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Originally Posted by NatCh
I use my finger on my Trēo 680 regularly, it works pretty well there.  |
The Treo is not a capacitive touchscreen; it's a membrane. Works OK with stylus or finger as long as you aren't trying to hit a tiny target with a big, irregular finger.
The capacitive touchscreen is not conductive, and it does not require a battery-powered (or bio-powered) item in contact, and it will not respond to a thin stylus electrically coupled to your body (at least the capacitive touchscreen on my iPhone won't) in contrast with what others and what Wikipedia says.
A capacitive touchscreen responds when something with an electrical charge or charge capacity gets close to it. It's all a matter of shifting electrons with a non-contact electrical field. FYI, I just triggered my iPhone screen with a plastic lens-cleaner body by pushing the broad edge of it against the screen. Probably had to do with the material having a static charge on it different from the screen and inducing a shift of electrons.
The broadness of the area affected is key to triggering these capacitive touchscreens. iPhone styli are available and they have broad, mushy tips. Not sure about the material composition, but they're not specifically conductive.