Android 1.6 added gestures, 2.0 adds Multitouch

**Gigaflop** · 10-20-2009, 02:53 PM

I've been trying to figure out how google could get around the apple patents on "pinch to zoom" and why they haven't implemented it yet.

I think my title IS the solution.

So according to reviews of Eclair, it supports multitouch, but doesn't support the pinch to zoom gesture.

Why? Because apple holds rights to "pinch to zoom."

So what has google done? Well, with 1.6 they added the ability for developers to create their own gestures. Initially I was like "WTF is this for?"

Now it makes sense. All that was left is for google to enable multitouch support, and then let the community create the "pinch to zoom" gesture! Apple can't touch them that way, and people can use/create whatever gestures they want to perform actions. If they want to mimic the iphone's pinch to zoom, then there is nothing stopping them.

This is just my wild guess, but I think the pieces fit. Any thoughts?

**ratchetjaw** · 10-20-2009, 08:42 PM

I dont understand? The Hero has pinch to zoom

**konzern** · 10-20-2009, 09:46 PM

yeah the hero has pinch to zoom and gestures are different from multi touch

gestures are like swiping left and right to change page or picture.....stuff like that

**MoeDaddy** · 10-22-2009, 07:27 AM

I believe that he is saying the pinch to zoom is a combination of gestures and multi touch and that now devs can make an app to take advantage of that. I also believe that the HTC added pinch to zoom to the hero not google...

Anyway I see the OP point and lets hope some cool multi touch/gesture ideas/apps will come forward with Android 2.0.

**extorian** · 10-24-2009, 04:44 PM

It was a myth that Apple had patents on multi touch that prevented Android implementing it.

This issue has been discussed to death several times on this forum.

The bottom line is that the G1 screen (I don't know about the other Android phones) simply does NOT support multi touch. It cannot differentiate between multiple discrete touch contact points, so can never ever have true multi touch.

Pinch zooming is different. Two touches looks like a (one) big blob to the screen. The centre of the blob is the position between your two fingers. The size of the blob is the distance your fingers are apart. Hence, using this information, you can achieve pinch zooming.

If I recall correctly, Android 2.0 does have support for Multitouch. But this doesn't mean the G1 will get multi-touch when it's released. Just like Windows 7 has support for Multitouch, it doesn't mean if you install Windows 7 on your PC that your old monitor can suddenly become a multi-touch screen.