When
reviewing the G1 we found a lot to like, but a lot to dislike too. We knew that some of its shortcomings, like the
missing headphone jack, were sadly permanent (
free adapters notwithstanding), but hoped that it would just be a matter of time before some enterprising soul (with an enterprising compiler) would take care of another complaint: the lack of multi-touch. Lo and behold now is that time and Ryan Gardner is that coder, author of a little app that proves the inability of the G1 to accept a two-finger salute is not a hardware limitation. You can see for yourself in a video after the break, and once Ryan is done cleaning up his code he pledges to post that, too (don't forget those comments, man). Okay, so being able to cover your screen with red and yellow splotches isn't going to convert any spoiled iPhoners, but we're thinking the rest of you developers out there should be able to pick up this ball and run with it. So make with the running, already.
posted Nov 22nd 2008 10:55PM
Nice can't wait to get some multi-touch apps on my G1.
i didn't know the hardware could actually support multitouch
according to the site, Synaptics were the company that provided the touchscreen for G1, same company that was rumored to develop the touchscreen of iPhone, same company that has released multi-touch for touchpads of laptops, etc. its a big possibility that the sreen is capable of multi-touch but google didnt release it on the software side, why? dont know.
I saw this video earlier today. This is great news, although it seems that this will only be a reality for those with a rooted G1. (unless Google releases this publicly, of course)
I for one am looking forward both to it and what the people can develop with it. If nothing else, it should lead to some awesome games!!
I'd be surprised if Google didn't release/allow something like this soon.
I mean... it's GOOGLE!
They won't. I believe Apple has patented a lot of its gestures. Things like the pinching for zooming gestures.
It'd explain why no multi-touch phone (at least AFAIK) has used them. I'm pretty sure that if Google could have used them, Android would have shipped with them to begin with.
There is no other multitouch phone. Apple has patented the pinch gesture, but that doesn't mean other uses of multitouch can't be used. We will see how this whole patent debacle pans out.
@ubn2
Do you think you posted that enough????
wtf happened there? i swear i didnt multi post!i refresehed a couple times to see new comments thats all!
wtf happened there? i swear i didnt multi post!i refresehed a couple times to see new comments thats all!
wtf happened there? i swear i didnt multi post!i refresehed a couple times to see new comments thats all!
wtf happened there? i swear i didnt multi post!i refresehed a couple times to see new comments thats all!
wtf happened there? i swear i didnt multi post!i refresehed a couple times to see new comments thats all!
wtf happened there? i swear i didnt multi post!i refresehed a couple times to see new comments thats all!
one. I didn't post all of those comments as a joke, fireofox was acting up a little.
two. why is my avatar showing up on a few of my insane amount of posts?
why is my account sooo screwed ,between my avatar problems and multi-posting?
why is my account sooo screwed ,between my avatar problems and multi-posting?
why is my account sooo screwed ,between my avatar problems and multi-posting?
why is my account sooo screwed ,between my avatar problems and multi-posting?
why is my account sooo screwed ,between my avatar problems and multi-posting?
why is my account sooo screwed ,between my avatar problems and multi-posting?
why is my account sooo screwed ,between my avatar problems and multi-posting?
why is my account sooo screwed ,between my avatar problems and multi-posting?
why is my account sooo screwed ,between my avatar problems and multi-posting?
why is my account sooo screwed ,between my avatar problems and multi-posting?
why is my account sooo screwed ,between my avatar problems and multi-posting?
why is my account sooo screwed ,between my avatar problems and multi-posting?
hahahaha! ha ha! haha ! ha ahhh ha hum.
Then how does the LG prada allow the pinching gestures?
not clean at all but its an awesome start. too bad the battery power will only allow for 5 minutes of multitouch.
where did you get that inclination from?
@Caullen, the demo itself proves it. See how the circles are being drawn so far apart? For those circles to make even a simple cohesive line, the driver would have to be polled at an insane rate, one that would run the battery out very quickly.
why only 5?
@ducky
Or it could just mean his method of polling is incorrect/very inefficient.
@Persian, the fact remains that if HTC doesn't specify it to be a multitouch screen, it doesn't have to be. If somehow the current screen is in fact multitouch, and they decide there's no point, they could start shipping phones with regular touchscreens without having to say anything.
Despite all that, I don't think this video proves that the Dream's touchscreen is truly capable of multitouch. I don't mean hacked-up multitouch, as this implementation may well be, but the real thing.
This is a prime example of the "open source" OS that is Android. This is not only exciting news, but it really shows where software developers can take Android to the next level, above and beyond any other phone. Android has been out for a few weeks now, and already we are seeing something like this!
