Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 To Get Pinch To Zoom By 2011

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Is the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 capable of multi-touch operation in the first place? That’s been a contentious subject for a long time now, but apparently it’s about to be proven that it can starting in 2011, when official multi-touch, pinch to zoom capability, comes to the Xperia X10.

Hacks, like those recently discovered right here, notwithstanding, official word in the form of the Sony Ericsson Product Blog has confirmed it, officially, that multi-touch (no hacks or emulation needed) will be available on the X10 starting next year. Sort of.

Yes, there are a variety of ifs and buts being tossed around here, the first one being the strange seeming reversal on Sony Ericsson’s own part (they, apparently, were the ones that said it was impossible!), and then a whole laundry list of important caveats.

The big one here is that, yes, there will be pinch to zoom for browsers and maps, but, and this is important: “situations like when the movement of the two fingers cross each other on the X- or Y-axis that could cause strange behavior.”

Strange behavior like what, you wonder?  They’re not telling just what that strange behavior might be.

Though here’s a bit of an upshot–word is that third-party apps will be able to join in the fun with their own offerings. In fact, video out on Sony Ericsson’s blog shows a round of Angry Birds going on with pinch to touch. And if you check the video in question, you’ll find that Angry Birds doesn’t exactly play well with pinch to zoom, but there’s certainly enough there to catch people’s attention, especially all those folks who demanded pinch to zoom of Sony in the first place.

If this is the first time they’ve done it, in fact, users should be especially happy with future versions, which will likely only improve. Still, it’s a start, and you’ve got to start somewhere.