[Q] Quick touch input question - Android Software Development

On the capacitive screens, can you tell how much area is being touched by a finger or stylus? The reason i ask is that maybe some rudimentary sensitivity could be implemented for drawing apps.
Thanks,
-Dustin-

Actually "yes", but you have to handle the event by your self. You can even see how much different fingers are touching the screen...

http://d.android.com/reference/android/view/MotionEvent.html#getPressure(int)
and
http://d.android.com/reference/android/view/MotionEvent.html#getSize(int)
However, the values aren't well defined so you'll need to self-calibrate somehow. Also not ever touch screen supports this, even if they are capacitive.

Related

iphone media player?

i have been searching for the iphone touch scroll and media player for the hermes 8525 phone. is there anyone working on this? also is there anyway to make the touch screen to a multi tocuh screen like the iphone.
The multi touch screen is totally different hardware, although it would be cool if there was a way...
delude said:
The multi touch screen is totally different hardware, although it would be cool if there was a way...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i thought so but i would think if you hack the dll file maybe there is a way to make it read multi times i dont know i am not an expert on hardware or software hacking.
I thought I heard somewhere that there might be someone working on doing something like that. given hardware constraints, it wouldn't be perfect. It would detect the space between the fingers as being pressed as well (I'm assuming), e.g. if you have fingers on the screen like this:
__........__
|__|.....|__|
it would see this:
_________
|_________|
So it would have to figure out by the shape of it where your fingers really are.
Still, I hope someone does. Multitouch would be very nice...
EDIT: due to the restrictiveness of this forum, just imagine that the periods in my ASCII art above dont exist.
That would be amazing, and something i would definately pay for. Looks like it would be like the drag box on a PC desktop. If you put two fingers on then it could drag things or select the space within.
jackbnymbl said:
I thought I heard somewhere that there might be someone working on doing something like that. given hardware constraints, it wouldn't be perfect. It would detect the space between the fingers as being pressed as well (I'm assuming), e.g. if you have fingers on the screen like this:
__........__
|__|.....|__|
it would see this:
_________
|_________|
So it would have to figure out by the shape of it where your fingers really are.
Still, I hope someone does. Multitouch would be very nice...
EDIT: due to the restrictiveness of this forum, just imagine that the periods in my ASCII art above dont exist.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Detecting the space between fingers would only be possible with double touch screens one on top of the other. To simulate it on the present hardware would require low-level programming to continuously scan the screen within milliseconds so that it could detect minute differences of whichever finger came in contact first. It will not detect it if both fingers pressed on the screen at exactly the same time. Theoretically it should be possible to do but that would really slow down the system just to do it that way.
for multi touch, i'm not sure how it would be useful but i was thinking, maybe it somehow "remembers" a first click, then that second click is processed. for example, the iphone zooming feature. a single click, then a second, separate clickanddrag to zoom in and out
Well, many of the features can actually be done without requiring multi touch. For example, as the screen of the phone small enough, you can actually assigning area in the viewing screen to be doing something specific. For example, on my notebook touch pad, I can assign part of the right portion to do a scroll function. Hence, it is possible to implement the dynamic zoom function on a WM (non-multi touch device) by assigning (say) right hand area to do a zooming. It wont be as cool though.
would it still be cooler than a generic scroll bar? i like to think so.

Touch HD/blackstone dual touch capabel?

