Posted in: Mobile computers

Multi-finger gesture are a go on the iPad 2 with a little tinkering, no jailbreaking needed

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The early iOS 4.3 builds had a number of multi-finger ala-MacBook gestures enabled as a developer preview of what’s to come. Unfortunately, they didn’t get through in the final retail version of the software. The good news today is that they can still be enabled with a software tweak (no jailbreaking necessary).

Now you can get four and five finger sideways swipes for alternating open applications, five-finger pinch for going back to the homescreen and four-finger swipes up for accessing running apps tray and playback buttons.

To enable it you will need a MAC OS X-running computer and a $5 MacOS app. Here’s the activation instructions, courtesy of Gizmodo:

  1. Purchase Xcode 4 and install it.
  2. Launch Xcode and connect your iPad to your computer. It will appear in the Xcode’s devices list.
  3. Click on the “Use for development” button.
  4. When it asks you to enter your iOS developer credentials in the dialog box, click cancel. It will give you an error. Disregard it.
  5. Once the developer mode activation is completed, go to your iPad general preferences menu and turn on the new multi-gestures

if you haven’t seen the finger gestures, you can check out this video of the gestures that was shot with an early build of iOS 4.3 running on the original iPad.

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