Is the iPod(phone) the only multi touch device on the market?

Lord Jezo

I was wondering about this.. are the Apple devices the only touch screens on the market that support more than one finger gestures? Do any of the phones from any other vendor handle multiple points?

wunderbar

There are a few models of the Eee PC that have multi touch trackpads.

Lord Jezo

But as far as touch screen phones no one else out there has figured it out?

Desriel

From what I understood, and this is completely unverified, Apple has somehow copyrighted the multi-touch thing.

That said, I think the upcoming Blackberry Storm (on Verizon) has something similar with their click-screen.

Visti

Desriel wrote: »

From what I understood, and this is completely unverified, Apple has somehow copyrighted the multi-touch thing.

That said, I think the upcoming Blackberry Storm (on Verizon) has something similar with their click-screen.

Doubt it, unless they only have it for phones. Lots of stuff use it.

I hear the HTC Diamond has the function, but not enabled by default. HTC Touch Pro, too. This sort of breaks my illusion that other companies didn't do it because it would jack up the prize to an iPhone level and if that would be the choice, I'm happy to live without it.

syndalis

Visti wrote: »

Desriel wrote: »

From what I understood, and this is completely unverified, Apple has somehow copyrighted the multi-touch thing.

That said, I think the upcoming Blackberry Storm (on Verizon) has something similar with their click-screen.

Doubt it, unless they only have it for phones. Lots of stuff use it.

I hear the HTC Diamond has the function, but not enabled by default. HTC Touch Pro, too. This sort of breaks my illusion that other companies didn't do it because it would jack up the prize to an iPhone level and if that would be the choice, I'm happy to live without it.

200 bucks for an 8 gig flash smartphone is not expensive at all.

Fats

Visti wrote: »

Desriel wrote: »

From what I understood, and this is completely unverified, Apple has somehow copyrighted the multi-touch thing.

That said, I think the upcoming Blackberry Storm (on Verizon) has something similar with their click-screen.

Doubt it, unless they only have it for phones. Lots of stuff use it.

I hear the HTC Diamond has the function, but not enabled by default. HTC Touch Pro, too. This sort of breaks my illusion that other companies didn't do it because it would jack up the prize to an iPhone level and if that would be the choice, I'm happy to live without it.

The d-pad/circle thingy and surrounding area on the Diamond and Pro is capacitive and does multi-touch (though not out of the box, like you said), the rest of it doesn't.

It looks like Apple is attempting to get a trademark on "Multi-touch", so that could be why other companies are hesitant.

DigDug2000

Visti wrote: »

Desriel wrote: »

From what I understood, and this is completely unverified, Apple has somehow copyrighted the multi-touch thing.

That said, I think the upcoming Blackberry Storm (on Verizon) has something similar with their click-screen.

Doubt it, unless they only have it for phones. Lots of stuff use it.

I hear the HTC Diamond has the function, but not enabled by default. HTC Touch Pro, too. This sort of breaks my illusion that other companies didn't do it because it would jack up the prize to an iPhone level and if that would be the choice, I'm happy to live without it.

The new Blackberry has multi-touch too.
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/newsroom/news/press/release.jsp?id=1866

In addition to the familiar navigation keys (“phone,” “menu” and “escape”) that are common to other BlackBerry smartphones, the new BlackBerry Storm adds support for multi-touches, taps, slides and other touch-screen gestures, so customers can easily highlight, scroll, pan and zoom for smooth navigation.

I think Apple is just trying to trademark the word, not the tech. FingerWorks (Apple owned now) has patents on some of the tech, but there are a thousand ways to do it, and even if someone has to pay royalties, it's not the end of the world. Just means the cost to consumers goes up.