Rooted Nexus Ones get multitouch, but wait, there's more ...

By Phil Nickinson
last updated

Want multitouch on the Google Nexus One's native browser and don't mind a little rooting? Read on. Famed Android cooker cyanogen has whipped up the necessary files. You'll need a rooted Nexus One, the files from here, and then the following command-line commands:

adb shell stopadb remountadb shell rm /system/app/Browser.odexadb push Browser.apk /system/appadb push com.cyanogenmod.android.jar /system/frameworkadb push com.cyanogenmod.android.xml /system/etc/permissionsadb shell reboot

Check out video of the end result after the break. Oh, and one more thing. Google's been releasing Android 2.1 source code to the Android Open Source Project today, which means full custom ROMs should be on their way for the Nexus One very shortly.  [via Redmond Pie]

Phil Nickinson
Phil Nickinson
10 Comments
  • Why was the multitouch so glitchy? I'd just use dolphin browser over this hack.
  • It's not glitchy, the android browser just reformats the page when zooming in and out so all the text fits in the screen.
  • New to the Android system and I have one question about the whole thing. What is ROOTED and why is it important? If the info is some where on the site, I haven't been able to locate it.
  • Yeah, I too am having trouble understanding some basic things with Android, like "rooted", "ROMS". The terminology is very different from BB. I'm looking to move from BB to Android very soon.
  • The ROM is where the software for the Android operating system is written on the internal hard drive and stands for "read only memory." That means that the end user isn't technically supposed to be able to change it. In order for the ROM to be changed, the phone has to be "rooted" or, in other words, hacked by the user and then reprogrammed. That's why it takes some time after a new phone comes out for it to get rooted. Somebody has to figure out how to hack or "root" it and then shares the info with others. Because Android is an open OS, other programmers can create their own versions of Android and let other people install their "custom ROMs" on these rooted phones. Some programmers have become well known because their custom builds of Android might run faster or even open new abilities like pinch zoom. Rooting a phone, however, voids the warranty and can cause the phone to stop working so it shouldn't be done by somebody who isn't comfortable with the risks involved.
  • In Linux or unix operating systems, there are several user id's that exist by default. THE most powerful user is "root". Root ID is literally all powerful. It can set all attributes on the system. It is similar to the "Administrator" ID in Windows systems. The term "rooted" came up because the way to gain access to the root ID on the various Linux kernel smartphones, like Android-based phones, Palm Pre, and others, don't give you the password or method to log into the root ID. When this has been hacked into, the vernacular is that the system or phone has been "rooted". Android and Palm don't frown as much on this practice as BB or especially Apple iphones, but it is possible to "brick" the phone or void your warranty on some models. The developers and user community have made this fairly straightforward on Android and Palm Pre products, but if you've never installed non Microsoft stuff on your PC, or get confused by doing so, modifying your Android system may frustrate you. But you don't really need to be a coder either for most things. Hope this helps.
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  • @ Quasar and ADS, those are the best two descriptions of rooting I've heard yet. Stll, its not something I'm comfortable with. I have already bricked one G1. That was just another reminder to me that I'm not smart enough to be messing with such things. Thanks for your posts.
  • @Quasar and ADS: Thank you both for breaking that down for us; I'm brand-new to Android as well, so that helps me understand a lot better what rooting is all about.
  • @ads/@quasar: Now THAT's why we love our readers. :)
  • Been away for some time for health issues. Thanks to Quasar and ADS for the information. Like the others was a great help. Guess I need to get smart on doing it to my GNexus.