User perception of touch screen latency

Abstract

The goal of this study was to determine the level at which touch screen latency becomes annoying for common tablet tasks. Two types of touch screen latency were manipulated for three applications: Web page browsing, photo viewing, and ebook reading. Initial latency conditions involved an initial delay in the screen's visual response to touch inputs but with no delay after the beginning of a touch input. Continuous latency involved continuous delay for the duration of a touch input. Both types were tested from 80 to 780 ms. Touch inputs included resizing with multitouch input, panning, scrolling, zooming, and page turning. Results showed a statistically significant main effect for application, but differences were small. Continuous and initial latency showed little difference in ratings except with ebook reading. Trend graphs show levels of user ratings by latency duration. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.