By After a big disappointment at the CES when Nexus One was launched, lacking the multi-touch support we have all been waiting for. We have the pleasure to inform you that Nexus supports multi-touch out of the box, but the manufacturer just did not enable it yet. This means in order to get multi-touch for your native browser or any of your native applications, modifications to the handset’s firmware are required.
Here is a short tutorial explaining how you can tweak your phone to enable multi-touch support.
These instructions need to be followed with caution and precision and may void warranty unless you restore the original software. FinestDaily cannot be held responsive for any damage that might affect your handset, so you can proceed only at your own risk.
Step 1: We need to edit the SPL bootloader. The operation is much alike modifying Windows bootloader in order to boot from another device (cd-rom, flash, hdd etc.)
Step 2: Turn on “USB Debugging” On your device, go to the home screen, push MENU, select Applications > Development, then enable USB debugging.
Step 3: You have to download the Android 2.1 SDK and USB driver:
- Download and extract fastboot from http://www.romraid.com/paul/fastboot.zip (Windows, Linux and Mac included)
- Run a command prompt at the directory you extracted
- Type ‘fastboot-windows oem
Step 4: Install a custom recovery image. Now that the bootloader is unlocked, you can replace it with a more powerful one. Download the recovery image from http://rapidshare.com/files/330696493/recovery-RA-nexus-v1.5.3.img, connect your phone to your computer again, and:
- Copy recovery-RA-nexus-v1.5.3.img to a location where fastboot can find it.
- Boot your phone into fastboot mode (power on while pressing the trackball)
- Connect your phone via usb to your pc/mac/…
• [run] “fastboot devices” (to make sure that fastboot “sees” your phone)
• [run] “fastboot flash recovery recovery-RA-nexus-v1.5.3.img”
You should be able to start your phone into a new bootloader by powering on while pressing “Home.” You can navigate through the menus with your scroll wheel, for the moment.
Step 5: Download a new ROM from here
Step 6: Copy the file “Update.zip” to your SD card. But into the bootloader press Home+Power button to execute ‘nandroid backup’ from the menu to back up your current device configuration, then select “apply sdcard:update.zip”
Step 7: Restart your phone. The first boot may a take a while, and it’s always good to run an Android phone through a second boot cycle after a ROM flash.
Step 8: Enjoy!
You can now download software that supports multi-touch: Dolphin, a browser that includes multi-touch; for photos, try Multi-Touch for Gallery, which is a full photo gallery replacement, or PicSay, which is a combination gallery/photo editor.
There are other mulitouch apps in the App Market, from games to utilities to simple tech demos. If you use them, please share your multi-touch experience with us!