I've read somewhere that the screen used in the HD/Blackstone actually is dual touch capabel.. anyone that nows for sertain`?
My understanding is that in a hardware sence it will work but nothing is programmed for it, im not even sure if the drivers for it are enabled to do it.
Ok, but if the hardware is capable, then it should be possible for some clever minds to make propper modifications to whatever programs that could make use of dual touch.. ?
Any one up for a cool task?
I'm afraid this will be futile. The screen is resistive not capacitive. I'm not an expert, though.
Dual touch is out of the window now since APPLE has patented this technology i believe...
Resistive screens can support multi touch, there is a program on the diamond that proves this. Windows 7 (thats windows 7 not windows mobile 7) supports multitouch so its not apple only.
touch hd is not multi touch
Hmmm, the screen on the HD is resistive. The hardware drivers for this normally produce only a single set of x/y data. Technically it is possible on a resistive screen to produce multi-touch coordinates. BUT, it depends on the hardware implementation.
It is most unlikely that HTC have built-in multi-touch.
My understanding of the Diamond and Touch Pro multi-touch experiments is that they are using the two screen segments (vga and the bottom button segment).
the problem is nobody knows, apparently the device can display more than 65k colours, but until the software catches up to match we will never see it.
you can simulate a dual touch behaviour on every single touch screen.
Actually, when you touch the screen on a point, keep your finger on it, touch a second point with you second finger : from the windows dirver side, windows sees a mouse/pointer coordinate that gives the position of the center of the line segment between your both fingers.
For instance:
Put the first finger on the upper left corner, after that, put your second finger on the center .... Windows mouse event will return a "jump" at the position corresponding to a position at the upper-left of the center, between your both finger. So a piece of software could supposed that a second finger is on the screen. If you don't move your first finger, but just the second one, windows mouse/touch driver will report you the move corresponding to the half second finger move.
I saw a video on youtube about multitouch simulation ... and if you see them, you will notice that the first finger doesn't move. So i suppose that they use the method i had exposed above.
xtac said:
Dual touch is out of the window now since APPLE has patented this technology i believe...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
neither dual nor multi touch is pattented by apple (those patents actually belong to microsoft, as they developed the technology; as i was told by Microsoft developers/recruiters a couple months back), what apple just got patents for (simply to try and swindle money out of other companies later) are the gestures for the UI. Although the multi touch might be/probably is possible on the HD (as the diamond supports it) on the hardware level, developing the software would be difficult and I'd expect no help on part of HTC (as it would be unlikely for any company, especially one that produces so many phones, to go back and practically reinvent the UI on an existing phone). So although the possibility is most likely there, it would be highly unlikely that we'll ever see it. (Though a multi touch Android running on the HD with the right drivers would be nice)
the diamond has multitouch capability on the capacitive area below the screen, unfortunately the HD doesnt.
Im sure one day windows mobile will have Multitouch, we just have to see how how it plays out between Palm and Apple because palm uses the same gesture (pinch) which Apple apparently has a patent to.
If apple does bring forward a lawsuit and fails then we may well see multitouch on windows mobile very soon, but if apple wins: too bad for us.
My 2 cents:
I do not like dual touch!
I like to hold my HD in my palm and use my thumb to operate it. That way I only need one hand to use it. I love the photos program that allows you to zoom in and zoom out by circling something on the screen. I wish the browser and ALL other applictions supported this!
Everdog said:
My 2 cents:
I do not like dual touch!
I like to hold my HD in my palm and use my thumb to operate it. That way I only need one hand to use it. I love the photos program that allows you to zoom in and zoom out by circling something on the screen. I wish the browser and ALL other applictions supported this!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second that! (though texting/internet/video in landscape is also nice)
In some programs such as Microsoft word, if you move your finger on the screen, the screen will move up/down. But if you move your nail or stylus on the screen, the text will be selected.
How does HD distinguish between finger tip and stylus? I think it is a function of dual touch tool.
ok.. it recognizes the area of pressure unlike the light sensors to detect the position on capacitive screens(iphone).
HD cant recognize more than 1 touch because area of pressures moves in middle of 2 fingers.
in reply to monolithHD, HD can differentiate size of pressure and operate events accordingly,
for example using slylus is more difficult to scroll trough list of All programs or contacts than your finger
i was hoping for the buttons area to be capacitive like in diamond and pro but unfortunately they are not.. i can operate those buttons from my stylus also. capacitive screens generally cant be operated by stylus.
eventually we will have lot of devices and application with multitouch and we will miss it even more because HD also doesn't have many hardware buttons.
anyway be happy with whatever you got.
Ok, to clarify a little here.. some say: Capasitiv screens DO support dual touch (like the iphone) Resistive screens DOES NOT support...
Well.. final question from me then.. Anyone tried the Android G1 HTC mobile?..Is that a capasitiv or resistive screen? Because G1 DOES in fact support dual touch...
Anyone?
When you run the Xperia fish panel on the Touch HD.
And you press the screen with both fingers. The fish will swim to the middle of where you're 2 fingers are located......
This also is the same on the Xperia. And the Xperia has dual touch, So I would say Touch HD also has dual touch....
It's difficult to understand why the HD touchscreen can't be multitouch... The touchscreen panel is plenty of sensors (which in fact I can see too well on my HD, as said in other post). Can't two sensors send the signal at the same time? Also, we all agree that the HD can tell if you are pressing with your finger or with the stylus, because it can detect the size of the area you are touching... so even more difficult to understand.
Of course, this must have a good technical explanation, these are just my thoughts...
G1 screen is capacitive and supports Multi-touch.
Xperia X1 and touch HD screen is resistive which DOESN'T support multitouch.
In Xparia panel, if fishes move in the middle of 2 fingers that means it simply selects middle point as pressure area of the 2 figures, or in other sense it recognizes all space between 2 fingers as 1 GIANT finger.. i hope this will clear confusions.

