Blogger says G1 multitouch capable

From the very beginning, Android has planned to support multitouch. The G1's touch screen is a ClearPad, created by Synaptics—a founding member of the Open Handset Alliance. Synaptics provides the touch interface driver for Android, and will at some time offer "advanced multi-touch gestures for the Android platform." Over at the RyeBlog, blogger RyeBrye has tapped into the unit's multitouch capabilities.

Synaptics offers a touch module that supports a number of single touch and multitouch gestures that include tapping, pressing, flicking and pinching. This gesture support requires no additional interpretation software on the host end, helping to lower processor demands for the screen's host.

RyeBrye writes that by uncommenting critical lines in the Synaptics driver and recompiling the kernel, he replaced his boot image with a version that supported two finger tracking and debug logging. He posted that the feedback returned by the driver includes position information along with finger width and a finger number. The number allows you to track more than one finger at a time.

He then went ahead and tested a variety of one and two finger gestures. He has pastebinned the debugging output for a half dozen tests, so you can review the data yourself to confirm how the G1 screen tracks two fingers.

As to why the G1 does not officially support multitouch at this time, RyeBrye relates feedback from a Google employee speaking off-the-record. That employee suggests that the G1 specs do not specify anything but a single touch screen, so in the future they might source screens without the built-in multitouch capacity. That makes the multitouch capabilities of the current G1 run a nice extra rather than a necessary component for future production lines. At this time, Synaptics is the sole touch interface company in the Android alliance.

Resource - ArsTechnica

Kids-on with the SMART Table

We got to play around with a SMART Table in a classroom full of lucky kids at Haines Elementary School in Chicago this morning, and we came away impressed with how much they loved it. The multitouch table is built on the same basic idea and hardware as Microsoft Surface -- Vista PC, XGA projector, infrared camera -- but it's a custom patented SMART design, not Surface lite or anything like that. That said, the multitouch system isn't quite as responsive as Surface, and the kid-proof plastic screen felt a little weird, but it certainly works well enough -- the Table recognizes up to 40 touches (enough for six kids to play comfortably, we were told) and we saw some interesting demos, ranging from the standard rotate / zoom photo app to painting and puzzle games. Teachers get admin access with a special USB key that enables them to manage apps, and there's an SDK in the works, so hopefully there'll be quite a few to manage. SMART says the Table should start shipping next spring for somewhere between $7,000 to $8,000 each -- obviously the company will be targeting school systems with its extensive SMART Board sales network, but well-off parents will be able to score one for their hopelessly spoiled darling children as well. Check a few vids of the table in action after the break.
Resource - Engadget