Stumble across this video in the Droid forum, thought it was interesting. Any opinions on this?
YouTube - Motorola Droid vs Nexus One: Multitouch Test
YouTube - Motorola Droid vs Nexus One: Multitouch Test
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Unfortunately I'd have to say that the N1 does have an inferior sensor to that of the Droid. I have the N1 and have also used the Droid on numerous occasions and found it to be much more accurate with screen taps. This would certainly translate to the multi-touch experience, although I obviously haven't used a Droid running 2.1.
It has also been rumored that software calibration can fix many of these issues. For example, the N1 gets really flaky with screen presses sometimes then will correct itself after locking then unlocking the screen. Just plain odd. Obviously some sort of software calibration or sensor reset is performed when the screen is locked.
Overall, I can tell you that it's basically a non issue at the moment but when games that require accurate multi-touch start to hit the marketplace, we may have something more to worry about...
It has also been rumored that software calibration can fix many of these issues. For example, the N1 gets really flaky with screen presses sometimes then will correct itself after locking then unlocking the screen. Just plain odd. Obviously some sort of software calibration or sensor reset is performed when the screen is locked.
Overall, I can tell you that it's basically a non issue at the moment but when games that require accurate multi-touch start to hit the marketplace, we may have something more to worry about...
grainysand
Android Expert
Mm-hmm.
YouTube - The Nexus One/Droid multitouch debate - AndroidCentral.com
The app "multi-touch visualizer" doesn't exhibit the sensor confusion either on the N1 or the Droid.
YouTube - The Nexus One/Droid multitouch debate - AndroidCentral.com
The app "multi-touch visualizer" doesn't exhibit the sensor confusion either on the N1 or the Droid.
SweeT EviL
Newbie
what about more the 2 touch in a time, can you try to put 3 fingers and film it?
It does, you just can't see it. It flips the y axis so that it thinks it would be at the other side, HENCE if you drew a circle with a cross in on the other app it would look exactly the same.
The sheer fact that this argument exists on the tubes means there's really no definitive evidence either way. I've not noticed any issues on mine. I play several games that rely on multitouch and they work fine. So even if you can fool the sensor, if it doesn't hurt my use of the phone, it's not really a problem for me.
lookseehear
Member
That second video isn't helpful at all. It doesn't show that the fingers are being tracked as it doesn't show up where your fingers are, it just shows a rectangle and circle on which your fingers lay.
The way I see it, the N1 implementation of multitouch is like this:
- your first finger touches the screen at coordinates (x1, y1), the screen reads off the coordinates and registers the touch
- your second finger touches the screen at (x2, y2). the n1 is now seeing touches at horizontal positions x1, x2 and vertical touches at y1, y2, and here's the key part I don't think it can distinguish which x coordinate goes with which y coordinate. Initially it works fine, that's because one touch came before the other, but when they overlap like in the first video it gets confused and perhaps even takes a guess as to which way it should be.
I think there may be ways round it with new firmware, one way could take into account the direction a point is moving (sort of its momentum) so that when they cross the movement is continuous not 'bouncing back'. My concern with adding extra processing into something like this is that it could make it laggy.
As has been mentioned before it works fine for pinch to zoom etc, but for games it could be a real problem.
Hope at least some of that made sense
The way I see it, the N1 implementation of multitouch is like this:
- your first finger touches the screen at coordinates (x1, y1), the screen reads off the coordinates and registers the touch
- your second finger touches the screen at (x2, y2). the n1 is now seeing touches at horizontal positions x1, x2 and vertical touches at y1, y2, and here's the key part I don't think it can distinguish which x coordinate goes with which y coordinate. Initially it works fine, that's because one touch came before the other, but when they overlap like in the first video it gets confused and perhaps even takes a guess as to which way it should be.
I think there may be ways round it with new firmware, one way could take into account the direction a point is moving (sort of its momentum) so that when they cross the movement is continuous not 'bouncing back'. My concern with adding extra processing into something like this is that it could make it laggy.
As has been mentioned before it works fine for pinch to zoom etc, but for games it could be a real problem.
Hope at least some of that made sense
While it is easy to say that it could be fixed in driver, the problem has been known for awhile now (G1 last year). You would have thought they would have fixed it by now.
Obviously the sensor is deficient, but a method like you mention which has a bit of a memory of what happened the last x polling intervals would definitely help. It tracks well when they are off axis, I would use that good data to establish how far the fingers are apart and link that to the xy values. That way if the fingers cross axis and stop you would have something to fall back on without direction. Of course that's just off the hip and I would hope this has been taken into consideration all shot down for a reason already.
Obviously the sensor is deficient, but a method like you mention which has a bit of a memory of what happened the last x polling intervals would definitely help. It tracks well when they are off axis, I would use that good data to establish how far the fingers are apart and link that to the xy values. That way if the fingers cross axis and stop you would have something to fall back on without direction. Of course that's just off the hip and I would hope this has been taken into consideration all shot down for a reason already.
grainysand
Android Expert
It's not an "if." The CDMA version of the N1 won't have different hardware; the only point of difference is that it will likely use a Qualcomm chip that supports CDMA technology.
For a business user? It won't. The only thing this multi-touch "problem" affects is... well, games.
tluv00
Android Enthusiast
Okay good. I don't plan on playing games requiring multitouch (or putting the N1 in my skinny jeans pockets) ;-) so I just may go with this bad boy when it drops.
D
daffyduck
Guest
+1
I don't think the thread is dumb at all. The Nexus has a serious screen issue, or so at least mine does. This is my #2 complaint about the phone, second to the 3G issue. Can this be fixed with a software update? That all depends if this is on the OS/driver level or with the low-level display hardware. The longer we wait without a fix the more likely it is the latter.
grainysand
Android Expert
Yes, it can be fixed with a software update. Users of certain custom ROMs report that they experience much less trouble with the touchscreen calibration; I use a Desire ROM and the issue comes up very rarely.
outoffocus
Well-Known Member
It sucks so freaking bad my N1 has taken over at least 50% of the tasks my brand new macbook used to do..
That's nice to know about the custom ROMs. I'm sure I'll get sucked into loading one of those later this year. Too compelling not to.
The calibration thing comes up a couple times a day and the multi-touch occasionally when I resize web pages. It does funky things on the resize, though that could be the browser and not the multi-touch. Either way, by wife's iPhone does multi-touch much better, so I know it can be done.
The calibration thing comes up a couple times a day and the multi-touch occasionally when I resize web pages. It does funky things on the resize, though that could be the browser and not the multi-touch. Either way, by wife's iPhone does multi-touch much better, so I know it can be done.