[Idea] Improve touch screen accuracy through software

I have an idea that I think is unique; I can't seem to find anything related to it on xda or google, so forgive me if this already exists and is just too obvious for me to find it. Also I’m not sure if this is posted in the appropriate place since I’m not actually offering anything other than a simple idea. I am not a programmer and would have not way of testing or implementing this concept.
I often find myself repeatedly hitting little check boxes and links on my Windows phone. Even on a perfectly calibrated screen, it can be difficult for my fat finger to find the right spot. I particularly have problems with X/OK button and the Start menu at the top corners of the screen. I’m assuming that soft-buttons, text fields, etc in windows mobile have a defined border that accepts touch input. If the screen detects your touch outside of this box, it will not register. I propose a software solution to this.
I’ve included a simple illustration that hopefully makes this clearer. Also, anyone feel free to tell me this won’t work, that it’s already been done, etc. Rather than having a single box that is awaiting a single touch input, imagine if there were dozens of boxes surrounding the soft-key, each with an assigned value. As the boxes radiate out, the values would decrease. Input happens when the values add up to a predefined amount, which equals a touch. This way, if you click close to the box, but not quite, the screen will register where you are actually touching and make a decision (by adding up the values) of where you were actually trying to touch.
Hopefully the picture helps. I mentioned my lack of programming ability, and that applies to graphic design as well
All feedback is appreciated, and if anyone has the skills and knowledge to do this, let me know if you’re interested. I’d love to see the results.
That's pretty smart, actually; sort of like making our resistive touchscreens emulate capacitive ones.
I am another person who feels this is rather clever.
Sadly i am too a bit naff at programming :/
Thanks for the encouragement guys. I've made a better mock up now that I'm at home and have access to something besides MS Paint. I'm hoping to run across someone with the know-how, willingness, and energy to work up a proof-of-concept.
As a clearer example, in the new image, the red circles could equal 50, the green squares 25, and the blue squares 10. An equation taking sensitivity into account would be better (hard touch equals higher value with a multiplier for the closer circles). Say 100 was the thresh-hold for the screen to register a click on the box. Two reds, one red and two greens, and so on, anything that adds up to 100, would register. There could also be multiple boxes close together, each with their own set of concentric circles.
Another useful way of thinking about this is the elementary difference between accuracy and precision
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accuracy_and_precision
Screen calibration takes care of precision; I think this would provide accuracy.
Edit: I also wanted to add I was thinking of probability clouds when I came up with this. What can I say, I have a boring job.
Wow. Great idea, but I' not the one to program it! I'm surely someone will be up to the task though.
anything that makes hitting the stupid ok button easier is great in my book!
This won't work. There are no "boxes" like you speak of. The touch screen gives the OS the POINT where it was pressed. The OS converts that into pixels sees what is under the pushed pixel and selects that. Very similar to how a desktop works. The mouse only clicks one pixel and those interactive touch screen things you see at stores where you can see the moues move to where you pressed further illustrate it.
Multi Touch screens report that area that was pressed instead of just one point, but no WinMo phones have multi touch.
petard said:
This won't work. There are no "boxes" like you speak of. The touch screen gives the OS the POINT where it was pressed. The OS converts that into pixels sees what is under the pushed pixel and selects that. Very similar to how a desktop works. The mouse only clicks one pixel and those interactive touch screen things you see at stores where you can see the moues move to where you pressed further illustrate it.
Multi Touch screens report that area that was pressed instead of just one point, but no WinMo phones have multi touch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is helpful; thanks for the insight. I tried to find info on exactly how resistive touch screens worked, but it tended to be technical specs rather than how the OS used them. If it is narrowing it down to a pixel, then I see what you're saying: it won't work. If the point of contact was read as a larger, single area (as opposed to one pixel), it would be possible. Couldn't a GUI simply draw a circle around that single point? Then the area contained in that circle could be used to predict the button/icon you're trying to press using the values of the "boxes" or circles underneath.
Again, I was bored at work and was thinking about how hard it is to hit the OK button sometimes. Oh well, it killed about 2 hours

