[Hawkeye_a]

Is it just me or, is "pinch-to-zoom" and "two-finger-rotate" the only multi-touch workflows on the iPhone ?

Given the technology and the limitless potential, i wonder why Apple(or anyone else for that matter) has not come up with some more ways of using this tech.

I know on the Macbook the 3 and 4 finger swipes trigger different things, but they're just swipes . In the iPad keynote Schiller did a multi select which i thought was cool as well.

It's one of those technologies akin to putting bitmaps on the screen, someone had to define paradigms like buttons, windows, menus, icons, etc..to harness the potential, and i think we're sortof in that same situation right now with multi-touch.

Of course, it's no surprise that Microsofty and Google have copied pinch-to-zoom and two-finger-rotate, probably claiming that it's "obvious"/"universal".

But i wonder what other multi-touch gestures would make sense on the iPhone/iPad....

[turtle777]

There is the "two-finger-single-tap" for zooming OUT in maps.

-t

[Wiskedjak]

So, here's multi-touch's dirty little secret: beyond "pinch-to-zoom", "two-finger-rotate" and swipes, *nobody* knows what to do with multi-touch. A few years ago, I was doing user experience at a touch-display company that was debating about implementing multi-touch and decided not to since it didn't offer any real benefit to the users. I hardly ever do anything on my Touch that utilizes multi-touch.

As for Microsoft and Google copying "pinch-to-zoom" and "two-finger-rotate", those existed as multi-touch gestures *long* before Apple implemented them.

[miacomet]

The up and down two finger scroll is the most useful to me.

[turtle777]

It's clear that multitouch has a huge potential, but is at the same time still in its infancy in terms of how it's being used and employed.

Give it a while.

-t

[Paco500]

I think you are ignoring all the interface elements that have been done in individual apps. Most aren't change the world breakthroughs, but help make the interface disappear into the screen.

It's a bit like asking what has been done with mouse based interfaces beyond "point and click". Not much when you get right down to it, but it's how the pointing and clicking is used to interact with the interface that makes it work. Multi-touch is the same way. Typing, for example, uses multi-touch- not in a revolutionary way perhaps, but it makes screen-based typing on a multi-touch device a much better experience.

[Wiskedjak]

How is multi-touch used in typing? I think I'm only using one finger at a time when typing.

Multi-touch has been *much* better implemented on the latest trackpads and Magic Mouse (and, mostly through 3rd party software).

[Paco500]

Originally Posted by Wiskedjak 

How is multi-touch used in typing? I think I'm only using one finger at a time when typing.

Multi-touch has been *much* better implemented on the latest trackpads and Magic Mouse (and, mostly through 3rd party software).

You may only be using one finger when you are typing, but you don't have to. Non-multitouch screens/interfaces can only register one key press at a time, so you have to lift your finger on one key before it can register a touch on a second. One of the things that makes typing SO much better on the Storm2 compared to the original is that it can register 2 clicks at the same time. The Storm still has it's issues, but the typing experience has greatly improved.

I agree on multi-touch on the trackpad thing- haven't really used my magic mouse much, so I can't comment.

I think the iPad, with a bigger interface and screen, will usher in a lot of advancements. The multiple selections is one example of I'm sure many to come.

[Spheric Harlot]

Two-finger scroll on the iPhone scrolls within frames.

There's several iPhone remote apps for Logic and other DAWs - multi-touch will eventually mean actually moving several faders simultaneously, which is essential for any sort of useful work.

[0157988944]

You use multi-touch all the time on your iPhone/iPod touch. Every time that more than one finger touches the screen at the same time and both touches are registered, it's multi-touch. Typing, multi-person games, etc. What you're specifically talking about is gestures.

[shifuimam]

It seems like the trackpad on current gen Apple laptops makes better use of gestures than the iPhone - two finger scrolling, tap areas, zooming, two finger right clicking, etc. ChiralMotion is a gesture on OEM Synaptics trackpads in Windows (no idea why it's not in OS X; I'm pretty sure the MB/MBP trackpad is Synaptics, and it's an awesome feature).

But these gestures are pretty useless on the iPhone/iPad, IMO. I checked out a Microsoft Surface when I went to a convention in Chicago - it was pretty cool, but again, the gestures were fairly limited - pulling on opposite corners of an image to resize it, flinging album covers into the "now playing" tray, etc.