I for one, own a G1. I am excited to see this software, and the OS, develop and grow as I own this phone.
I might sell my iTouch and pick up a gPhone, All of the open source juiciness is too delectable to resist, No more apple limitations sounds Excellent!
WHERE CAN I GET IT!
When are these coming to Canada ? Seeing as the iPhone is with Rogers its either this or the Storm...
the biggest shortcoming of the G1 is not multitouch, it is the terrible terrible battery life. listening to music for 30 minutes brings my battery to 70% from a full charge. it's useless as a portable device.
Really? Cause I listened to music for about 5 hours during my ride back into town yesterday with google maps up showing my location(using GPS) and the bluetooth on and it was still at like 50% when I got back. If you're experiencing really bad battery problems try letting it fully deplete till it dies and then charging it all the way back up(like 2 1/2 hours) before turning it on again. I did that and now my battery lasts freakin forever
It's not true multi-touch, but it's a decent emulation of such through threading. Hence why if you go above 2 threads to monitor input, you'll get issues.
The only way to get true multi-touch is to have hardware that can monitor multiple input points. Also with the software emulation that's shown in the video, the polling will murder battery life.
Still, good work by the developer.
Do you have any real evidence to back that?
You are mistaken. It uses the same touchscreen technology as the iPhone. It simply needs the software to back the hardware.
@Persion, do YOU have any real evidence to back that? You don't know that the G1's touchscreen has the exact same capabilities as the iPhone's; you're only inferring that. You can only go with what is known for now, and that's the HTC spec. Which does not mention multitouch.
Plus, the developer implies multiple times in the video that this is an emulation.
What he mentions is that this is simply an emulation in the JAVA layer. Capacitive touch is used in both the iPhone and the G1. So the technology IS the same.
If you look at another one of his demos (a program that just states where his fingers are touching) you will see the hardware notices where the two fingers are touching and can give the coordinates for them.
@Persian
if you have read that little text on the video on how did he do it, he did it by polling the touch events written on a directory, so its not really "multi" but the code is so fast at polling and writing the circles that it looks like its "multi".
Super. Now we have two phones with the same worthless feature set.
It's an awesome achievement for the sake of achievement but I still find multi-touch on a mobile phone to be nothing more than a novelty.
seconded, now I can pinch stuff to zoom in oh joy
There are certain applications where multitouch by far provides the best interface. Look at the Google Earth app on iPhone, for instance. Zoom, rotate, and move without having to press a single button or toggle switch. The alternative? Three separate buttons for those functions, and having to toggle those buttons endlessly for simple navigation. Not fun.
Agreed. I like using my phone one handed, so zooming into maps and webpages with the G1 is easy. But with the iPhone, you need two hands. Multitouch sure looks cool and is a darn good "impress the friends" feature, but for practical use, I don't like it.
At the risk of inciting a riot from hopeful G1 fans, it doesn't look like a sure thing, as the video says.
He mentions that he's done this through a "hack" and that the G1 might support multitouch "well enough" to allow basic gestures.
What does he mean by well enough? Either the hardware supports it, or it doesn't. It seems to me that it's just a workaround, rather than actual multitouch.
Plus, the G1 spec mentions nothing about multitouch, so HTC could legitimately manufacture some G1's without multitouch, and some with. It's not guaranteed.
But put your rifles away, 'cause I don't know the technical details of this, I'm just thinking.
it doesn't look like real multi touch
it looks like it just recognizes each finger alternatively
notice how it recognizes them as dots and not single line
Sorry, I highly doubt this is actually multitouch, but just abuses the way a touch screen work. As you may hve figured out, if you are pressing 2 points, the device recognises the point in the middle.
This software just notices when there's a huge jump, and assumes that that means a 2nd point was pressed. Then you can either assume the fingers move in unison (like his did), or that only 1 moved, and compute the actual position.
So what gestures can this do? Well not much. Stretching, shrinking, and rotating gestures will keep the detected point in the same location. Basically, its useless.
ya, that doesn't really make sense because it wouldn't handle moving both fingers down the screen in which case there is no jump(or rotating the fingers as he does in the video). This is multitouch and the screen definitely does support it but it doesn't have the drivers to back it up, meaning that this guy had to write a quick hack that kinda sorta handles multitouch since he didn't know enough/have enough time to completely rewrite the screen driver.
ok before any more people say its not real and crap like that.. and that HTC didnt say it was multitouch so its not or something.. take a moment and research the screen that is used in the g1.. ok now go check out the capibilities that the maker of the screen say it can do.. then once you read that and realize that its hardware is FULLY capable.. then you can start focusing on why we now need the software.. so shut up and do research before you say what you think and assume as facts here.. peace
i'd like to see you low rank all those comments!:D
but wtf engadget you know I didn't do that on purpose because they all came in at once not over a period of time.