Leo NOT compatible with most applications, due to iPhone-like screen

Yesterday I purchased a HD2 also called Leo, running original WWE ROM from HTC
I have installed several apps including Sloved dictionaries, Lingosoft dictionaries.
Some are in "touch mode" version, some are not. Those apps who are NOT in touch mode, are virtually impossible to operate, due to the new screen. Small Icons and scroll down menu are almost impossible to "touch" they never give the correct results.
Leo seems NOT very compatible. The reason, I guess, is the new screen type: it it different, it is similar to iPhone. They call it resistive screen.
Both iPhone and HD2 you cannot use stylus or pen (simply the screen does not react). Both cannot use the nail of the finger (it does not react).
The thumb and the finger tip areas (which is the only area which can input into the device) are too gross and wide to be precise....
You need to use the soft part of the finger (I guess in English it is called finger tip, or end of the finger), below the nail, in order to have the screen react to your inputs.
I have tried many times: in my software the small icons on top bars, and all scroll down menus ARE TOO SMALL to be tipped with finger tip or thumb tip.
They cannot accessed, or they give wrong results or you need tens of attempts to get it right. Most of the time inputs are not responsive, sometimes they are, with unpredictable or wrong results (for example you open phone ring scroll down menu and click on a ring type "A" and the phone interpret as ring type "C")
This is terrible...altough I admit the 4.3" screen is awesome and superb...What can be done?
1. is there an application which restore or adjust the screen sensibility so that it can be used with NON-TOUCH softwwares?
2. or are all developers going to release new touch-friendly version of their software...suitable to this type of screens?
Thanks a lot
Saulo
saulo866 said:
1. is there an application which restore or adjust the screen sensibility so that it can be used with NON-TOUCH softwwares?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try pinch zooming.
saulo866 said:
2. or are all developers going to release new touch-friendly version of their software...suitable to this type of screens?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They will, but it may take some time and won't happen overnight. They will have to do it to stay alive because of WM7 compatibility requirements.
It may be a (huge) inconvenience for some users like you, but it's a trend that won't be reversed.
Congrats on the new handset.
saulo866 said:
Leo seems NOT very compatible. The reason, I guess, is the new screen type: it it different, it is similar to iPhone. They call it resistive screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The screen on the HD2 and the iPhone is capacitive, not resistive.
saulo866 said:
Both iPhone and HD2 you cannot use stylus or pen (simply the screen does not react). Both cannot use the nail of the finger (it does not react).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use a special kind of stylus, I believe some people have bought one for the iPhone on ebay. Also, HTC has patented a magnet tipped stylus which will work on capacitive touchscreens. As the HD2 is built with a 4.3 inch screen I don't think there will be much problems.
I can use my X1 without a stylus just fine.
Is it totally impossible to manage tiny acreen elements?
Is a conductive (metal) "stylus" possible?
Thanks
zolom said:
Is it totally impossible to manage tiny acreen elements?
Is a conductive (metal) "stylus" possible?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A conductive stylus should be possible. Apparently, you get conductive plastics, which are used to package up ICs (integrated circuits), something like could work. But would would need to find a way to make it into a rod somehow. Would be expensive I imagine.
The are capacitive styluses on eBay. They are also quite cheap. However, their tips are quite large compared to a resistive stylus.
I'm going to experiment a little bit when I get my HD2 (hopefully on Friday).
But to be honest, I can use my finger for almost everything on my X1. And that was a tiny screen compared to the HD2. So I don't see the problem. Seems like a lot of people are making a fuss over nothing.
I tried to use morph gear on mine and NONE of the buttons work at all.
I guess the use of capacitive screen is only advantageous if and only if the OS and applications are designed for it. Window mobile would not be able to enjoy this benefit now. I hope WM7 would change that.
madindehead said:
A conductive stylus should be possible. Apparently, you get conductive plastics, which are used to package up ICs (integrated circuits), something like could work. But would would need to find a way to make it into a rod somehow. Would be expensive I imagine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HTC have licenced one already...
DinoZ1 said:
HTC have licenced one already...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They have filed a patent yes. They haven't made it yet tho. Certainly not to the general consumer.
That's B.S
If you use softwares from 1996 then sure, it won't be finger friendly.
Almost all software from recent year are finger compatible.
I just went through all the software installed on my touch HD, from about 30 software installed zero are not finger friendly. The only thing I have non finger friendly is some of the WM6.1 screens.
madindehead said:
A conductive stylus should be possible. Apparently, you get conductive plastics, which are used to package up ICs (integrated circuits), something like could work. But would would need to find a way to make it into a rod somehow. Would be expensive I imagine.
The are capacitive styluses on eBay. They are also quite cheap. However, their tips are quite large compared to a resistive stylus.
