GSM DROID with multitouch pinch-to-zoom demoed on video hating America
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Nov 2nd 2009 4:34AM
posted Nov 2nd 2009 4:34AM
Please note: If you're a current Engadget commenter, you do not need to re-register. Simply login and you will be prompted to select a username.
Looks like it needs some more refining, apart from that, looks good xD
well them I'm guessing the hack for this will take all of 30 seconds for someone to figure out...
Either that or there was some critical software problem that would have taken them a while to get multitouch working. Perhaps it'll be there in a software update.
pfft..even my HTC Hero has pinch zoom up here in Scotland
So does my G1.
(Thanks, Cyanogen!)
Cool.
They could've added a videocalling camera, too...
One more reason to hate Apple?
I'm sorry but if you "hate" a company then you really do have issues unless it has done something to cause personal injury through willful negligence.
Yeah, that's it. They have to cause you personal injury through negligence to be worthy of your hate. Forget all that small potatoes stuff like corporate greed, closed sourcing, customer exploitation and inferior products. Just so long as they don't explode in my pocket.
Wait...
@Kelmon
...I hate you.
If you were an idiot I suppose it would be. It has nothing to do with apple.
Plus if you "hate" a company then its so about you and not the company. I think Microsoft puts out crap year after year but I don't hate them. I just don't buy their products.
Get a life.
No- hate the software patent system. Stifling innovation at every bend in the road, keeping the corporate piggy bank happy, screwing over the users, and inhibiting the developers since the 1970's.
oh finally, 2007
They RRREAAAALLLY hate being on the wrong side of that comment, don't they?
How do you zoom in/out without pinch? Is there a menu or buttons instead?
From what I've seen in the videos, double tapping the screen will toggle on/off zoom, which looked like 2 or 3x. I assume there's a menu button to do it, as well, with more levels of zoom.
My ideal UI is dedicated tools (in the image editor sense of "tool") for zooming in or out, and as you hold your finger down on a part of the browser window, it'll zoom in/out respective to that spot. Either tapping a spot or time-out to deselect the zoom tool and return to the default scroll tool.
The older (1.5, 1.6) android browser has two zoom in/out buttons in one corner, which I'd assume this would have as well as the double-tap to zoom feature. Not that it's hard to add pinch zooming to the browser - there's a tweaked browser app you can install on any version of android which will give you pinch zooming (it's installed by default with the cyanogenmod so a lot of people will be familiar with this).
I peench?
seems a bit laggy to me. Not as bad as the first software release of the EU Hero, however definitely slower than my latest software release Hero (which scrolls faster through screens and most lists than my previous iPhone).
Curious as to why they wouldn't keep calling it the "Droid"?? I mean I'm sure Lucasfilm had it trademarked in Europe as well. Only because "Droid" could/will become a somewhat big name phone.
Droid is a named owned by Verizon for all its Android handsets (including the Droid and Droid Eris) and not by Motorola
Verizon is absent from the E.U. ( as far as I know)
And droid is a verizon trademark.
Hence no droid for europe.
No, Félix, "Dorid" is not a Verizon Trademark. It is licensed from Lucasfilm, Ltd.
This article's heading infers that the video or it's comment is anti-American...
man this thing looks hot! i have a G1 and want this thing soo bad!! please please come down under soon!!
that's what.... nah, too easy.
It's a GSM handset, so one can assume it will work on the Australian/New Zealand airwaves. I plan on getting one of these things in either way! The ol' HTC Dream is starting to show its age, you see...
real REAL FAST damn.. What cpu does it use?
Someone posted this in another Droid blog (forgot who), just reposting:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tIuLv6KThktwpCyNu5lbrWQ&gid=0
It has some technical specifications of the Droid as well as being a comparison chart.
There's a chance that engadget was joking about the America hating.
I know, I know... they never tall jokes. But just maybe this is the first.
i prefer Maemo's spirally way of zooming though.
UI for mobile devices should be designed around single-handed operation... or rather, single-thumbed operation...
Double-tapping only takes one finger...
might accidentally double-tap on a link though....
