I know N900 will never support real multi-touch functionality because of resistive screen. But I would like to add some ideas how to implement it with almost same comfort by one touch at the time.

Multi-touch functionality, like zoom and turn, is the one major reason why iPhone is still better than N900. Why not mimic these actions where it is possible and make N900 more attractive for iPhone users? Let say that one finger touches the screen always before the other. You can perform same actions if the first touch position is fixed. It does not make any difference if you hold your finger on this position or you rise it. So you can raise it before making the other touch. The only trick is how to recognize the first touch.

One possibility is to recognize quick jump. There is a limit how quickly you can move you finger from one position to other. This depends of distance of course. If you use two fingers, both thumbs for example, you could cover this distance much quicker by rising one and touching again with other. So the device or software should detect if this happens. It remembers where the first touch position was and marks it with red dot or something, so you could see that you are in multi-touch mode now. This mode will be ended when you raise the finger again. Of course the time per pixel should be customizable. You can decrease it dependent how trained you are or you can set it zero if you don’t want to use this function at all.

Maemo-browser has a nice feature how to get screen cursor - just drag it from the left outside area of the screen. It disappears if you don’t act quickly by fixing it into manipulation mode. Instead of disappearing it should stay where you leave it as point of the fist touch. It should appear as cross, red dot or as fingerprint or something. It should take arrow appearance only if you do the normal fixing action. Now you can do the second touch actions, like zoom and turn, around it. To remove the point of first touch you have to drag it outside of screen or simply tap it.

There is a red dot in Ovi Map application that shows your location. You can fix it into middle of screen. The red dot will be detached from the middle if you drag the screen. Instead of this it should zoom or turn the map. Heading should be restored after moving significantly. If you need to zoom in or zoom out while moving you simply have to drag horizontally on the same level with red dot. To surf around the map you should detach the red dot manually by taping it or by taping the button second time that attached it.

The point of fist touch should appear in the middle of screen while you press some button on top-side of device. I would prefer the switch-off button because it is just in reach of left forefinger and it is in the middle that is logical for this action. You should immediately operate with the second touch on screen to avoid switch-off or menu appearance after releasing the button. It would be safer to use the camera button but you have to use right forefinger for that and it is in use for some widget (camkeyd)

Brainstorm: http://maemo.org/community/brainstor...functionality/