I'm going to experiment a little bit when I get my HD2 (hopefully on Friday).
But to be honest, I can use my finger for almost everything on my X1. And that was a tiny screen compared to the HD2. So I don't see the problem. Seems like a lot of people are making a fuss over nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, no one is making a fuss. I hate the stupid posts of "visible dot matrix in the screen, HD2 is slower than other phones, HD2 has no video out and so on". But I quite get the feel of problems the poster is trying to address. You didn't get the point here, X1 is with the typical resistive screen, it is entirely different when you operate on a capacitive screen, and it is not about the size of the screen. I now start to worry about the 3rd party apps as I've been relying on many apps with my Touch HD. I really hope somehow the software developers will come out with apps exclusively support HD2 capacitive screen!
I don't understand .. sure, it's harder to press small elements. But even now a lot of software is finger friendly, and the trend will only get stronger. Actually I use only fingers with my current X1, I use stylus like once per week, since some parts of WM 6,1 can't be used well with fingers.
Is there some other problem ? What do you mean by exclusive HD2 support ?
newuser888 said:
I guess the use of capacitive screen is only advantageous if and only if the OS and applications are designed for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me personally, and, I believe, for many others, the major advantage of a capacitive screen is the glass screen surface and no need to use those stupid screen protectors anymore. I don't use outdated apps with tiny elements though, so it's not a big deal for me. If you are tied to them for some reason then it's a different story I guess...
well it doesnt need to be exclusiveto the hd2... just finger friendly would do the trick... I use my stylus only on some drop-down menus...
Exemple of applications which are NOT working??
I got mine few minutes ago, I am using it, and I dont have ANY problem with tiny elements, maybe sometimes you need to click 2 times but nothing. 0 problems for me.
This device is fracking awesome.
precsmo said:
No, no one is making a fuss. I hate the stupid posts of "visible dot matrix in the screen, HD2 is slower than other phones, HD2 has no video out and so on". But I quite get the feel of problems the poster is trying to address. You didn't get the point here, X1 is with the typical resistive screen, it is entirely different when you operate on a capacitive screen, and it is not about the size of the screen. I now start to worry about the 3rd party apps as I've been relying on many apps with my Touch HD. I really hope somehow the software developers will come out with apps exclusively support HD2 capacitive screen!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did get the point. He said small menus are hard to press without a stylus.
I am asking why he finds this, as with a bigger screen (same resolution) the menus are now bigger. If I can use a small menu with my finger on the X1, the SIZE of the icon will be bigger on the HD2 (given the increase in screen size).
I wasn't saying that capacitive and resistive react the same way to a finger press. All the apps need, is to become finger friendly.
They won't react any differently on the HD2. Unless you have a drawing application you use, in which case that will be different.
But my original point still stands. The icons shouldn't be any harder to press on the HD2 as they will be bigger than on an X1 (I have smallish hands, but quite chunky fingers. I have press icons on the X1 fine, so I'm not worried about them on the HD2).
Even with big fingers, it's just a matter of skill. The phone detects center of pressed area and it always sends single point to the application. It does not mean that you can't press very small element with big finger, it just may be harder to hit.
I recommend simply trusting the device, not trying to do anything special ..
let me clarify what I said: let me make some more examples to make you understand what huge discomfort this "otherwise awesome screen" is giving to me:
try for example, (on any HD2) to do the following:
settings > input > options > try to change default zoom level from 200% to 100% (you need to access zoom scroll down menu)...I have tried for 20 times and I failed...sometimes I get 300% sometimes I get 75%...no way you can select the right level.
No way you can use your nails (since the settings are in a small area)
any other settings in which you need to select a choice from a scroll down menu results in a pain and several attempts...
In this condition even the internal settings on wm 6.5 are hard to accomplish...better to shift back to HD1 or to iphone, whose software is simplified enough to make the use of thumbs finger possible
saulo866 said:
let me clarify what I said: let me make some more examples to make you understand what huge discomfort this "otherwise awesome screen" is giving to me:
try for example, (on any HD2) to do the following:
settings > input > options > try to change default zoom level from 200% to 100% (you need to access zoom scroll down menu)...I have tried for 20 times and I failed...sometimes I get 300% sometimes I get 75%...no way you can select the right level.
No way you can use your nails (since the settings are in a small area)
any other settings in which you need to select a choice from a scroll down menu results in a pain and several attempts...
In this condition even the internal settings on wm 6.5 are hard to accomplish...better to shift back to HD1 or to iphone, whose software is simplified enough to make the use of thumbs finger possible
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just carry a laptop round with you that has MyPhone installed on it and use that. Simple!

