Android Multi-Touch

[jocejrod]

i think i already know the answer(no) but with the android port on pandora and the recently announced native multitouch on the nexus one, it put some thoughts in my head

here's to dreaming(and replacing my phone/mp3 player etc...)

 

[Prometheus]

The Pandora has a resistive touch-screen. Multi-touch ones are capacitive.

 

[gruso]

Nope, because Pandora's screen is resistive.

[edit] I should just put "[edit] ninja'd" in my sig.

 

[Sphinxter]

It's a hardware device the pandora does not have.

 

[jocejrod]

yeah, i thought i had read that, but thought i should ask anyways....thanks guys. and for the guy who got android running....i love you. and for everyone making the pandora, i love you too (would love you more if i had one though )

thanks people

 

[God Ginrai]

The Pandora has a resistive touch-screen. Multi-touch ones are capacitive.

Actually, multi-touch resistive screens do exist. The technology was showcased after the orders for the Pandora were already taken. I believe there was even a topic about it at one point. We may see it in a Pandora 2, but the resistive touchscreen that the Pandora will have does not have multi-touch capabilities.

Here's a link:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/19/stantums-mind-blowing-multitouch-interface-on-video/

-God Ginrai

 

[Prometheus]

I know they do, and I remember the topics - I simply left out resistive multi-touch screens for the sake of clarity (I did almost write "Multi-touch ones tend to be capacitive", though).

 

[willrandship]

But resistive does have an advantage. It can sense up to 16 levels of pressure, making it a more effective writing and drawing tool! Think about colors, for the ds, if you want an example of what it can do with pressure sensing.

Honestly, I've never seen very much use with multitouch, myself. It seems more like a gimmick than actually useful. Name me one useful thing you can do with multitouch that actually helps with anything, especially since you only have one stylus, not two...

If someone is very desparate for multitouch they could use the camera out of a wiimote and johnny lee's whiteboard code, though! that would let you have up to 5 points including the screen itself! The camera itself is only a half centimeter square, and very thin.

 

[WizardStan]

But resistive does have an advantage. It can sense up to 16 levels of pressure, making it a more effective writing and drawing tool! Think about colors, for the ds, if you want an example of what it can do with pressure sensing.

Not just 16, that's just what ours is theoretically capable of. There are some that can sense variance over a thousand different levels (used in some high quality art tablets, if I recall correctly), and some that are just hard/soft, and a few that weren't wired up to give that kind of detail so even though the screen itself may be capable no software can read it.

 

[torpor]

Multitouch is useful for such things as synthesizer and effects control surfaces, where you might want to control more than one parameter at the same time for musical effect. Mixing interfaces, and so on, can all benefit from multitouch.

I've used multitouch quite extensively in my music-world experience, and I have to say that it does make a difference for music-making, quite so. One thing though, after a few hours of multi-touch work (on the Lemur, or on a Performancer table), ones finger tips do get rubbed a bit raw ..

I hope we see an upgrade for multitouch on the Pandora in the future - could it be possible that there are LCD's that can be a drop-in replacement for multitouch? Possible, I would imagine ..

 

[rabidpoobear]

Multitouch is useful for such things as synthesizer and effects control surfaces, where you might want to control more than one parameter at the same time for musical effect. Mixing interfaces, and so on, can all benefit from multitouch.

I've used multitouch quite extensively in my music-world experience, and I have to say that it does make a difference for music-making, quite so. One thing though, after a few hours of multi-touch work (on the Lemur, or on a Performancer table), ones finger tips do get rubbed a bit raw ..

I hope we see an upgrade for multitouch on the Pandora in the future - could it be possible that there are LCD's that can be a drop-in replacement for multitouch? Possible, I would imagine ..

You could theoretically just replace the touchscreen, as it's an overlay over the display. When multitouch resistive screens come out you may be able to replace it.

It'll be tough to replace the LCD with a touch-screen capacitive one, though, firstly because I don't know of any 4.3" devices that use capacitive touch sensors, and secondly because you lose the ability to use styli (unless you use a capacitive one.)

 

[Dimacus]

This got me thinking, for very specific applications, some sort of multi-touch (or atleast dual-touch ) emulation should be possible, although I'm not sure of how usable it would be.
Something like looking at the x/y coords and if a sudden 'larger than normal' change occurs it could signify a second finger on the display.
You would need to know exactly which components of the ui can be altered, the characteristics of the touchscreen and perhaps some sort of probability database, which lists the probable changes that can be made.
I don't think a method such as this would allow for both fingers to move simultaneously tough.

Anyway, it was just a tought.

 

[ample]

Honestly, I've never seen very much use with multitouch, myself. It seems more like a gimmick than actually useful. Name me one useful thing you can do with multitouch that actually helps with anything, especially since you only have one stylus, not two...

all i can say is: 10/gui

 

[monkeyo2]

There is a way of doing 'fake' multitouch on the N800. It's not going to work for effects control surfaces, but could potentially be used for things like zooming and rotating maps and images:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJWvvn_cePM

 

[Awakening]

iPhone and iPad uses multitouch for things like zooming, rotating, closing down applications. I saw some device using 2 fingers as a page scroll. You also get instant support for games that already uses multitouch.