FAQ
How to choose Touch Gloves?
1. Fit
First and foremost, the gloves should fit. The functionality of the conductive areas can be dramatically affected if they don’t fit well (though getting gloves that are fully conductive throughout the entire body can reduce this issue dramatically).
The gloves need good conduction from your finger tips to the touch screen devices.
2. Activity
What do you plan to use your touchscreen-friendly gloves for? Conductive liners that are perfect for snowboarding and skiing are likely inappropriate for the fashion stylish lady .Similarly, rugged utility gloves with a terrycloth thumb wipe are not the right choice for someone looking for ultra-light touchscreen friendly gloves to use on an over air-conditioned airplane.
3. Conductivity
This is what separates the good from the bad. The conductivity of a glove is affected by a number of factors including the type of material, the resistance of that material (i.e., how well it conducts), and the placement of the touchscreen-friendly material.
Type of Material: There are a number of different types of conductive materials on the market and this number keeps growing. For the most part, however, the materials can be broken down into two basic categories: touchscreen compatible thread and conductive leather.
Placement of the Conductive Material: The placement of conductive material varies widely from glove to glove. Typical iterations include two-finger (thumb, index finger), three-finger (thumb, index, middle fingers), five-finger, and full-glove. Nowadays, touchscreen devices have multi-finger gestures that require more than two fingers.
4. Durability
Durability should be something you consider unless you’re buying very inexpensive single season throwaways. A number of stretch, one-size-fits all gloves are now on the market for between $3 and $8 which are good enough to make it through one season, but would likely begin to fray and fall apart with any amount of sustained use and a couple of washes. For the rest of the gloves available, there is a very wide range of durability and manufacturer guarantees.
What I look for in all gloves
Grip: This is a MUST on any active wear gloves. I am a huge proponent of having some form of traction or grip material on the palms and/or the fingers of touchscreen gloves in order to prevent accidentally dropping your device. Smart phones, tablets and e-readers are notoriously slick and it should be a no-brainer that apparel designed to handle them should include this safety feature. It should also be noted that with the variety of grip material available this needn’t be offensive, loud, or even obvious. In the 2014 season, for the first time, most of the major manufacturers are actually incorporating grip material on the gloves and into the design.
Full-glove or 10-finger conductivity: Touchscreen phones and tablets are increasingly implementing multi-finger gestures (similar to the Mac trackpad), and as screen sizes get larger, this will only increase.