11-point multitouch tracking might sound nifty in a theoretical spec throwaway, but what does it mean to an end-user? Likely still not much, but thanks to FingerMgmt we can at least see it in action now — on a MacBook glass trackpad at least.

Apple may have debuted their modern multitouch in the iPhone, but they’ve quickly spread the technology out to their MacBook glass trackpads and now Magic Mouse for desktops. Ultimately that’s good for all of Apple’s products, as innovation in each one can benefit the others on their next revision as well. Now, 11 points might be overkill for any practical need on a display this small, but when we start dreaming of unicorns and larger form-factor iTablets… Oh the games they could make (never mind the obvious jokes about just what constitutes that 11th finger…)

[Lericsson via Reddit via Gizmodo]

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Mac Multitouch Trackpad 11-Point Demo

Verizon and Motorola’s upcoming Droid handset is getting a lot of press, here, there, everywhere, and one of the negative points that’s come up — in relation to the iPhone — is the Droid’s lack of multi-touch gestures like pinch-to-zoom. (TiPb mentioned it a couple days ago as well).

Some might complain about Verizon nickel-and-diming users by charging an extra $15/month for Exchange support, or that given Verizon’s CDMA technology the Droid can’t multitask a phone call and a data connection (so if, for example, you’re using the new Google Maps Navigator and a need to talk on the phone at the same time, you’re only as good as your last cache). Others are honing in on the Android app space limitations, or just the limited apps (NSFW). But what makes multi-touch so intriguing is that it’s a bit of a mystery as to why the Droid doesn’t support it. Of course, the G1 didn’t support it either, but Android 2.0 is supposed to contain the API’s to do it, and the non-Verizon (GSM, for sale outside the US) version — called the Motorola Milestone seems to do it, if not smoothly (yet?).

Apple’s massive multi-touch patent portfolio is cited as a reason, both now for the Droid and then for the T-Mobile G1. Either Google, while CEO Eric Schmidt was still on the board, agreed not to violate them, or fears litigating them. So, they build in the functionality and let 3rd parties take advantage — and the risk that goes with it — if they so choose.

But why then does the Palm Pre have multi-touch gesture support on Sprint in the US? Wouldn’t the same patents apply? Sure. However, patents are like nukes. They can be deadly unless the guy you’re pointing yours at is pointing equally deadly ones back at you. As both TiPb and PreCentral.net have posted for a while — and Palm has explicitly stated — Palm has a heckuva mobile patent arsenal.

Blustering about lawsuits aside, Apple suing Palm (or vice versa) brings mutually assured patent destruction down on the both of them. While Apple is arguably filthy rich and Palm pauper poor, they might not want the expense or the hassle given Palm’s current market position. Verizon and Google, however, is another matter, especially since Google has been in the mobile space nowhere near as long as Palm, and likely doesn’t have the same type of core mobile patent portfolio in their pocket to assure the same type of stalemate.

At the end of the day, only the top executives (and their lawyers) at Apple, Google, and Palm know for sure, but that’s our guess.

It’s a shame, of course, because the iPhone’s multi-touch gestures are natural to the point where they should arguably be considered default for all capacitive touch screen devices. Apple settled “look and feel” lawsuits with Microsoft over the windows/mouse/pointer interface over a decade ago. They likely consider multi-touch a similar competitive advantages, however, and Steve Jobs said as much at Macworld 2007 when he introduced Apple’s implementation of it:

“And boy, have we patented it.”

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Regarding Apple Multi-touch Patents, iPhone, Verizon Droid, and Palm Pre

Did Verizon and Motorola forget to include a few things in their iDon’t attack ads, like iDon’t render web pages as slowly or badly, iDon’t arbitrarily restrict the amount of apps users can install to 256MB, iDon’t fail to implement multi-touch, and iDon’t have a worse user experience.

We can’t blame them, of course. They were focusing on the iPhone’s weaknesses, as the geekier among us (nitpickers included!) would have to admit, and not the Droid’s. It was their ad, and fair enough.

However, for those considering the Droid vs. an iPhone, we should lay all the cards on the table. Sure the iPhone lacks a physical keyboard (that irks some users, pleases others), doesn’t have Google Maps Navigation (yet), doesn’t match all the specs, and has issues with App Store approvals (though that doesn’t effect most users). But what about the Droid?

(And no, we don’t mean that horrible devil-red eye graphic that’s kind of the opposite of “not evil” and makes that incessant “DRRROOOOOOIIDDD” chime pretty much indistinguishable from “REDRUM!”)

