OpenMoko/Neo1973 is pure (r)evolution :))) - do you recognized the power of "multi-touch gesture recognition"

[Robert Michel]

Salve!

I found some videos that are soo cool, you must see them
to understand what the Neo1973 will/could will be :)
(Sean, please correct me, in case I would overestimate the 
potential of OpenMoko/Neo1973 ;) 



Beside of the power to have a

smartphone = mobil PC + GSM/GPRS 

100% open with a Linux SDK and apt-get like power of ipkg
+ AGPS power - positioning inside your pocket and buildings
+ VGA with touchscreen

Have you recognized the power of "multi-touch gesture recongnition"?

90% of my PC work I do with colored text terminal
(bash,vim,mutt,elinks) but the time I used the Palm daily
influenced me so much that I sometimes just want to touch
a link or an new email.

As civil engineer student I understood the power of AGPS
and that the hardware is designed to do with this small
device that no other device could do yet - so I wounderd
already that the only user inputed on the pictures of the
Neo1973 has been "multi- " to zoom and rotate maps
http://www.slashgear.com/fic-linux-cellphone-can-it-capture-the-imagination-of-the-open-source-community-072392.php/2/
And I though that is cool for maps.

For adressbook or menue navigation I already thought
that the Neo1973 doesn't have the navigation keys (stick) of modern mobils,
but a 480x640 touchscreen is no disadvantage - this is a big
advantage - you can choose directly.

So also is no semi-3D zooming and need that the icons fidget like on the
M$ zune - the userer don't need these animations to now that his icon
selection has moved to right or up...

Just toch the icon you whant to choose and only theanimation
of the icon - menue point of your interest is important ;)

Ok, that is a conversative use of a touchscreen that alread
the newton and the palm had and also most of the PDAs.


But I never have seen "multi-touch" in action - 30 minutes
ago I found some videos and this hardware/software 
feature/potential isn't only good for maps :)))))))


*warning* ;)
remember the CPU power of the Neo1973 - the videos have nice real time 
animations - do not expect this with the Samsung s3c2410 SoC, but 
just see how usefull "multi-touch" is/could be:

2 must seen videos of Jefferson Y.Han work:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6379146923853181774&q=multi-touch
and his first live presentation about it (February 2006 in Monterey,
CA):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=884017118027634444&q=multi-touch

And 2 more videos:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6138541830791071433&q=multi-touch
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6420668728353654549&q=multi-touch


A grafic, that explain the design of a "multi-touch" screen sensor:
http://cs.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirsense/index.html

I hope you know about the PalmPilots hacks that with special pen strokes
you could start programs/hacks or you could lock device. How much
potential would have such function have with multi-touch?
:)


So what do you think will be the limits to use this (and even) more with
a Neo1973? It's good to have no software patents in Europe - but what of
all this ideas are techniques are protected in USA or Asia?
And would FIC help OpenMoko to have the freedom to be open minded 
and to develope free....
going further and to create a smartphone and enviroment that is realy 
(r)evolutionary?


Cheers ;)
rob



That I link to a squeak project is not because of the language and that 
I propose to use squeak - 

And for inspiration, remember the video about the squeak educational
software, written in Smalltalk-80
(just for inspiration - I will not propose any language/enviroment
to use with OpenMoko ;)
http://video.google.de/videoplay?docid=-7680106513348266522&q=Squeak
(19 Min.)
Imagine to combine something like that with a multi-touch screen :))))

And back to the roots of GUI systems:
By looking for Squeak videos I found this
    ACM SIGGRAPH 1983 Issue 8 - Smalltalk
    Demo of the original Smalltalk 80 System.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7466310348707586940&q=squeak
(19 Min.)
Xerox research - AFAIK the first start of grafical window system, used
with a mouse - right? 
Does somebody knows details about the hardware used in 1983 to do this?


When a "multi-touch" screen eliminate the need of a navigation buttons,
a mouse or keys - what is the use for the second button of the Neo1973?
One button to switch on, the other touchscreen-lock? Or reset? ;)