Multi-touch Keyboard

We all know that multitouch is capable on the popular G1 and myTouch. Now I was wondering if adding such a feature onto the virtual keyboard is a can-do. All for the sake of exponentially increasing text insertion speed.
I don't see a reason to use multitouch for text input. What should happen if you enter 2 keys at the same time?
MarcLandis said:
I don't see a reason to use multitouch for text input. What should happen if you enter 2 keys at the same time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the point of multi-touch on the vk is to increase the speed of texting meaning u can press a key directly after another without fear of the keys not registering. it really helps when holding the phone sideways because when text i start texting too fast and keys dont register correctly. thats y im still partial to the hard keyboard.
MarcLandis said:
I don't see a reason to use multitouch for text input. What should happen if you enter 2 keys at the same time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason for multi-touch is simple... take a look at the iPhone, if you hit one key and then before releasing it hit another it registers both hits. So that way you can type much quicker! Try this on the android/htc/better keyboards and you'll see that if you hit two keys at the same time, it will register a key that is almost always half-way in between the two.
However, I think Google is having a hard-time coding for not simultaneous taps but for timing. Meaning that if you hit both the 'K' and the 'N' keys at the same time while trying to type the word 'KNOW', the software not only has to recognize that 2 keys were hit; but has to resolve which one was hit first or was likely meant to be hit first. So that way, it can say
"hey, he hit the 'K' and the 'N' at virtually the same time; BUT, because he hit the 'K' .00002 seconds before the 'N' I'll put register and display the 'K' before the 'N'"
Multi-touch in the browser is probably not easy to code for but it certainly is much easier than the keyboard because pinching only requires the software to recognize that two fingers are on the screen, not that one was there before the other.
But, I think Google needs to work on the usability of the keyboard first. The screen-size on the magic and keyboard might restrict them somewhat but damn the virtual keyboard layout is verry bad... I always hit the "M" key when trying to hit the "DELETE" key.. And why not auto-popup the keyboard when you enter messaging? and why is there the "smiley" key in messaging? WASTE OF SPACE?!?
I thought the HTC keyboard sorta-of had multi-touch support, no?
How does one "sorta" have multi-touch support?
I would love to see this. My biggest problem is not registering a space in between words because I hit it too quickly and then the autocorrect can't fix the issue. Maybe a 3rd party keyboard developer would be interested in incorporating this into their app?
I believe better keyboard has multi touch.
exile20 said:
I believe better keyboard has multi touch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does not, unfortunately.
TonyDeez said:
How does one "sorta" have multi-touch support?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I only got it working with the bottom row of keys.
I can't fathom how one would get the Dream/Magic (G1/myTouch3G) to have a fully functional multitouch keyboard. The multitouch capacity of these devices is hackish to say the least; if the horizontal or vertical coordinates of the touched points coincide to within a rather wide range (comparatively speaking) then the device is incapable of registering more than one touch -- and it wouldn't necessarily be /either/ of the points originally touched.
That would seem to me to be a game-breaker.
Unless I misunderstand? Perhaps the Droid or Cliq are different.
IConrad01 said:
The multitouch capacity of these devices is hackish to say the least; if the horizontal or vertical coordinates of the touched points coincide to within a rather wide range (comparatively speaking) then the device is incapable of registering more than one touch -- and it wouldn't necessarily be /either/ of the points originally touched.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reading this got me curious so I went back to Luke Hutchison's blog posts on the matter and played around with his multitouch demo apps here and it looks like there are indeed problems. I then found this post which explains his observations on the matter.
Even with these limitations, though, it's hard to say if there would be much of an issue. I think this "rather wide range" you speak of is small enough. The QWERTY keyboard layout was designed to spread out keys to minimize "jams" of neighboring keys. This works in our favor, making the distance between possible close-to-simultaneous keypresses rather large on average. If I play with the virtual keyboard a little bit, I notice that if my fingers are hitting neighboring keys I don't have problems with simultaneous presses because I have to move my first finger out of the way to make room for the second. I do have unusually large fingers, but give it a try yourself.
Who knows though...it may indeed be too inaccurate.
Also, it looks like there's a similar thread to this one over here.
The trouble, as I understand it, is that you could not touch two points on the same horizontal "read" line of the device, at the same time. You could probably do top row and bottom row as multitouch, but not middle row and anything else. (Assuming three rows total.)
It's not just about touching two keys simultaneously but that if the same capacitors are triggered horizontally, then the device will read this as one -- confused -- input. And if the same capacitors are triggered horizontally, the same will occur.
It is my understanding that the Motorola Milestone's Eclair keyboard is multi-touch. Can anyone confirm that?
i can conform that there is a multi-touch keyboard. Ive actually tested it out. They rebuild the keyboard and made capable of it. I think its called HTC VK keyboard. And yes i can press 2 keys at the same time too.
I have a t mobile Touch pro 2, love the keyboard but i would rather go back to android. Its almost new if anyone is interested let me know in a pm. thanks.
If I'm not mistaken, the HTC Keyboard on the hero has multitouch.
ajones7279 said:
If I'm not mistaken, the HTC Keyboard on the hero has multitouch.
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sorry but you are mistaken. the hero does not even have real multitouch in the driver. one finger gives a small dot, while a second finger would increase the dot size that is reported from the driver, the bigger the distance between fingers the bigger the dot size. this way the pinch-to-zoom works, but it does not actually detect a second touch.
you can see this with various application that show the touch graphically, for example cracked screen or steamy window.
Then I stand corrected. Just relaying something I heard. But doesn't mulititouch have to be written into the program? Like how Picsay had multitouch on the Droid whereas other apps didn't? Just throwing things out there.
kendong2 said:
sorry but you are mistaken. the hero does not even have real multitouch in the driver. one finger gives a small dot, while a second finger would increase the dot size that is reported from the driver, the bigger the distance between fingers the bigger the dot size. this way the pinch-to-zoom works, but it does not actually detect a second touch.
you can see this with various application that show the touch graphically, for example cracked screen or steamy window.
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Dunno about the Hero, but the Eris definitely does have it.
Also- multitouch DOES have to be coded into the application. The driver isn't important at all if the application itself only supports one input.
Interesting new tweet by cyanogen:
@paracycle multitouch is built into keyboardview on eclair. i've backported this for the next CM-4.2 release.
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