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Comment by amichail | Hacker News Reader

I wasn't enthusiastic about buying a phone on the internet sight unseen, but the day it was reported that it finally had the pinch-to-zoom thing enabled, I decided to take the plunge.

Is pinch-to-zoom really that important?

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Having handled both the Android Maps app (sans pinch) and the iPhone Maps app... yes, yes it is. Hitting the "plus" and "minus" buttons work, but so does clicking on the arrows at the end of your scroll bars. To me it qualifies as barely functional, not the right solution at all.

Not as far as I'm concerned. Thankfully it's not the only way to zoom on the nexus, because it pretty much requires two hands to use, one to hold the phone and the other to pinch. I don't think any other function requires two hands on the nexus, although it is sometimes faster to type with two hands. (This messages was typed on my nexus).

On the Nexus, can you double-tap an area on a web page to zoom in to that area? That's one way of zooming in with one hand that I like on the iPhone. I'm just curious to see if Google brought that gesture to Android with the recent update.

The default zooming actions prior to the addition of multitouch zoom exactly like you describe.

It is to me. I've gotten so used to all the iphone gestures that when I have to go back to pushing buttons I get really frustrated. I can't even use a Kindle now.

isn't pinch-to-zoom already available on the iphone for, like, 3 years...?

Except the iPhone doesn't run Linux, which is what Linus actually wanted.

While the N900 is a nice phone it still requires too much screwing around for someone that wants an easy device to use. The Nexus One is that sweet spot of usability between the iPhone and the N900 and still runs the Linux kernel.

No need to downvote this guy into oblivion for asking a question guys.

It is, but Apple is using patents to prevent others from using these gestures. I'm actually surprised they activated this on the Android.

Yes, or he's lying...

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