Droid owners, some good news appeared today: You can use pinch-and-zoom on your device. Well, sometimes. Here's the saga about his multi-touch feature, in a nutshell.
10/27: Google announces the smartphone OS Android 2.0. It officially supports multi-touch but not pinch-and-zoom. The software developer kit allows developers to build applications that support multi-touch gestures: Google Shows Android 2.0 to Developers.
10/28: Motorola announces the "Droid" for Verizon Wireless, and it officially lacks pinch-and-zoom gestures in its native applications: Unboxing the Verizon Droid: the Pictures.
11/2: Motorola announces the Milestone, A.K.A. the Droid for Europe. It offers multi-touch gestures, including pinch-and-zoom, built into the native Web browser and picture-viewer applications: Euro Droid Phone Gets Multitouch; Americans Don't
11/3: When questioned by us as to why native pinch-and-zoom support was not included in the Droid, Motorola said:
In response to your question regarding differences between MILESTONE and DROID, we work very closely with our carriers and partners to deliver differentiated consumer experiences on our mobile devices. At times, similar devices come to market with different features, depending on the region, carrier preferences and consumer needs.
Droid Lacks Multi-Touch Gestures: Motorola Responds
11/5: Verizon announces the Droid Eris by HTC--an Android phone that which includes native pinch-and-zoom in its native Web browser and picture viewer. The fact that Verizon Wireless offers an Android device with native applications that support pinch-and-zoom seems to contradict what Motorola's statement inferred. We pointed this out to Motorola, but the company has yet to respond. Hands On with the Verizon Droid Eris.
Also, Engadget discovers that a pinch-and-zoom-capable application for Android is available in the Android Market&mdash:an photo-editing app called Picsay. It is currently available for download: Motorola DROID's built-in apps don't have multitouch support, third-party stuff is another story.
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November 9, 2009 4:02 PM
I can only imagine that Verizon locked down the multi-touch(tm) capacity of the droid to appease Apple. The Eris is not considered a threat to the iPhone as it is placed at a lower price point, and therefore Apple isn't worried about it supporting multi-touch.
Given Verizon's assault on Apple via it's iDon't commercials we can only speculate as to WHY Verizon would concede multi-touch on the Droid. But there are theories:
http://goingcellular.com/verizon-wireless/verizon-to-launch-iphone-in-2010-441650/
November 9, 2009 8:08 PM
the first ads were targeted at apple, but the later ones have been targeted at at&t. verizon seems to have changed its stance on apple, but not an at&t.
November 10, 2009 10:45 AM
Implied. "The fact that Verizon Wireless offers an Android device with native applications that support pinch-and-zoom seems to contradict what Motorola's statement," implied.
November 10, 2009 11:22 AM
Thanks, Karl. I almost posted the same thing before I saw your post.