You're an idiot. If you saw that your posts were glitching as you claim, why the sweet fsck would you post again?
Well wouldn't you, just to see whether it was a one time thing or not! lol.
Eat a dick.
STOP POSTING!!!
But that was pretty epic.
sure they did
Indeed it was epic.
For those still looking to blame human error: If it was a human, it was Neo; look how many posts per second; something like 5 if I'm seeing it right. I'd bet some combination of his browser and engadget's server took an epic dump on this thread.
(And even if it had been intentional, I'm not sure this level of insane multi-posting wouldn't still be hilarious.)
The reason this probably was not put in was because Android is meant for many phones, and not all of those phones will have multi-touch. Sure the company can always put one in, but if a company wants to make a cheap Android phone, they may not have room in the price to put in a multi-touch screen.
It can only be real multi-touch if you can use 3 or more fingers like the MacBooks.
I was just starting to get into this thread at about post # 400 but after that... nah, then it went downhill.
Well I was wondering how the hell this post had 1300 comments, but I'm not sure I'm glad that I found out.
I love that this is the only time that a simultaneous clone-post will get Highest Ranked.
Well I was wondering how the hell this post had 1300 comments, but I'm not sure I'm glad that I found out.
Oh the irony...
fail
I don't know, but maybe you should just STOP POSTING.
F'ing Spammers.
:P
Cool about the G1.
I have a pretty good idea why Engadget hates you, actually.
Please, multi-touch discussion, not multi-spam.
Okay, this is RIDICULOUS!
Who believes ubn2 should be banned from Engadget? I know it isn't his fault, but I don't want to see 1000+ comments every time he posts!
That would be great, but I don't think Engadget's ghetto-fabulous system would be able to stop him from posting under another account.
I think it's just a comment system glitch. Most of them are missingno's anyway.
LOL. "New" comment system is great. I hope this guy doesn't share the method to his error. You guys could have a real problem on your hands.
Regarding the phone, this is AWESOME news! I'd *love* to have multi-touch gestures on my HTC Touch. With the active modder community, I imagine someone would integrate multi-touch into the phones basic functions.
I'm done with reading 1268 comments, the rest after my sleep.
Wow...I've seen some strange things from the engadget comment system before but Jesus fucking Christ. What the hell happened? I remember when I came to this site because it was professional.
Is this real Multi-Touch? or is the screen just registering all interaction very quickly? It seems like the paint is registering sequentially.
i thought that too... the only thing is a) my old laptops (not my mac) get confused when i use one finger on the trackpad, don't lift it and then start using a second (it doesn't register like this does) also, b) the different colors would lead me to believe that it isn't registering it the same as just different sensors. it "knows" that there is dbl touching going on and then uses the yellow AND red.
now i guess this could all be simulated or fixed with some tricky programming... so i put the rest of my faith in G-d. and i believe he hath given the G1 some multitouch.
KILL YOURSELF
Really man... almost 1,300 comments? Was that really necessary?
My god, I ROTFLOL'ed so hard that I think the Acronym is actually better at conveying the extremity of my laughter more then saying it out. Ubn2 wins for best comedy on the internet today.
Yes, very good, encourage the spammer with a high rank.
Seriously, How'd you do that!!
That was funny as shit!! LOL
But you still fail at life
Spam or glitch???
Spam- pretty stupid
glitch- hilarious...
I just realized something....That guy he replied to must have gotten 1300 emails saying someone replied. He must be like WTF!!
Why don't we all reply to his posts and spam his inbox then? :p might encourage him to stop posting xD
ubn2 you are tha man!
CCCCCCCCCOMBO BREAKER!!!!
What an adventure. I think this means it's finally time for Engadget to get their comment system under control? This kind of thing shouldn't be possible even if you are trying.
I'm sitting here scrolling, and scrolling, and scrolling, my eyes hurt, I'm tired, but I keep scrolling, scrolling, just because it's kind of entertaining, but at the same time I wondered if this was deliberate or accident, but still, scrolling, scrolling.. I'm glad I reached the end..
I think its a glitch, the time stamps are all the same. Sounds like a loop to me... until he hit the stop button on his browser.
No, he have super fast hands like you saw on Heroes.
Who cares about the Multi-touch, OMG 1000 POSTS!!!!!! ;P
We need OVER 9000!!!
Where's the surprise? It has a capacitive screen, a pressure sensitive screen would be the only hardware-limiting factor, right? I knew all along it was capable of multi-touch with software that supported it, I thought everyone did.
lmao worst comments evar!
1337 get