Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 won't ever get multi-touch

Due to hardware related issues, it looks like the Xperia X10 will never get its multi-touch on. AndroidAndMe ran a story on this a day or two ago, and now it seems like it has been confirmed.

Not only does the hardware of the X10 set a limitation to multi-touch, so does the software. The X10 is running on Android 1.6, which does not have the APIs to support such functions. Sony Ericsson has said previously that the device will be receiving the 2.1 update. Android 2.1 includes the needed APIs to support multi-touch, but with hardware limitations in place, then there may not even be a hack to enable this functionality.

I had a chance to play with the X10, X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro, and all we very sleek. The X10 seemed a bit sluggish at times, but it was overall a very nice experience. The Minis were a pleasure to handle, but are too small for my own taste. I would expect something like the X10 Minis to lack multi-touch functionality, but it’s really odd how Sony Ericsson didn’t think ahead enough to have at least compatible hardware for this implementation later on. Then again, if they had no intentions in adding multi-touch in their own software, they probably weren’t too worried about making sure it’s compatible with something like multi-touch in the first place.

The guys over at AndroidAndMe reached out to a Sony Ericsson spokesperson, and received a short and simple reply.

“It is correct that the X10 will not support multi-touch. However with the X10’s signature applications, the X10 offers an excellent user experience.”

So there it is. Multi-touch is a no-go on the X10. But the user experience is quite nice on the X10, completely different from any other Android skin out there. It just might not need multi-touch. Hell, a lot of Android users still don’t have the multi-touch option available to them yet. Personally, I’m pleased with the option on my Nexus One, but I can’t say I even use it too often. Double tapping not only zooms in fine, it adjusts the text to your current zoom level flawlessly, for the most part. So what do you say, would you not by this device (knowing that the device will be upgraded to a software version that supports multi-touch) because it lacked this functionality?

[Via: AndroidAndMe]

About The Author

Blake Stimac

Blake was born in Beaumont, Texas, about 100 miles away from Houston. Even as a youngster, technology came to him very naturally, tinkering with anything he could. His passion of technology grew with mobile phones when he dreamed that the capabilities of phones would eventually make one's life much easier. Since then it's been his mission to advocate the push of mobile technology to anyone who will listen.

Carl Sims

It’s hard to understand the release of this device without even the hardware to enable multitouch. I was considering it, but with the lack of timetable for an upgrade to the OS, I went with the safe choice of Nexus One. Had I waited to get this info, it would have made that choice a no-brainer.
matthew

Wow. It’s a shame the X10 appears to be a dud before ever reaching one consumer. It’s as if the design team became enamored with 1.6 Android and plowed forward with development with blinders on. Why in the world would you drop the X10 on reviewers to play with knowing it has so many elements lacking? Personally, I don’t think the design is all that compelling, and the Timescape looks a little too cute and not practical for a heavy Twitter user. Sadly, it’s all style (well sorta) over substance.
rzz

I’m still pretty excited about this device, honestly considering a pre-order right now. Multi-touch is not a deal-breaker for me, honestly I think it’s more of a “gee-whiz neato” kind of “feature” than an actual feature, kind of like live wallpapers. It can be handy, but really there are many ways to accomplish that functionality without multitouch, such as gestures, taps, or good old fashioned UI elements.

As for Timescape, I haven’t actually used it, so I can’t say for sure, but it does seem fairly simple and practical despite the snazzy graphical effects. Aggregating updates, texts, missed calls and extending that idea to the multimedia section seems very logical and from the sound of things they are committed to polishing the system and migrating to 2.1 (hopefully sooner rather than later, shouldn’t have shipped with 1.6 this late in the game at all)

I’ve also heard mixed reviews about the default virtual keyboard, but one of the nice things about Android is you can swap that out for another pretty easily, and I can see myself using something like Swype or another keyboard over Sony’s unless they improve it, especially the bottom row, which was just a complete mess in the version they showed Engadget for review.