With all the recent advancements we have seen lately closing the gap between the T-mobile G1 and Apple’s iPhone, there is yet another coming through the wood work. Reports are coming in that the T-Mobile G1 is technically capable of having multi-touch. Apple fanboys now have less of an argument when it comes to comparing the two.
An intelligent coder, who goes by the name RyeBrye, has gone through the T-mobile G1 and found that the driver for the Synaptics touchscreen has some code that has been commented out. He then recompiled the kernel with this code put back in, only to find that he was able to track two separate finger presses at one time.
This does not mean we are going to have multi-touch, Android has not been written with support for multi-touch. It is a huge eye opener to see that the ability is in fact there, but why do you suppose Google did not decide to use this feature? Could it be because they wanted Android to be compatible with all types of devices, rather than having a different version for multi-touch handsets? Whatever the reason, the bright minds over at Google wouldn’t have done this without good reason. We want to know why our readers think Google left it out.
[Via MobileCrunch]
...and how many people have bailed on the G1 already? Shame on them.
Doubt you'll see a market app come out for this as it would infringe in the copyright.
Much like Google's cloud computing patent... it is only a matter of time before they can drop the hammer on certain companies and cash in... so to prevent this I think that is why we don't have it... yet...
What would really be awsome is for someone to make a App that reinstalls Multitouch on the G1 and utilizes G1 - "gestures" and if they make it free for G1... If my theory is true... then Apple has nothing to cash in if there is nothing to cash in on... I dunno the legalities of it all... but it would be interesting to see if G1 steps ahead again... because of its community...
(I read that Apple tries to make products that are hard to imitate... and like many companies... one way they protect that is with patents...)
That being said, a capacitive touch display is a thousand times better than a resistive display. Ever used the Samsung Instinct on Sprint or the HTC Diamond? Even though the Instinct's display is pretty good, scrolling is still a pain and selecting menu items is still pretty tricky. The HTC Diamond is resistive with a top glass layer. This is super nice, but it's still resistive...not very ideal for finger usage.
I hope this clear things up for you when you.
How come no one says this! You are the first guys to bring this information out to us!
(end of scaresom (spelling?))
Come on guys... you wrote the article as if we have no idea that G1 has multi-touch.
We all know G1 is capable of multi-touch and the only reason Google did not activate it on their G1 is because of the patents Apple have.
I am sure Google would love to have multi-touch but unable to do so. Now it's up to 3rd parties if they are willing to take on the project to make G1 capable of doing multi-touch and is willing to face a lawsuit with Apple.
http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f...html#post80498
By the same token, I recommend to the editors of this site to do the same cause this has been discussed extensively well before the phone was even released.
My $0.02...
Doubt you'll see a market app come out for this as it would infringe in the copyright.
like swiping to scroll through photos etc, its such an intuitive motion that it feels like second nature (IMO)
Doubt you'll see a market app come out for this as it would infringe in the copyright.
Also, it's not a copyright problem. It's a patent problem.
Get your facts straight, then maybe you can make posts that contribute something.
1) The whole apple patent stuff, i mean the code was in there just commented out.... Come on now... Google was just waiting for someone to find it.
OR
2) Google developed everything for it so that way with the ideal in mind to be selling a new phone and on that phone they would say ewww look at this phone it has muti touch, why dont everyone come buy it... Not sure how much money they would make putting out the new handset but someone would be making money... Becuase every google fan boy would be out getting a new phoene... I know i would be
I think by jan 09 we will see what this phone is about. I think Google is giving iPhone all the last apps for the remainder of the year.
I mean what else could Google give them other than a new operating system. Soon Apple will be hanging by their balls asking google to do this and that for them.
Google will soon part from them and only focus on Android. Google isnt fooling anyone but the iphone users because in due time they will give a rats ass about them and only focus on android. WATCH and SEE.
completely off topic but I mean I could have told you guys months ago the phone had multi touch, I mean why couldn't it, it all is software based when you think about it...since the screen is capacity based it isnt hard to pick up two screen taps and somehow figure out the distance between the two points.
VTech computer engineer here...
