

Google adds multitouch to Nexus One browser, maps, and gallery - kylec
http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/02/nexus-one-gets-a-software-update-enables-multitouch

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buster
Just an opinion of a long time android user:

I never really understood the need for multitouch in the browser:

On Android, i just doubletap on a column with interesting content and the
browser zooms in, rearranges text to fit into the screen and it's easily
readable. Best part: i can do this while using only one hand. It's probably
because i am accustomed to that now, but i think most iphone users are just
complaining because the don't know it can be just that simple and easy. It's
really that good, imho. It's very rare for me to want to zoom deep into a
picture, where i would understand the benefit of multitouch. (In that case +/-
controls appear on the screen when you touch it, so it's not really
inconvenient). Yet, as the iPhone is also using Webkit, does it support that
doubletap? That'd be nice :)

BUT, i can see the benefit on google maps, as there are no predefined areas
(text columns) to zoom in, so i'm looking forward to this update :)

Besides, if you didn't know, the european version of the Motorola
Droid(Milestone here) has multitouch. I guess it was because of some legal
uncertanity that it had never multitouch in the U.S.?

~~~
brandon
Yes, the iPhone supports double-tap to zoom, and it works reasonably well. I
rarely have to pinch to zoom in or out in order to get a better view of the
content.

~~~
buster
Ah ok. Glad to hear this, because i really like it. I really rarely zoom other
than that, because in general i just want to read some article on a news
page..

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swernli
I'm frequently suprised by how many people are only aware of one zoom method
or the other. Even back when the iPhone was released, I remember a couple of
reviews lamenting the lack of arbitrary zoom for the times when the double-tap
auto-zoom didn't get close enough, and some others complaining about having to
mainly zoom and asking for something automatic. It's as if knowledge of one
feature makes you less likley to be aware of the other.

Reminds me of the idea I've hear taught in programming: give users only one
way to do something, and you dissappoint some people, but give them more than
one way and you'll confuse everyone.

~~~
GHFigs
_It's as if knowledge of one feature makes you less likley to be aware of the
other._

Indeed. I've seen people struggle with this in things like single vs. double-
clicking, using scroll wheels vs. scroll bars, window edge-dragging, and
keyboard shortcuts.

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njs12345
Wonder what changed to allow them to do this. I can't believe the omission of
multitouch from the original release was just down to oversight..

~~~
dminor
Assuming Apple asked them not to do multitouch, probably just a decision that
the rewards outweigh the risks.

~~~
DougBTX
The browser looks a bit flaky. Watch the end of the video where he double taps
and the whole screen goes white, or at the very end when he pinches to zoom,
and the view jumps into a side bar. The main column of text on the page seems
to be jumping about, sometimes full page width, sometimes half page width.

The maps app seems like it could do with some work too, a couple of times the
whole screen goes grey while he zooms in and out.

~~~
buster
The browser text column of the article initially is set to the width of the
screen, so it fits and you don't have to scroll horizontically. I sure hope it
remains that way, because this feature is really a nice one (see my other
comment).

The map screen goes grey because there it is still loading the data for that
zoomlevel. While there could be some icon indicating the loading process, it's
not that bad, i think.

~~~
jamuraa
I don't understand why they would want to go grey when they are zooming in.
They have the tile for the old zoomlevel, they should just scale it until new
data comes in (and overlay the new data on the old). This is exactly what
happens in the browser when you zoom (as long as you're not zooming, say, 6-7
levels).

Also, I think it would be better to render the whole page at once, with a
width of something nominal like 800px or something, and then you can pan and
zoom (with or without smart zoom) super fast in hardware. It has always been a
dissapointment that the zooming is not as smooth on Android because the
browser tries to re-flow all of the "fluid" pages to it's new width and
height. (it also breaks some pages, where they try to float something to the
bottom of the view, but the view on Android is just slightly larger than the
screen, so it's unreachable)

~~~
buster
Yes, you are right about the zoom. That's odd. Actually, when i zoom in on my
Nexus One (with the control buttons, not pinch) it does scale the image until
the new one appears.

And, no, please no. The way the browser adjusts the text width is really a
nice thing! If you care about how your page looks like on a mobile device, do
a mobile version ;)

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pistoriusp
I saw a ton of things in the user interface that could improve the overall
experience. It's these kind of things that Apple understands:

1) The map tiles shouldn't disappear when a new detail of tiles are being
loaded, just draw over it.

2) iPhone applications have a "loading image" that is displayed whilst an app
is busy launching. The browser application is just a white screen of
nothingness.

2) Even if you're zoomed in to the max the iPhone has a bounce effect that
allows you to zoom in just a bit but immediately bounces back to the maximum
zoom when you release.

3) The zoom level should be reset when you're loading a new page. He switches
from mobile Engadget to normal and the zoom level remains the same.

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pbz
Anybody know if there's a way to force an update via WiFi? If I go to 'about'
and then 'system updates' no updates are listed. Also, how does the update
process work if you don't have a data plan? Thanks.

~~~
sofal
These two threads seem to confirm that updates will be possible via WiFi:

[http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=736...](http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=736eba55d4b7e5a8&hl=en)

[http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=38c...](http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=38cb982ccb80267d&hl=en)

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joubert
a) Why does the browser display 2 progress indicators when a page loads?

b) Double tap in browser - does it do the same "smart" zoom that the
iPhone/Mobile Safari does?

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dustice
Just FYI - You can actually manually update your Nexus One by following the
instructions here: [http://www.androidcentral.com/how-manually-update-your-
nexus...](http://www.androidcentral.com/how-manually-update-your-nexus-one).

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notirk
Any idea if this is for all Android (2.x) phones? Is the Moto Droid included?

~~~
jkincaid
I asked a Google spokesperson about this and the response was pretty vague,
but the gist seems to be that it will come to other phones once the
manufacturers/carriers roll out this Android update. Obviously that could be a
while for some devices.

I think there are rumors that the Droid will be getting Android 2.1 (which is
what the Nexus One runs) in the near future, but I don't think anyone knows if
it will include this update or if it will be what the Nexus One shipped with,
which lacks multitouch.

~~~
moron4hire
yeah, Motorola is being rather evasive about it, but we're supposed to get
Flash support whenever we do get 2.1 on the Droid.

