Quote:
Originally Posted by pghaworth
anyone in the know... could this be related to static discharge? there's not a shock, spark, or anything, but it is winter, heat is on, wearing sweaters and that type clothing...
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Lots of people have
observed static electricity interferring with smartphone capacitive touch screens.
Capacitive screens have a capacitive layer that holds an electrical charge. When you touch the screen it sinks current and the voltage drop is interpreted as a touch. An insulator, like a glove won't register a touch. But a banana would. And a pen won't for an antithetical reason, it conducts too well.
Static charges won't sink current like your finger or a banana. But they have large potentials in the order or 10 - 100,000 volts. So it's not implausible that they could perturb the capacitance and perhaps register a random touch. Amazon could largely eliminate such effects with good design but whether they made that effort..
FWIW you can reduce static electricity by increasing the relative humidity in your home. Or by keeping your skin hydrated. And yeah try not to rub the screen with that cat that you don't have.
