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HelpNo doubt many of you will already have read the news that the X10 will not feature multi-touch support (ever). The issue, in a nutshell, is basically that the X10’s hardware simply doesn’t support multi-touch so no amount of firmware tweaking is ever going to introduce it. However, this raises a rather interesting question, and one that many have been asking in the wake of the ‘no multi-touch ever‘ revelation; why did Sony Ericsson previously state that there was the possibility of multi-touch support being added to the handset some time after launch?
The actual quote is from the Sony Ericsson Product blog:
Will it have multi-touch in future updates?
Xperia X10 has a capacitive screen. It does not support multi-touch functionality at launch, but is considered for the future.
There are three key points to note about the above quote. The first is that it says the handset won’t support multi-touch at launch, which we all knew of course. The second is that it says multi-touch is being considered for a future update. The third, and perhaps most crucial point, is that this is from Sony Ericsson themselves. So what happened?
Well as far as I can tell there are two possibilities:
- Sumit Malhotra, the X10’s Global Marketing Manager, and author of the above quote, got it wrong and simply didn’t know that the X10’s hardware didn’t support multi-touch
- Rikard Skogberg, got it wrong and doesn’t know the exact hardware specifications of the X10’s screen
So which is it? Well we don’t know for sure, but I’m putting my money on Mr Malhotra having gotten it wrong. He’s the marketing manager for the product, and with the greatest of respect to him, I don’t think it’s a huge leap of the imagination to say that it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that he simply wasn’t given a detailed enough account of the screen specifications back when he made his comments. He saw that it was a capacitive touchscreen and may have assumed, like many of Sony Ericsson’s customers it has to be said, that the actual hardware would indeed support multi-touch.
This is just speculation of course, but hopefully Mr Malhotra or Mr Skogberg will be able to clear the matter up soon.
Well, I guess there is the first downside for a company having a blog that interacts directly with its customers – people make you responsible for your statements
Lesson to be learned? Be very careful with your statements – the blogosphere never forgets 
I agree it’s a double edged sword rog, but I hope this doesn’t put them off the blog. It’s great to see them interacting with their customers.
Does anyone knows which exact screen it uses? ClearPad 1000?
They will not release the exact hardware specs it seems but if it is a ClearPad 1000 then that would confirm it as a the single touch capacitive screen.
@ scots
Someone has definitely been given or assumed incorrect information but to be fair both Sumit Malhotra and Rikard Skogberg are marketing managers, Global and Nordic/Baltic regions respectively, and not technically involved so either could be wrong.
Skogberg did reply with this post in response to the request for clarification and states why the exact hardware spec will not be shared as well as trying to back up his info. I think though that he needs to speak to someone who KNOWS the hardware to clear this thing up, keep an eye on the replies there as he will hopefully come back with more info.
@ scots
Someone has definitely been given or assumed incorrect information but to be fair both Sumit Malhotra and Rikard Skogberg are marketing managers, Global and Nordic/Baltic regions respectively, and not technically involved so either could be wrong.
Skogberg did reply with this post in response to the request for clarification and states why the exact hardware spec will not be shared as well as trying to back up his info. I think though that he needs to speak to someone who KNOWS the hardware to clear this thing up, keep an eye on the replies there as he will hopefully come back with more info.
i agree
we need some official info
It looks like Rikard is trying to pin down the details, but I wonder whether they will give us the exact specification for competition reasons.
Don’t get me wrong, I think that blog is a great way to interact with (future) customers. However, I guess they still have to learn how to use this new channel ’safely’ and/or effectively.
And I highly doubt that there will be detailed information on the hardware used.
It essentially comes down to giving the people who are going to interact with people the correct, accurate and detailed information in the first place.
Well yes Mik, but tbh from the look of what Rikard was saying it isn’t always a simple task of getting the needed information from other parts of SE (sounds familiar).
Indeed but if anyone should be given that information it should surely be the marketing managers who have been given the task of interfacing with the public via the blog…or is that too much common sense for SE too?
Marketing strategy?
Hardware still in development?
Software still in development that could make chosen hardwork work?
Either way, pinch zooming sucks anyways. I hate browsing a gallery, and then needing to switch to two hands just to zoom. The X10 mini gallery is gorgeous. The zoom solution works wonderfully too!
Being upset because you can’t use 2 fingers instead of 1 for zooming pictures is just silly.
Well, if SE implements the zooming solution, as we saw in the X10 mini demo video that Scots posted, in the X10 too, it would help. It’s not multi-touch but pretty intuitive. And as far as typing using the on screen QWERTY is concerned, Swype will help
While pinch zooming is the ‘headline’ multitouch gesture, I think it’s more that it makes chorded keyboard shortcuts (eg Shift + letter) impossible, and many games (particularly those using on-screen joypads) use multitouch to register multiple simultaneous button presses.
It’s not going to make me cancel my pre-order, but it seems a bit of an omission on a flagship android handset. Reminds me a bit of the X1 missing out on an accelerometer – not an insurmountable problem, but a bit of an irritation from time to time.
Sumit has confirmed the non-multitouch situation here:
http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/products/2010/03/26/xperia-x10-launch-consumer-research-program-started/comment-page-9/#comments
Sumit Malhotra says:
March 29, 2010 at 11:06 pm
Back in November, I posted that X10 will not support multi touch functionality at launch, but will be considered for the future. I can appreciate that even though there wasn´t a commitment, such wording both creates expectations (small or big) on future support and implies restrictions on software side.
That is the information I had in hand at that point of time. I am well aware that you rate multi touch functionality very high and therefore I regret to inform you that X10 screen hardware does not register simultaneous entries. Meaning even though we will upgrade the underlying operating system in relation to upgrading our user experience layer, X10 will not support multi touch functionality. We believe that it is important for you who follow this blog to be clear on that, which is the reason why I want to confirm Rikard’s comment.
We are working on alternative solutions for certain use cases, like zooming. I will share more details about that initiative once confirmed.
Due to vendor understanding and agreements, we don´t discuss in detail regarding hardware specifications. Having said that, X10 is upgradable and as earlier described there will be significant value offered through upgrades. X10 is about to reach stores and early consumer feedback is very positive, also highlighting room for improvement which we will share in due time.
Regards,
Sumit