There is a sexual euphemism somewhere in one of you guys' comments.
yes, that's what i wanted to hear. normal multitouch activated.
now i need the decision between the droid/milestone and the hd2 (which has a big plus if it really can be upgraded to winmo7)
decisions...decisions....
by the way: on the german motorola website it says the nav app will be a test-version of MOTONAV. no word about the google nav app!
motonav costs money...
From various sources, HD2 is a winmo 7 ready device. So that will be a game changer, not that it isn't already. Plus, can't myself decide between the GSM Droid minus google turn by navigation here in the UK, or the XPERIA X3/10 Rachel.
Europe FTW!
Stop Americans buying all this crap. How about going to vacations like we do?
This is such a load dude, i swear, this better be implemented in the future for americans...
looked pretty laggy and unsmooth. I also didn't know it was possible to suck at pinching to zoom, this guy in the video proved me wrong.
@william: oh yeah forgot to mention the xperia device...
so there's three big choices. damned
I wonder if the US version's hardware supports it, so hacks would be possible.
Wow, you guys are way overthinking it. Verizon is trying to figure out how to call it a "feature" and charge $3.99 a month for it.
I will take google new maps feature over multi-touch anyday
The boys at xda-developers will probably have a hack for the US version out pretty soon.
I would love that, but being that XDA-Dev historically works only with HTC phones, I am a little hesitant to expect and ROMs for the Droid.
I really like the look of the X10s UI (if that is indeed what it will look like) so if they announce a release date for that over the next month or so I might be tempted to wait for that rather than get this. Sony Ericssons tend to have the best cameras and I've heard some complaints that the camera on this isnt as clear as it could be. Not sure if thats an Android thing rather than a hardware thing though. Overall this is still a nice looking piece of kit. Decisions decisions.
Now i'm really falling in love with Android AND moto droid....... looks sweeet
Now i'm really falling in love with android AND moto droid..... looks sweeet
Damn i hate engadget comment system
I couldn't stomach looking at this vid review. It seemed as if the man didn't even know how to operate a phone!
Double tapping to select something. Trying to pinch zoom with the side of this fingernail. ugh...
Yet I digress...
I'm glad this is shown though, so the "iDont do pinch zoom" yellers can finally hush.
I'm sure someone already has the hack working for the US, lol.
even microsoft is doing it with the zune
"For reasons we can only assume have something to do with an unspoken intellectual property agreement between Google and Apple,"
Thats an idiotic reason. You can only assume? Really? Thats all you can come up with?
I bet it's because that crazy patent system of yours: Apple couldn't possibly sue Motorola in Europe over a software patent (the pinch to zoom feature) because those don't exist in Europe (yet)
Lame...
Demos of mutitouch using that motion predate anything apple was doing. The fact that you only use one hand to do it is not patentable.
Google has nothing to fear from Apple.
I'm still trying to get why Palm is doing it...but yet everyone else is so scared. Even Microsoft has it in their Surface.
Hell, I'm sure Google has more money to throw around than Palm.
Hopefully this means there will be some kind of hack to unlock multitouch on the droid in the USA.
this pisses me off
I can think of something Apple will want from Google that can be a bargaining chip to get multi-touch on Android. It's called FREE TURN-BY-TURN VOICE NAVIGATION. Apple, you want it? Better give up the multi-touch.
Am I the only one who finds the user interface of this thing so confusing?
Yes
i don't get what the big deal is with pinch to zoom? it's a horrible UI implementation for a mobile device. cell phones should be designed with one handed use in mind. using a non-intuitive method that usually need two hands to operate is not good design.
WRONG. I always use 1 hand to pinch and zoom ALWAYS. Its very easy.
i'm sorry, but you're wrong. i've tried it and done it plenty of times and it sucks.
just because you can drive while talking on the phone or steer with your knees doesn't mean that it's a good solution. this is a poor design decision.
+1 for ShayCarl. The phone suck though... scrolling is not smooth enough.
I heard the same said about Palm Pre where is that phone now?