Question about the Palm Pre and Pinch/Zoom

[fecurtis]

I thought Apple had some patent on the pinch to zoom feature on the iPhone...but it's featured on the Pre.

Was the patent thing all BS? If so, RIM really dropped the ball on making a nice touchscreen.

If the Storm 2 at least features flick scrolling and pinch zoom, I'll probably bite the bullet and get one...if it doesn't, then I think I'll give up on Blackberry touchscreens regrettably.

[buckeyes20]

I thought the same thing, but it must not be true...

With all the talk of .151 or .152 hopefully coming out soon and the transitions similar to apples being incorporated, maybe RIM will move that way with Storm 2. I to would LOVE to see flick scrolling and pinch zooming brought in though!! It's the only reason I still carry my Itouch everywhere.

Either way, I don't think it's time to throw the BB touchscreens to the curb just yet...

[imme40]

those features though are just on the OS, so it could be added at any time

also i think apple may try to file a lawsuit against palm because of the behaviors... time for some stupid a** patent wars

[Quold]

Apple is actually being sued by a company in Asia (can't remember where off the top of my head) due to patent infringements over quite a few of the touch gestures that are on the iPhone. Apparently, apple had agreed to pay this company way back when, and now is refusing to recognize their claim.
Palm went and reached agreements with this company over all the various technologies before they built them into the new Pre. (For further information, you can look at Palm's 10K)
Apple is now threatening to sue Palm over the use of the various gestures, however, they will probably not take it to court. If they do, there are significant risks. For one, Palm has all sorts of patents on various gestures that it filed for back in the 1990s. There is very little that Apple actually has to stand on.

For further information, it is always helpful to look at the 10Q and 10K of any related company. They are required by law to disclose such information to the government - which is then made available to the public. This is how to really get into what is really going on in the world (of business).

As such, RIM may choose not to add such features - as they would probably rather stay out of such a fight. However, if they did, there may not be much fall out. Not to mention, even if RIM was sued and lost, the publicity wouldn't exactly be a bad thing. The more people talk about RIM and Blackberry, the better. Right?

[ChuckH0308]

I think part of it is that RIM doesn't want the Storm to be like an iPhone. Just like the SurePress screen, they want things to work differently. If they make it operate exactly the same way then they are just copy cats. Personally, I don't miss the flick scrolling except for things like the App World EULA, so I can deal with that. The Pinch and Zoom would be nice though. However, there is an advantage to the way RIM did the zoom and that is that you can hold the phone and zoom in and out with one hand. Try doing that on the iPhone!

[jeffmvr]

Originally Posted by ChuckH0308

I think part of it is that RIM doesn't want the Storm to be like an iPhone. Just like the SurePress screen, they want things to work differently. If they make it operate exactly the same way then they are just copy cats. Personally, I don't miss the flick scrolling except for things like the App World EULA, so I can deal with that. The Pinch and Zoom would be nice though. However, there is an advantage to the way RIM did the zoom and that is that you can hold the phone and zoom in and out with one hand. Try doing that on the iPhone!

You mean zooming in by double tapping? Apple implemented this 100x better than RIM.

[SilverLight98]

Gestures are what makes touch screen devices fun to use.... Rim needs to grow a pair and challenge Apple

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[jessieats]

its very nice i love the screen and the zoom feature is sweet

[jessieats]

along with how many aps u can run with it and able to keep going

[austinarita99]

I don't understand the people that don't want flick scrolling and pinch zooming to be implemented.
I mean, why not have it? If you don't like it, being RIM, they would give us an option to turn it on or off.
Its like saying that you don't want an option to scroll through text because it would be too much like an iphone. WHAT?
Sigh. If you can implement it, why not? Options are always nice.

[cereal killer]

Pinch gestures etc require a whole new OS. Simply cannot be done on 4.7. Requires a ground up build.

Do not forget 4.7 is hacked 4.6 aka the trackball OS hacked to work w/ RIM's touchscreen : )

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[uqmoore]

I use pinch and stretch a lot using the Palm Pre's browser. It's funny to see ppl say they dont want it.

[notabun]

For me, mobile browsing is extremely important, and no BB browser will ever come close to the experience you get with the Pre. On wifi it is unbelievably fast no matter which site you go to. I don't know if iPhone does this, but you can pinch to zoom AND move it to pan around at the same time. Its so enjoyable.