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Multi-Touch was disabled in the G1 on purpose but was there (it appeared in the European version:http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f8/some-good-videos-on-engag

Multi-Touch was disabled in the G1 on purpose but was there (it appeared in the European version:http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f8/some-good-videos-on-engaget-of-g1-multi-touch-confirmed-708/ http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f8/some-good-videos-on-en...). It didn't have an onscreen keyboard because it had a physical keyboard but Android that an onscreen keyboard (as evidenced in the sdk video). Applications are added to the Apps screen instead of the launcher but Google just added a step. As for the rest no one was saying the G1 was identical to the iPhone just that the OS looked identical.

mikepavone 15y ago
The G1 hardware supported it (though not very well), but Android had no support until 2.1 which was never officially available for the G1. It wasn't just turned off. Even if you enabled multi-touch in the kernel with a custom ROM, the rest of the Android stack had no ability to use it. The story was the same in Europe and the US and I don't see anything in that link that provides evidence to the contrary. Android had no support for an on-screen keyboard until 1.5. The emulator included with the original SDK has a virtual keyboard, but that's part of the emulator skin, not a feature of the OS and is not displayed on the virtual screen. The addition of a software keyboard while not strictly necessary on the G1, was rather useful as it allowed you to enter text while using the phone in a portrait orientation.