First, in the perfunctory Browser Battles, it turns out the almost two month old iPhone 3.1 Safari is still king of the mobile mountain, according to MobileCrunch:

On the popular web-standards test known as Acid3, the iPhone scores a 100/100 while the Droid caps out at 93/100. [...] Once you’ve grown accustomed to pinch-zooming, the level of accuracy provided by tap-zooming alone simply doesn’t cut it. [...] The iPhone browser is also considerably faster, with page loads completing anywhere from 15-30% more quickly with both handsets on WiFi.

Second, we all know the Android Market doesn’t have as many apps as the App Store, but maybe that’s a good thing since Android 2.0 still doesn’t fix its app space limitation, leaving Droid with a paltry 256MB for apps according to AndroidandMe.com:

Google does not support installing apps to the SD card (and likely never will), so developers are limited in what they can create. [...] For most applications, we want a small file size to limit the download times. When it comes to 3D games though, we need a ton of space for all the high-res textures, audio, and video. [...] Have you seen all the awesome iPhone and iPod Touch games? Hardly any of them would fit on an Android phone.

This problem, of course, also plagues the Palm webOS and BlackBerry platforms. NokiaExpert and ZDNet’s Matt Miller’s been told it’s a security issue, but does that matter to end users when iPhone’s can go up to (almost) 32GB?

Third, if you’re a fan of the iPhone and iPod touch’s (and Magic Mouse’s!) multi-touch, don’t think the Droid will have your fingers covered. According to Engadget:

As you have probably heard (or guessed), there’s no multitouch on this device. That’s clearly an issue with Android 2.0 and choices that Google is making about user interface

Fourth, the user interface, while definitely an improvement — and maybe even a refreshing change for some — still doesn’t rise to level of usability as the iPhone. Like MobileCrunch (and every other review we’ve seen), we’ve given our iPhones to toddlers and they’ve been able to use them well.

That’s still Apple’s killer app. And that’s likely why, even after going all in on Droid and throwing BlackBerry under the bus (even canceling their BOGO!), Verizon still wants the iPhone…

[Thanks to Tom for the app limit tip!]

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Verizon Droid iDoesn’t Beat iPhone on Browser, Apps, Multi-touch or User Interface

Apple’s Magic Mouse, introduced via simple press release on October 20, is the latest point-and-click peripheral for the Mac, and the latest showcase for Apple’s multi-touch technology, first introduced in the iPhone and later the iPod touch. While the iPhone is still the premiere multi-touch experience in consumer electronics, however, Apple’s modern history of mice has been… poor to mediocre. The hockey puck that shipped with the original iMac was goofy, the one-button Mighty Mouse hard to second-click with and prone to gunked up scroll balls.

Does the Magic Mouse work an iPhone-level spell, or is it just more of the middling? TiPb takes a look after the break!

Unboxing Beautiful

Apple once again shows that their attention to detail and customer experience doesn’t end with the device, it starts with the packaging. The Magic Mouse comes in small plastic box that shows it off similar to how the iPod touch is displayed in its packaging. Once open, you find the mouse and not much more, only some paper, and that’s pro forma.

Magic Mouse connects to a MacBook or Mac desktop via Bluetooth, once again showing Apple’s move towards fewer wires and farther range. It’s not rechargeable, but comes with a battery already in place, ready to use with a flip of the power switch.

Getting Started

If you’ve got the Bluetooth icon in your menu bar, click on it and choose Setup Bluetooth Device… The Bluetooth Assistant will launch, it will detect your Magic Mouse, and as soon as it does, you can choose it and pair it. (If you don’t have the BT icon in your menu, just launch System Preferences, choose Bluetooth, and hit the + icon at the bottom left to launch the BT Assistant).

It took me all of a minute or so to get up and running. Kudos to “just works”. Or at least it does once you launch Software Update, download, and install Apple’s Magic Mouse Software. This comes pre-installed with the new iMacs and Mac Minis, and will no doubt be integrated into Mac OS X 10.6.2 when it’s made available, but for now it’s an extra step and requires a restart. Apple must be patching something core, and that in and of itself is interesting.

Hardware

Compared to the previous Mighty Mouse (a name which is now trademarked by another company), the Magic Mouse feels about the same on the table. It’s alright, but it’s not the smoothest experience. The weight feels good but the profile isn’t as high. The angle of the edges feels great in the hand, but the lack of a higher, rounder top leaves your palm kind of empty. No doubt that’s to make space for the multi-touch gestures, but it will take some getting used to.

