What gives with multi-touch on the Android OS? It would seem both the hardware and software support multi-touch, but you won’t see it implemented in any of the built-in applications. That’s OK because folks like cyanogen go out of their way to explore the possibilities.
Though, the easiest way to get multi-touch features on an Android 2.0+ phone is to download the Dolphin browser.
12 thoughts on “Multi-touch on Android 2.1”
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Never played with an Android, I’m still on an original Iphone. But multitouch seems the least interesting bit of the user interface, at least with a small screen like a phone. I much rather prefer double-tapping to zoom into Google maps or websites than pinching my fingers together, and most other users seem to think similarly…
Millions of people are impressed by such cheep parlor tricks. Practicality aside, it’s usually such gimmicks that sell a product. You know a product is good when it has both style *and* substance.
The reason why Android ships without a working multi-touch capability, but has all of the required components (hardware and software), is because Apple holds all of the U.S. patents related to multi-touch. Yay for software patents! Holding back innovation since 1971.
People keep mentioning patent #7,479,949, but isn’t there a ton of prior art? Touch screens have been around for decades and there is plenty of research on multi-touch. Perhaps it has to do with them calling the device a mobile phone. The nice thing is that you can replace any of the built-in apps, so I figure this is the perfect reason to “customize” your phone, right? That’s something I wish were possible on my iPhone.
Personally, I like xScope Browser for multitouch.
I eventually plan to root the phone and use cyanogen’s additions.
But I don’t particularly feel like multitouch is essential. To use multitouch, you have to hold the phone in one hand and navigate with the other. Holding and navigating with one hand is possible with the built-in browser/maps/etc.
I have the Dolphin browser on my Droid and I like it okay but I don’t understand the excitement. I prefer to use my device with one hand so double tapping to enlarge works just fine for me. After that, clicing on the plus or minus sign to zoom in or out further seems fine. To use multitouch I need to use two hands but why would I want to?