The JXD S7100 is a portable Android device that looks like a cross between and Android phone and a handheld gaming console. It can run classic Gameboy, Nintendo, or other console games using emulators and the game buttons built into the sides of the device. But it’s also a full-fledged Android device with a touchscreen display and support for Angry Birds and other modern classics.
We first spotted the JXD S7100 last month. But it turns out there are at least two different versions of the gaming handheld — and it’s probably worth spending the extra money on the more expensive model.
For about $140 you can get a version with a resistive touchscreen display. But ChinaGrabber also has a $168 version with a capacitive touch panel.
Capacitive touch displays interact with the electrical impulses in your fingertips. Since most Android games are designed for finger input rather than the fingernail or stylus you’d need to use with a resistive touch panel, the capacitive version is probably the way to go if you want to play touch-based games.
via Netbook News.it
The most important difference is that Resistive is crap.
More correctly, capacitive screens use the skins ability to conduct electricity as a way to detect where the contact is. This because there will be a higher voltage detected near it, or some such. Resistive work the other way, as the surface of the screen is physically bending. This then result in a higher resistance in that area.
The main reason for capacitive screens is that they more easily allow for multi-point detection. that is, they can detect contact at multiple points at the same time. Resistive screens usually see a single large blob, and put the actual contact point somewhere in the center of that, when there are multiple points of contact. Note that there are resistive screens now that can do multiple point detection (but unlikely to show up on some “cheap” chinese gadget), and resistive screens in general allows for a more fine grained coordinate detection (allowing something like a stylus to pick between two small UI objects without having to zoom in or similar).