more. I would guess that this is because Apple thinks users unconsciously skew their touches closer to the center, even when they really want to hit something on the edge.

The same thing seems to happen when you move up or down. Basically, any time you move away from the "safe" zone of where your thumb most easily reaches (i.e. the green blob in the center here), iOS "helps" you out by hitting something a little further away, because it thinks that's actually what you're trying to hit.

Again, this is pure speculation, and I have no actual evidence to back any of this up. But I don't think this is out of the realm of possibility; iOS does other stuff similar to this, like when you clearly hit one key on the keyboard but iOS instead presses an adjacent key, because (I think) it interprets the most likely target based on the previous letter you typed.

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I beleive this theory with the key board actually...I use to have an Android device for 5 years ans when I type "love" I actually type "live" all the time with android device and with iOS i probably type "live" but "love" comes up cause I use that word more then "live". Ok thats confusing

monkor said:

I believe green on the pictures indicated accuracy within a millimeter, whereas red represented inaccurate within a millimeter.

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a writer in MR just posted about it, its in the front page and has more details!

monkor said:

I think you literally summed up my frustrations while switching back and forth between OS's. They function so differently sometimes on the typing front! Great analysis.

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Yeah, the typing thing and overall difference in touch input interpretation between Android and iOS can get frustrating if you're switching between them. Turns out I was off-base on why the study's results are flawed though, but the keyboard thing is definitely something I've noticed on iOS.