Android 1.5 Early Look: No Multitouch SDK

The Google Android developer site announced an "early look" a the next version of the Java-based smart phone SDK. What is conspicuously missing in a multitouch SDK.

You may remember that buried deep in the Android OS, Luke Hutchinson discovered support for multitouch.

When people realized that multitouch was actually possible with Android, but was not officially supported, another story broke claiming that Google had not implemented multitouch at the request of Apple.

Since then the hack to add multitouch to Android has been published so all Android developers can take advantage of it (assuming they are programming to hardware with a multitouch screen).

As an example of just how powerful multitouch can be on Android, Endgadget broke the story about Elan Microelectronics video demonstration of their own multitouch hand held technology, eFinger, Sunday which is broadly reported as being implemented on Android. ( Remember Elan is suing apple for infringement of their multitouch patent.) I was especially impressed with the soft keyboard which combines the pop-up key animations seen in the Apple iPhone with swiping gestures. It makes me wonder if Elan Microelectronics has a cross licensing deal with Swype - Swype claims IP rights over swiping keyboards. But that's another story.

So with all this out in the open and demonstrations of just how cool multitouch on Android really is, why wasn't multitouch support included in the preview of Android 1.5? Perhaps they didn't have time to add it, or maybe they are still honoring a request not implement it by Apple. Either way its a big omission considering the fact that touch screens on smart phones has become THE must have feature.

(thanks to Phandroid for the tip off about the Android 1.5 early look announcement)