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It's doubtful Android would have had the same impact as the iPhone if the iPhone hadn't existed. I can no longer find the source, but Android's interface pre-iP

It's doubtful Android would have had the same impact as the iPhone if the iPhone hadn't existed. I can no longer find the source, but Android's interface pre-iPhone was just as uninspired as all the other smartphones around at the time. It would've taken considerably longer for other companies to hit on a genuinely good touch screen interface if they hadn't had Apple's example to follow.

ZeroGravitas 16y ago
Even I knew about the potential of multi-touch interfaces 18 months before the iPhone was released due to this TED talk. I'm guessing people who actually work with touch displays are well aware of the decades of published research on this topic. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jeff_han_demos_his_breakthrough_touchscreen.html http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jeff_han_demos_his_breakth... Note that when Steve Jobs demos the pinch zoom nearly two years later he claims it as an Apple invention, while this guy as nearly his first comment is to name people who have worked on this technology for decades but says that the big difference now is that it's ready for production use.
- dieterrams 16y ago
  Yeah, I've seen that too, and it was breathtaking. But it's a long ways from that to a full-fledged touchscreen interface for an entire operating system. Pinch zoom isn't even the half of it.
  - ZeroGravitas 16y ago
    It's not just pinch zoom, though that and the keyboard that guesses where your finger is trying to type show how much of the interface is really just obvious to someone in the field once you have the basic technology (or alternatively that Apple is shamelessly ripping this guy off, either interpretation is suitable to my point). And it's not hard to go a long ways when you're not pretending to be a lone creative genius. His final paragraph: So, multi-touch interaction research is a very active field right now in HCI. I'm not the only one doing it, there are a lot of other people getting into it. This kind of technology is going to let even more people get into it, and I'm really looking forward to interacting with all you guys over the next few days and seeing how it can apply to your respective fields. Thank you. (Applause)
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]

ZeroGravitas 16y ago

Even I knew about the potential of multi-touch interfaces 18 months before the iPhone was released due to this TED talk. I'm guessing people who actually work with touch displays are well aware of the decades of published research on this topic. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jeff_han_demos_his_breakthrough_touchscreen.html http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jeff_han_demos_his_breakth... Note that when Steve Jobs demos the pinch zoom nearly two years later he claims it as an Apple invention, while this guy as nearly his first comment is to name people who have worked on this technology for decades but says that the big difference now is that it's ready for production use.

dieterrams 16y ago
Yeah, I've seen that too, and it was breathtaking. But it's a long ways from that to a full-fledged touchscreen interface for an entire operating system. Pinch zoom isn't even the half of it.
- ZeroGravitas 16y ago
  It's not just pinch zoom, though that and the keyboard that guesses where your finger is trying to type show how much of the interface is really just obvious to someone in the field once you have the basic technology (or alternatively that Apple is shamelessly ripping this guy off, either interpretation is suitable to my point). And it's not hard to go a long ways when you're not pretending to be a lone creative genius. His final paragraph: So, multi-touch interaction research is a very active field right now in HCI. I'm not the only one doing it, there are a lot of other people getting into it. This kind of technology is going to let even more people get into it, and I'm really looking forward to interacting with all you guys over the next few days and seeing how it can apply to your respective fields. Thank you. (Applause)
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]