Like the Mighty Mouse, the entire upper shell is one giant button (with an Apple logo on it this time), but the Magic Mouse’s “click” feels much better and more satisfying. When setup to do so in System Preferences, it also detects the right (or left if you’re right handed) second mouse click much, much better than the Mighty Mouse ever did (no doubt because the capacitive technology “knows” where you’re clicking). From that purely old-school point-and-click perspective, Magic Mouse is a big improvement.

The bottom has a second Apple logo, along the laser and an on/off switch you can toggle to save battery power if you’re going to be away for a long time.

Multi-touching

Okay, on to the gestures. Those that are included so far work… from very well, and just okay. To back up a moment, like the iPhone, the surface of the Magic Mouse is capacitive (see the teardown for details) so it can detect multiple finger actions and execute whatever behavior those actions represent.

The scrolling, where you move a single finger around to pan left-to-right, up-and-down, and basically any direction is great. Say goodbye gunked-up physical scroll wheel or ball, evolution has selected you for extinction. In an especially nice touch, System Preferences lets you turn on (or off) momentum based scrolling, similar to how the iPhone flicks fast at the beginning, then slows to a stop. Sadly, there’s no elastic banding like the iPhone in Mac OS X. Yet.

The “just okay” defines the two-finger sideways swipe, currently only implemented in Safari to go back and forth within a tabs history (I’d prefer switching tabs), and iPhoto to cycle through images. I have no problem with doing it (mad iPhone-derived skillz, yo!) but a friend who tried it with me found it difficult to annoying.

I mentioned so far, above, because I have a suspicion Apple is doing what they did with iMovie ‘08 here — introducing something new and deliberately keeping it simple to start. The multi-touch trackpads in the MacBooks are another example. At first they introduced the second finger for left click, and the double-finger for scrolling. When the MacBook Air debuted, they added three-finger swiping and four-finger tabbing and Expose. Apple could easily be making the same play here, scrolling and swiping at first, Expose and tabbing (or other added functionality) in a future software update.

That might help allay those like Dieter, who miss the side buttons on the old Mighty Mouse, or a third button or other assorted mechanical doodads.

Bottomline

I’d still prefer an Apple-produced iPhone or iPod touch app that exactly duplicates the functionality of the current MacBook (Air/Pro) trackpads. Absent that, the Magic Mouse is the best mouse Apple has made in a long time (I supposed in the same way, post Vista, many proclaim Windows 7 the best OS Microsoft has shipped). If you’re a fan of the iPhone’s multi-touch, like trying new, ambitious technology, or just want to stick completely within the Apple ecosystem (and don’t mind paying $69 for the privilege!), this is the mouse for you. If you’re not sold yet, head on over to your local Apple Retail Store and give it a test drive.

If you prefer clickety-clackety multi-button mega-mice, we’ve heard Logitech might be a better choice for you.

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Review: Apple Brings iPhone-style Multi-Touch to Magic Mouse

Dear Apple: yesterday, as part of your huge pre-holiday product launch, you announced a new iPhone-inspired multi-touch Magic Mouse with gestures. It looks nice. It might even (finally!) be a decent mouse. But TiPb’s left to wonder — for those of us who already have iPhones and iPod touches, wouldn’t it be even nicer to have an official “Magic Mouse” app? Scratch that, given the greater functionality in the MacBook (and MacBook Pro) multi-touch Glass Trackpads, wouldn’t it be great if you could just give us that in the App Store?

We have the Apple Remote (no, not the new doohickey, the app!), true enough, but that’s limited to iTunes and the Apple TV (not even Front Row!), and we have the Keynote Remote, but again that’s limited to presentation software. And granted, there are some great third party remote apps that do way more than just Mac. But you make Mac. Why not just take that wonderful technology you’ve built into Snow Leopard, hook it up over Bluetooth (until you get WiFi Direct going), and let us swipe, pinch, rotate, one-finger, two-finger, three-finger, four-finger move our way around the Mac just like the Magic Mouse — or the Glass Trackpad — from anywhere in Bluetooth range?

Dear Apple, we have the device, you have the technology. Hit the “launch” button on this one already! Sitting 10′ away on a sofa, using our iPhone or iPod touch to seamlessly gesture through everything on our media center Mac Mini or massive 27″ new iMac… t’would be sweet!

(And hey, Microsoft and Windows 7 developers — feel free to hook us up for your phenomenal multi-touch support as well!)