...amd I like how google is using the parallax feature on the desktop, which really is a linux desktop on a small device...and before you know it, this thing will probably have a larger ram and etc
Edit: "Patent experts contacted by Wired.com stressed that the patent office can take four or more years to grant patents, and Apple is far from certain to win these patents. Indeed, other companies, including BenQ-Siemens and Nokia, have also filed patent applications on a series of gestures and touch applications for multitouch devices. However, with more than 200 patent claims for the iPhone alone, including several multitouch-related patent applications, Apple is clearly seeking to control as much of the multitouch world as it can."
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscell...itouch_patents
Also, Synaptec owns the patents for multitouch screen, while Apple holds pattents for the GESTURES used on iPhone.
My thoughts exactly on minicomputer... but I think you are underestimating Apple. Remember, the iPhone is up for a hardware and software refresh next year as well, so who knows what it will bring to the table, but one thing is for sure... don't expect them to stand still.
How come no one says this! You are the first guys to bring this information out to us!
(end of scaresom (spelling?))
Come on guys... you wrote the article as if we have no idea that G1 has multi-touch.
We all know G1 is capable of multi-touch and the only reason Google did not activate it on their G1 is because of the patents Apple have.
I am sure Google would love to have multi-touch but unable to do so. Now it's up to 3rd parties if they are willing to take on the project to make G1 capable of doing multi-touch and is willing to face a lawsuit with Apple.
Synaptics touch screens have multi-touch capability, IF the manufacturer ordering the hardware pays extra to have the gestures supported on the equipment.
Multi-touch is determined by the Enhanced Gesture Recognition, and a multi-touch screen requires more system resources. Since the API does not include multi-touch at this time, the EGR for multi-touch would only cost HTC more and use up additional resources that are not required for the system.
http://www.synaptics.com/solutions/technology/gestures
http://www.synaptics.com/solutions/t...y/gestures/egr
and even a PDF on it:
http://www.synaptics.com/sites/defau...estures_pb.pdf
Even if Android plans to offer a multi-touch system they would roll out new hardware capable of it at that time, leaving previous hardware that does not meet the requirements on previous builds.
Look...I promise you...the HTC Dream, The T-Mobile G1 will NEVER be capable of multi-touch. At least not the one you are holding in your hand. They could produce new ones I suppose, but I'm sure they'll just move on to a new model.
As much as we talk about it, try to understand patent law, or show YouTube videos of people double tapping their solitare game (wtf?), it won't happen.
And that's OK. It's still a great phone.
Read the links.
Like John Stamos says...the more you know.
And then a star shoots across the screen
"EGR gives customers THE OPTION to enable single-finger gestures (i.e., Tap, Double Tap, Pinch, Press, and Flick) as well as multi-finger gestures (e.g., Pinch) directly from Synaptics' touch module. NO ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE RECOGNITION IS REQUIRED on the host processor to implement these gestures."
This says that if the manufacturer wants a Synaptics pad with multi-touch, they can pay for it and have it. And Android wouldn't really have to do much to take advantage of it.
"Gestures have to be fine tuned for (and integrated with) the specific types of devices that they control. "
The HTC Dream/T-Mobile G1 did NOT integrate these features.
"EGR gives customers THE OPTION to enable single-finger gestures (i.e., Tap, Double Tap, Pinch, Press, and Flick) as well as multi-finger gestures (e.g., Pinch) directly from Synaptics' touch module. NO ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE RECOGNITION IS REQUIRED on the host processor to implement these gestures."
This says that if the manufacturer wants a Synaptics pad with multi-touch, they can pay for it and have it. And Android wouldn't really have to do much to take advantage of it.
"Gestures have to be fine tuned for (and integrated with) the specific types of devices that they control. "
The HTC Dream/T-Mobile G1 did NOT integrate these features.
I'm not quite sure how you think that quoting random marketing pages about what Synaptics says about the capabilities of their screens would trump what an actual person with access to the G1's actual hardware can show with basic tweaking of the driver.
I've proven in the debug logs that the phone tracks two fingers independently. I've shown a basic hackish implementation using the most quick-and-dirty-way possible I could find to show it being used...
Perhaps you should stop reading marketing materials and start looking at the actual device? Or maybe listening to people who spend their spare time hacking away at these devices?