Hmm, I don't know if that costs a lot of resources. There are on the screen a number of touch definitions (caught by the touch screen / pointer input driver communicated to X and then to the application). So if you click a pixel in a X,Y range <something happens>. In this case, instead of that the link is clicked (or clicked near), it now zooms in, and allows you to 1) click the link 2) click besides it to go back. The zooming should not cost much resources on OMAP3 with hardware 2D/3D rendering.

If you install BlueMaemo you can see the QEdje version of a virtual keyboard. If you press a key on the virtual keyboard it pops up. You might want to prefer another one, but it won't select the key you picked until you detach your finger/stylus off the touch screen. For me it works without lag.

PS, @ tso, Capitalization is the difference between "I had to help my uncle Jack off a horse.." and "I had to help my uncle jack off a horse.."