Adaptive sampling of touch screen input

A touch screen input device includes a display screen adapted for receiving a touch input from a user; mechanism for sampling the touch screen input at any one of a plurality of sampling rates; mechanism for storing a predetermined sampling rate for each application or for each function; and mechanism for setting the sampling rate of the sampling mechanism to the sampling rate stored for a given application or a given function whenever that given application is being executed or that given function is being performed, respectively. In an alternative embodiment, the rate of change of the touch screen input sample points is measured and the sampling rate increased or decreased when the rate of change of the sample points increases or decreases, respectively.