When it comes to Touchscreens....

We have the Good, the Bad, and the damn Ugly, but now we have a new contender to the throne, the "Power of Christ Compels You" model....

A few months back while browsing ebay, I saw a new, but, cheap touchscreen monitor - Made by ELO and HP badged, now both companies are fairly reputable, so how bad can that touchscreen be - HP L5009TM 15" ELO APR Touch Screen Monitor USB Interface Black (VK202AA) - and bearing in mind that the same monitor is on sale for over $900.00 (Australian) Here.....

New ELO touchscreen monitors retail for anything from £400.00-£700.00. So when I got this beauty for £130.00, I was over the moon... That is, till I tried it.

It was utilising the APR technology (Acoustic Pulse Recognition), which sounded very cool, and if you read the spec. (below), you would be very impressed and wonder why have they not thought of that before. But the only minor problem being:-  it's SHIT..

And boy, did I feel the difference. You not only needed 2 people to touch at a time, while chanting "the Power of Christ Compels You", but it was just too stupid to setup and to use, and any background noise, adversely, effecting the performance.

I had some real shit touchscreens in my time, but this one is one of the absolute worst, with clumsy timing, and very hard to work touch, you have to press everything 3-4 times before it registers, and even then, you need a Cray Supercomputer to work out the coordinates and to do the processing, hence the lag when it does...

HP L5009TM 15" ELO APR Touch Screen Monitor USB Interface Black (VK202AA)

HP 15" Touch Monitor with USB interface

- Elo Acoustic Pulse Recognition (APR) Panel incl Stand
- 36 Months 3 year Advance Exchange Warranty

Make routine activities easier and enjoy a more productive workplace with the newly developed touch panel technology built into the HP Compaq L5009tm 15 inch Touchscreen Monitor, which enables quick and easy onscreen interactivity.

- Feel the difference. New Acoustic Pulse Recognition (APR) technology recognizes a wider array of sounds created when the glass is touched at a given position. Use a pen, credit card or fingernail to quickly and accurately tap from screen to screen.

- Durable touch technology. The HP Compaq L5009tm monitors pure glass screen provides high durability and is a damage-resistant alternative to film-coated display screens, it even continues working when wet or scratched.

- Designed for efficiency. Retain more of your profits with the HP Compaq L5009tm by allowing your customers to locate products on the shelf with the ease of touch browsing or by pleasing them with fast check-outs.

- HP support. The HP Compaq L5009tm monitor comes with a limited three years parts, labour, and on-site service warranty.

   Features:

• Economical and reliable
• Up to 1024 x 768 resolution at 75 Hz
• Acoustic Pulse Recognition
• Dual serial/USB interface
• Removable stand and VESA mounting ption
• Mounting holes on stand bottom for tabletop security
• Controls on the side rather than the front, plus lockout function for public use
• Digital on-screen display (OSD)
• Internal power supply 
• 
  
  Elo's Acoustic Pulse Recognition (APR) touchscreens use a completely new and unique way of sensing touches on a display. Consisting only of a glass overlay mounted in front of the display, together with a small electronic controller board, Elo's APR technology provides a new set of benefits that have only been partially achieved before by other touch technologies. APR combines the ultimate in optical qualities, durability, and stability, with excellent dragging properties, along with stylus, glove and fingernail activation, and low cost advantages. In addition, it is resistant to water and other contaminants on the screen, can be scaled from PDA to 42-inch displays, and provides palm rejection during signature capture. APR works in a simple and elegant way-by recognizing the sound created when the glass is touched at a given position. Elo is initially launching APR technology directed at the POS market.
• Optics and durability of pure glass
• Works with finger, glove, pen, credit card
• Resistant to water, dust, grease
• No wear-out mechanism
• Works even with scratches
• Excellent drag performance
• Sealable to NEMA 4/IP 65 standards
• One time factory calibration, no drift
• Thin borders—only 5mm
• True flat surface
• Small and large sizes
• Palm rejection for signature capture

Applications

• Restaurant and hospitality automation
• Retail
• Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals Pharmacy automation
• Industrial automation
• Office automation