Using your iPhone or iPod Touch with gloves in cold weather / winter
To answer or not to answer…. how cold is the question
The iPhone and the iPod Touch require that you use your fingers in order to operate the touch screen. This is because the iPhone and iPod Touch use a ‘capacitive’ touch screen. Capacitive touch-screens use a layer of capacitive material to hold an electrical charge; touching the screen changes the amount of charge at a specific point of contact. (Source)
What does that mean in English? It means you have to take your hands out of that extremely warm pocket or glove in order to use your bare fingers on your iPhone or iPod Touch screen. In -29 degree Celsius weather (on a warm day), this can be a bit of a hassle (though it can serve as a good excuse for screening your calls).
The North Face : Etip
‘The North Face’ has provided an elegant solution for this problem. There line of ‘Etip’ gloves contains a small patch of ‘capacitive’ material on the tips of the tumb and the index finger. This allows you to keep your gloves on, and still be able to control your iPhone or iPod Touch. An extra advantage is ‘The North Face’ specializes in apparel for extremely cold climates; these gloves are quite thin, and yet still keep your hands very warm.
Advantages
The ‘Etip’ gloves trump the traditional solutions to this problem. Gloves which leave ‘holes’ on the fingertips, or gloves with tips that ‘flip’ are able to provide control over the touch screen, but don’t offer adequate warmth. At the same time, similar solutions to the ‘Etip’ exist with little ‘buttons’ on the tips of the fingers to provide the capacitive material needed. This means you need to use that middle of your finger (where the ‘button’ is located) in order to control your iPhone or iPod Touch, which feels unnatural to me (as I often use the side of my thumb).
The ‘Etip’ provides a large surface area to interact with your iPod, and allows your hands to remain covered at all times.
Disadvantages
While the gloves are thin, they do add some bulk to the fingertips. As a result, your finger is bit bit more ‘chubby’ than you will be used to. This doesn’t prove to be a problem for most functions, as the icons for most options are quite large. However when sending text messages, you will have to get used to being slightly more deliberate with your finger placement. After about ten minutes, I was able to type just as well as without the gloves, albeit at a slightly slower pace.
Final Thoughts
The gloves have thus far worked as advertised. I am able to control my iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPod Classic wheel with them. Though it takes some getting used to, you’ll enjoy your new-found ability to turn off that annoying Beck song without having to worry about your fingers falling off (note: Beck is awesome, but man, he has some terrible songs).
Since I spent the afternoon in -29 degree Celsius weather (-20 degrees Fahrenheit), I feel qualified to comment on the ability of these gloves to keep your hands warm. They certainly don’t feel very substantial, as they are quite thin. However, for nearly 10 minutes they kept my hands very warm, and then my hand temperature noticeably dropped after that. I was personally quite happy with this. Under normal circumstances, in order to fight off weather this cold I often resort to much bigger, bulkier, thicker gloves.
A few pictures and a video can be found below. The gloves retail for $40.00 at The North Face website.
