LCD Display VS Digitizer VS Touch Screen VS Glass: What are the differences?

In this post, I’m going to break down EVERYTHING you need to know about LCD display, digitizer and touch screen glass.

What they are?
How do they work?
What are the differences?
Let’s dive right in.

What is an LCD (liquid crystal display)?

LCD (liquid crystal display) is the technology used for displays in notebook and other automated industry computers. It is also used in screens for mobile devices, such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
Like light-emitting diode (LED) and gas-plasma technologies, LCDs allow displays to be much thinner than cathode ray tube (CRT) technology. LCDs consume much less power than LED and gas-display displays because they work on the principle of blocking light rather than emitting it.

How does LCD display work?

Each LCD touch screen monitor contains a matrix of pixels that display the image on the screen. Early LCDs screen had passive-matrix screens, which controlled individual pixels by sending a charge to their row and column. Since a limited number of electrical charges could be sent each second, passive-matrix screens were known for appearing blurry when images moved quickly on the screen.

Modern LCDs display typically use active-matrix technology, which contains thin film transistors, or TFTs touch screen. These transistors include capacitors that enable individual pixels to "actively" retain their charge. Therefore, the active-matrix LCDs touch panel are more efficient and appear more responsive than passive-matrix displays.

The backlight in liquid crystal display provides an even light source behind the LCD screen. This light is polarized, meaning only half of the light shines through to the liquid crystal layer.

The liquid crystals are made up of a part solid, part liquid substance that can be "twisted" by applying an electrical voltage to them. They block the polarized light when they are off, but reflect red, green, or blue light when activated.

What is a touch screen panel?

The touchscreen panel a display device that senses physical touch by a person’s hands or fingers, or by a device such as a stylus, and then performs actions based on the location of the touch as well as the number of touches.

Touch screen glass can be quite useful as an alternative to a mouse or keyboard for navigating a graphical user interface. Touch screens are used on a variety of devices such as computer and laptop displays, smartphones, tablets, cash registers, and information kiosks.

Touchscreens are also becoming more popular on laptops and even industrial automation control computers.

How does touchscreen panel work?

What is touch screen digitizer?

A touch-screen digitizer is one piece in a multilayered "sandwich." In modern devices, the screen that produces the images is found at the bottom layer; the digitizer is a transparent sheet that occupies a middle layer on top of the screen, and a thin sheet of hard, protective glass forms the top layer.

How does touchscreen digitizer work?

The touch screen digitizer layer contains a set of microscopically small sensors arranged in regular rows and columns all over its surface.

Touching the screen triggers touch sensors immediately under your fingertip; a specialized electronic circuit receives signals from these sensors and converts them into a specific location on the screen as X and Y coordinates. The circuit sends the location to software that interprets the touch and location according to the app you're using.

For example, when you dial a phone number, your fingers touch the numbers on a virtual keypad on the phone's screen. The software compares the locations touched against the keypad and generates a phone number one digit at a time.

What is touch screen glass?

Touch Screen Glass – The bottom layer is the ITO glass, typically thickness is between 1 and 3 millimetre. If you drop your device, the cracked glass ends up resembling an elaborate spiderweb.

What are the differences?

Glass – The bottom layer is the glass in touchscreen,which is the basis for a touch screen panel and can be customized according to customer needs.

Digitizer – The digitizer is located above the glass screen. It is the electrical force that senses and responds to touch. When you tap your fingertip or swipe it across the screen, the mere touch acts as data input to the device’s center. If your device fails to respond to touch, it’s time for a new digitizer.
The touch screen digitizer is an electrical mechanism that is fused with the glass screen; so if you need to replace the digitizer, you’ll have to replace the glass, too, and vice versa.

Touch Screen Panel- Touchscreen is the thin transparent layer of plastic, which reads the signal from the touch and transports it to the processing unit. It is the part that you can touch without disassembling the device.

LCD – LCD display is an acronym for liquid crystal display. The LCD is the visual component underneath the glass that displays the image on the screen. You can not get to the LCD without taking the device apart first.