How accurate is the iPhone's touchscreen? Not very: Samsung outdoes Apple as tests reveal it's inaccurate 75% of the time

  • The touchscreen of Samsung's Galaxy S3 was compared to the iPhone 5S
  • Samsung's screen only lost accuracy around the top and side edges
  • Apple's iPhone 5S was found to be inaccurate across 75% of the screen
  • Finnish researchers tested the screen's accuracy to within one millimetre

The latest victory in the battle of the handsets goes to Samsung as test show its touchscreens are superior to those found on handsets made by rival Apple.

Finnish firm OptoFidelty has found that while the touchscreen on the Samsung Galaxy S3 only lost accuracy along the edges, but Apple's iPhone 5S and 5C were inaccurate across 75 per cent of their respective screens.

Researchers measured the screen accuracy on all three devices to within one millimetre using a robot with an artificial finger.

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OptoFidelty performed accuracy measurements by tapping the phones across the screen and comparing the touch position with reported coordinates.

OptoFidelty measured accuracy by tapping the phones and comparing the touch position with reported coordinates. Passes are shown in green and fails are shown in red. Samsung's Galaxy S3, right, lost accuracy at the edge of its display, whereas the iPhone 5S and 5C lost accuracy in 75 per cent of cases

The Apple iPhone 5S touchscreen had a 25 per cent accuracy

Apple's iPhone 5S, pictured, had a 25 per cent accuracy

The Apple iPhone 5C touchscreen also had just a 25 per cent accuracy

The iPhone 5C, pictured, had a similar accuracy score to the 5S

The tests, carried out by OptoFidelity found Samsung's Galaxy S3 only loses accuracy at the very edge of the display.

Samsung's Galaxy S3, pictured, only lost accuracy at the edges

HOW WAS THE ACCURACY TESTED?

OptoFidelity used its Touch Panel Performance Tester (TPPT) to measure the accuracy of the touch panels on each phone. 

The TPPT is fitted with artificial fingers.

It presses the 'fingers' onto the screen and records the coordinates, to within one millimetre.

This creates a pass or fail score where passes are shown in green and fails are shown in red.

OptoFidelty performed the first accuracy measurement by tapping the phones and comparing the actual touch position with reported coordinates.

This created a pass or fail score, limited to plus or minus one millimetre.

Passes were shown in green and fails were shown in red.

The accuracy of each screen was then plotted using these markers.

Researchers then used the robot, called the OptoFidelity Touch Panel Performance Tester (TPPT) to simulate typing on each device along the QWERTY keys.

By using the robot, the researchers were able to accurately track the co-ordinates of the artificial screen in relation to the coordinates of the screen.

Samsung's Galaxy S3 only lost accuracy along the side and top edges.

This bezel is deliberately added to phones to prevent fingers accidentally clicking links, opening apps or swiping pages in a book accidentally. 

OptoFidelity used a robot called the Touch Panel Performance Tester (TPPT) to simulate typing on each device along the QWERTY keys on the keyboard.

OptoFidelity used a robot called the Touch Panel Performance Tester (TPPT) to simulate typing on each device along the keys on the keyboard. This image shows the typing accuracy of the Galaxy S3, which only lost accuracy at the edges (shown in red)

By comparison, the Apple iPhone 5S was less accurate than the Galaxy S3.

By comparison, typing on the Apple iPhone 5S was less accurate than the Galaxy S3. This image shows that the keyboard lost accuracy along the edges and in as far as the E key on the left, and the letter I on the right, pictured

Both Apple devices had a high level of accuracy in the bottom left of the screen, but were less accurate elsewhere.

By comparing coordinates, OptoFidelty was able to work out that Apple's phones were only accurate across 25 per cent of their screens, meaning they were inaccurate in 75 per cent of cases.

This could explain why, on occasions, typos can be difficult to correct or why clicking on a specific link can take several attempts.

'Because the touch accuracy is more even in Galaxy S3 than in iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, you get fewer typing errors, and letters which are close to the edge are working better,' said a spokesman for OptoFidelity.

'You can also test this by tapping letters on the edge and typing long text messages.'

During the typing tests, Samsung again only lost accuracy on the very edge of the keyboard, while Apple's keyboard lost accuracy inwards to the E on the left and the letter I on the opposite side of the board. 

The Touch Panel Performance Tester (TPPT), pictured, is fitted with artificial fingers.

The Touch Panel Performance Tester (TPPT), pictured, is fitted with artificial fingers. It presses the 'fingers' onto the screen and records the coordinates, to within one millimetre

The researchers concluded: 'Today when mobile devices are getting more and more sophisticated, user actions with device are expanding user experience and the quality of device are becoming major differentiators in mobile business.

'By reliably testing touch accuracy, latency, scroll performance or other features that strongly affect the real end user experience mobile and touch device manufacturers can achieve real
market benefits without sacrificing user experience.'