About Touchscreen Kiosks
Touchscreen technology
Below you will find information that Advanced Kiosks engineers continually review when choosing monitor components for a touchscreen kiosk.
This information can also help you make an informed decision when purchasing your kiosk for any self service application.
A Touch Screen is actually two components:
- The Touchscreen: A sheet of glass with one of the touch technologies (described below) bonded to a monitor.
- The Monitor: Usually an LCD Monitor.
Monitor
LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display and for a good overview of this technology, go to Wikipedia.
More importantly are the features of the monitor that affect the user experience. LCD Monitors come in a variety of different designs made for specific applications. We review some of the features for factors such as Refresh Rate, Contrast Ratio, Bit Depth, and Power Usage.
Commercial vs. Consumer Monitors
Commercial Monitors – Designed and built for business applications where detail, color and image are important. These touch screen kiosk monitors express sharp detail and definition for a better impression for potential guests and customers.
An important advantage of a commercial grade monitor is that it is built for consistent use 24/7. These include a 1-3 year warranty reinforcing the durable, longer lasting reputation of a commercial monitor.
Consumer Monitors – Built quickly and cheaply, and can wear out in a short period of time. These also don’t typically include a warranty.
All monitors in every Advanced Kiosks models are commercial grade and covered by our 3-year-warranty.
Touchscreen user environment options
Privacy Filter – A privacy filter is an optional feature for monitors to give the user of the digital kiosks privacy. The privacy filter is installed between the touch screen glass and monitor itself. The filter behaves like tiny Venetian blinds shielding the monitor content from side glances. A person straight-on gets a clear view of the monitor while the people on all sides of it see a darkened screen.We recommend Privacy Filters for any interaction where personal or sensitive data is being entered or retrieved by a user.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Be aware that the monitor has to be taken apart for the Privacy Filter to be put in place in a clean room environment. This is not an option that can be easily installed after purchase.
Out Door & Sunlight Readable – Your average Indoor Monitor puts out about 300 to 350 units of light.
A Sunlight Readable Monitor put out about 1100 nits of light. If you have tried to use your laptop outdoors on a sunny day and noticed that, unless they are in shade, they cannot see their monitor.
These High Light Monitors, as they are sometimes called, also need to be self-adjusting so people can still use the kiosk at night .
Touchscreen attributes and considerations
Touch Screen Size and Orientation – The size of the monitor really depends on your needs and what you are going to be doing with your touch screen kiosks. There is a wide variety of sizes and options
Multi-Touch Monitor – A multi-touch monitor recognizes the presence of more than one points of contact with the surface of the screen. Advanced Kiosks models can have up to 10 points of contact.
Calibration of your Monitor – A Touch Screen kiosk monitor must be calibrated to the touch. This allows the computer to determine the X-Y location of the users touch.