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Dear Apple: How About an Official “Magic Mouse” App for the iPhone and iPod touch

According to Daring Fireball, Apple is set to introduce new products tomorrow morning, including:

Redesigned Plastic MacBooks, Redesigned (‘Impressive’) iMacs, Updated Minis (Including One That Ships With Mac OS X Server), the Multi-Touch Magic Mouse, and, as the Wildcard I’m-Not-Sure-I-Really-Believe-It-Myself Out-There Rumor, Maybe Even Some Sort of Mentioned-Nowhere-Else-But-in-This-Very-Headline Multi-Touch Trackpad Gadget for Desktop Macs

Last year, Apple held a special event, Spotlight Turns to Notebooks, to debut their last before-the-holidays offerings. Would they just dump so much new, and frankly interesting, products tomorrow morning without benefit of stage or keynote? Sure, but we’d be lying if we said we wouldn’t prefer the song and dance to go with them.

TiPb will cover whatever does get released, however it gets released, mainly as it pertains to anything that looks to have cross-over with iPhone technology like the “multi-touch trackpad” (why not just make an official Apple Mac trackpad app for the iPhone and iPod touch?)

Keep your eyes peeled for the Apple Online Store going down…

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New Apple Products, Including Magic Mice and Desktop Multi-touch Tomorrow?

UPDATE: Looks like Engadget managed to score the mouse and keyboard diagrams from the FCC filings before Apple had them yanked. They look the same from what little outline is shown, though the new keyboard is a tad smaller.

ORIGINAL: Is Apple on the verge of releasing a new, multi-touch enabled mouse for their Mac line that harnesses the technology debuted in the iPhone? That’s what AppleInsider is claiming.

Unlike the iPhone, which garnered almost immediate and universal praise when it brought multi-touch mainstream, Apple has historically gotten the opposite reaction to their Mac mouse line, from the abysmal hockey-puck that came with the original iMac to the latest track-balling, gunk-clogging Mighty Mouse that ships in old-school white, even for the latest gen aluminum Mac Pros.

So the poetry of Apple’s latest input technology swinging full circle to one of their oldest (keyboard aside) isn’t lost on us, and goes to show just how deeply multi-touch is being explored — and more importantly, realized and integrated — into Apple’s entire product line.

And it goes to show what TiPb’s been saying for a long time, the iPhone benefitted from the Mac platform, and the Mac platform is certainly benefitting from the iPhone!

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Updated: Multi-Touch to Go from iPhone to Mouse?

AppleInsider has found yet another multi-touch patent application, this one expanding on Apple’s already massive portfolio to include the ability to recognize which finger is touching, distinguish between palms and fingers, and enable all manner of restin

unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation, and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device

Check out the full article for more, and let us know if you think this is more fuel for the iTablet hype machine, or if Apple could have something else up their sleeve?

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Ten-Finger, Dual-Hand Multi-Touch — Apple Patent Watch

We all know Steve Jobs sculpted the iPhone from unicorn tears through a sheer act of singular will and hutzpah — along with buying FingerWorks and winning a glove-full of multi-touch patents of their own along the way (which may or may not still result in several rounds of pugilism with Palm’s Pre).

But who knew they might not have done enough? Elan Microelectronics of Taiwan, that’s who. Elan claims the iPhone, iPod touch, and Macbooks — basically everything featuring multi-touch functionality — is in violation of their patents, and they’ve filed suit in Apple’s home turf of San Francisco to prove it. (No word yet of litigation friendly Texas will sue over not being the venue of choice…)

A previous lawsuit from Elan against a company called Synaptics, who counter-sued resulted in a dismissal and cross-licensing agreement. This time? We’re calling Apple wins by (frenzied) tap-out due to guillotine choke near the end of the second round.

Anyone got the popcorn, hot dogs, and spicy drink?

[NY Times via iLounge]

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Apple Sued Over Multi-Touch Patents

Twitterrific developer Craig Hockenberry has posted an interesting article about where he thinks Apple might be going with those 10″ multi-touch panels they’re rumored to have bought. Not wanting to cannibalize iPhone or MacBook sales, and wanting to experience yet another iPod Halo effect, he takes a look at the gaps he sees in the current product line up and comes up with “Front Row To Go“:

Think of it as a second screen for the current hardware.

Who knows whether Apple will ultimately announce an iNetbook, iTablet, iPhone HD something like this, or something we haven’t yet imagined. Still, Hockenberry’s analysis itself is worth a read, as are his proposed uses.

Our editor-in-chief, Dieter Bohn, for one has been wanting something very much like this:

I wanted a capactive screen sitting to the right of my keyboard instead of a mouse. I could just slide my hand around in any shape that was comfortable and tap fingers, use it as a drawing pad, and then pick it up and go walking around with it to display stuff.

Who else would line up for one of these babies, if Apple pulled that particular trigger?

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Hockenberry on Apple Netbook Rumors: How About “Front Row To Go”?