Motorola MILESTONE firmware travels over pond, brings multitouch

By on Dec 17, 2009 at 9:18 AM
News December 17, 2009

DROID doing multitouch

A little Android breaking and entering? Yes, please. The Android hacking community has successfully ported the Motorola MILESTONE’s firmware over to it’s stateside relative, the Motorola DROID. A video, shot on what appears to be the worst video camera in the United States, has emerged displaying the Euro firmware running on the DROID, multitouch and all. The boys over all AllDroid say that a baked ROM will be ready for consumption within a week or two. We’ve got the fuzzy video all queued up for you after the break.

UPDATE: Looks like you won’t have to wait too long as the actual ROM should be out within days.

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26 Comments

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  • tome

    what’s Motorola Droid Media Link PC software ?
    can it work?? help…….
    http://www.verizon-cellphones.org/verizon-motorola-droid-media-link-pc-software-download.html

    • T

      I can’t imagine what that is… but that link sure looks like it’s from a legit source. Let me click and install it.

    • Mrwirez

      131 Mb… O.o wow. No thanks

      • Terry S

        The 131MB is the PC program…not an android app.

  • jarrod

    I’ll be using this. I don’t understand apples grip on multitouch but it doesn’t seem possible. That’s like telling Kenmore they can’t make a 4 slice toaster because GE has a patent in it.
    Multitouch on a cellphone should be standard. More power to these developers. For now dolphin browser runs great.

  • Seth

    Yes, please. =-) I don’t know why they went to all the trouble to remove multi-touch from the native apps in the first place. They had to know something like this would happen. I guess they wanted plausible deniability. But still … And I’m hoping this multitouch thing fixes the damned onscreen Android keyboard; I *really* don’t like the fact that I have to type so slowly on the nomultitouch version just to make sure it records all my keystrokes.

  • jimtc

    What’s the big deal with multitouch pinch zoom? While it was a cool idea it really makes one handed operation a pain. I prefer my android – as it is very easy with one hand. Multitouch in other applications could be essential like gaming and keyboards but pinchzoom is just not practical by itself. Give it to me in addition to – and I would welcome it.

    • HMR

      I agree witth @jimtc. It’s as if people will not be happy with their phone if it can’t do that thing that was so “wow, check this out” on the iphone. Zooming is great and necessary on a mobile device and the droid does it well. I find pinch zoom a little awkward on a small screen and I have a keyboard, so multi-touch is not that necessary.

    • webby

      I had multi-touch on my rooted G1 and seldom ever used it — and I don’t miss it at all on my Droid. I actually find it easier to double tap to zoom than mess with multi-touch. Sometimes you go too far or not far enuf with multi-touch. The double-tap takes you to just the right zoom level for good readability.

      Bottom line — multi-touch sounds sexier than the other methods, but it’s not really any more practical, and perhaps less so.

  • Cingulair

    @jimtc

  • Cingulair

    @jimtc,@HMR,
    Spoken like true Verizon fanboi’s. I bet you all hate GSM phones. Ever used an unlocked manufacturer handset or a tried a cooked rom on a smartphone?

    Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone) at: Tuckahoe Atlantic Ocean

    • Galen

      Spoken like a true AT&T fanboi. No, we don’t hate any phone, the iPhone just simply can’t do things we want it to do, like work on a worthwhile network.

      I’ll give it to Apple, the built one heck of a phone, with some shortcomings, such as putting it on America’s Crappiest Network, giving it only a soft keyboard and being total Nazis about the apps available in the store to name a few.

      I was seriously considering the iPhone back in October, I was ready to bite the bullet and switch to AT&T and all, until I ran into the article describing the DROID. Sure there are still some things missing, but they’re only software based and easily remedied.

      I don’t see apple adding a hard keyboard to the iPhone any time soon and even the rumored Apple tablet won’t have one. That’s simply makes the device unacceptable to me when there are other options out there closer to what I want.

  • http://alldroid.org Brent Fishman

    Wrong this Rom will be ready in 1 to 2 days as the owner of AllDroid who leaked this out i should know. Also Please reply to me w/ someone’s email so future news like this I can email you right away

    • http://www.bgr.com Andrew Munchbach

      http://www.bgr.com/tips/

      goes to the whole team, we get it instantly.

      • http://alldroid.org Brent Fishman

        thank you… news on Anything android or just things like this and Rom’s from another make/model being ported?

      • http://www.bgr.com Andrew Munchbach

        You can send whatever you would like :-)

        BG gets the final say on what gets published though.

  • blah

    I don’t care for pinch zoom aspect of multitouch (though it can be useful at times) I want it for the soft-keyboard!

  • Diabl0

    contrary to a lot of opinions, it’s still good that at least finally moto-droid unveiled their droid version ‘milestone’ to UK. Europeans had been waiting this for 2 months now. But why? here’s the leaked specs: http://bit.ly/motorola-milestone-best

  • Beanie click

    @Mrwirez what are you on dial up?

  • JakeyBoy

    Oh, so the DROID has to be hacked in order to DOES…got it.

  • Neo

    A video, shot on what appears to be the worst video camera in the United States,

    Droid’s?

  • DaHarder

    I still can’t fathom what kind of individual would trade something as wonderful as Google Maps with TbT directions (not to mention the awesome DROID Eye boot graphic – lol) for something as frivolous as ‘pinch-to-zoom’.

    If you’re really that fascinated by all this multi-touch tom-foolery, then trust me – There’s An App For That, and you won’t have to give up anything to get it.

    Might I suggest – Dolphin Browser ?

  • Darwin

    Multi-touch on the Euro Android phones is very slow and has about half the features of multi-touch on the iPhone.

  • Galen

    DaHarder is right, why even use the DROID’s native browser when Dolphin provides so many more features and has pinch zoom? PicSay also has pinch. Several apps out there support it already, why trade down?

    Just check your Market, ladies & gentlemen, there are plenty of apps out there that support stuff out of the box.

    Also, Darwin, try Dolphin. On my DROID with 2.0.1 I get great response. It works immediately and very well, rivals what my iPod could do.

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