Hitachi unveils a capacitive screen that also reads stylus input

Do you remember the resistive touchscreen on your old Palm Pilot or Visor? We know, those names just brought on a wave of nostalgia. While we love the now-standard capacitive touchscreens, we miss the precision of our styli. Hitachi has unveiled a new capacitive touchscreen that allows you to use your fingers, or any other object to control your device, including multi-touch.

They explain that the system works by converting insulated items (i.e. not your fingers) into capacitors, so that it can read their input interchangeably. The display reads non-capacitive input accurately to within 0.5mm. You won't be drawing any masterpieces on it yet, but the technology is impressive, and certainly headed in the right direction.

Beyond the concern for more fine inputs, Hitachi's technology will be great for people in cold climates. If you live in a cold climate, wear gloves, and own a touchscreen phone, then you know why. There are even special winter gloves on the market so users can still operate their touchscreen devices without exposing their fingers to the numbing cold.

Screen technology has come so far in so little time. Just when we were looking forward to Super AMOLED screens becoming the norm, now we're looking forward to 3D screens on every device. Now all we need is a 3D, Super AMOLED, and capacitive-hybrid screen.

source: DigInfo News (YouTube) via Engadget