3D Touch Necessary?

[Renho]

3D Touch is the next phase towards the elimination of the home button function. The ability to jump between apps without going home, is clearly evident. as is the swipe from left edge replacing the home button double tap to expose open apps.

I'm betting the ID function is being worked on as we chat, moving to the main screen. That would leave some combination of keys to initiate a re-boot and the home button will be eliminated opening up bezels. Either larger screen or reduced overall phone height with same screens.

So, yes 3D Touch is absolutely necessary. A number of people are seeing the clear indications where this is leading. Perhaps combination of 3D Force touch on a specific area of screen to replace capacitance ring. Or Apple may be heading into facial recognition with the improvement to FaceTime camera and added screen flash.

facial recon is definitely on the horizon. eye scans, thumb print on the screen etc..... The ultimate goal i would think is the worlds first AI phone with no buttons on the case....Giving you hand jobs while its ringing/vibrating....LOL

 

[freeskier93]

The problem with the demos is you can't "see" the use of force very well which is leading to the perception that there is lag to the action. I very doubt that is the case and once people start using it they'll realize it's a far super solution to tap and hold. Android has had tap and hold features for a while now (quick press/long press) and it would be infuriating to use for repetitive actions.

 

[Surfer13134]

Did Apple release an API for force touch? I didn't seem to see anything about them saying they did but they did demo a few apps with force touch so I didn't know if it was just hypothetical what apps could do or if the force touch api was released to devs.

 

[angusmcfisher]

I was thinking about this myself, but if you think about it - say with an icon on the home screen, a long tap already has functionality. Same if you do a long tap on an email or message etc.

 

[nickchallis92]

It just looks to me as if iOS isn't designed for force touch. Looks bolted on

 

[HEK]

It just looks to me as if iOS isn't designed for force touch. Looks bolted on

Without the haptic feedback from the taptic engine you really can't comprehend using 3D Touch. The sense of touch just can't be conveyed through visual demos.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jvchamary/2015/09/12/3d-touch-iphone-6s/

Check out this article from Forbes. Apple has really invested a lot of time and energy on this. It's not an over night flash. So internally they must have really been impressed with its' functional usefulness. This is a entirely new display, twice the weight. It's an all in hand.

I believe within a few days of use, vast majority of people will embrace this new enhanced interface. Within a week there will be clamor inc for third party apps to be re-written to embrace it.

 

[VSMacOne]

i know some of you have commented on this sporadically throughout the forums...

But is 3D Touch really necessary to accomplish some of the tasks it's meant to accomplish?

For example:

-In the Mail app, if you hold down the icon for a second longer, couldn't you program iOS to then 'peek' into the email you're looking at? And then if you hold it for a second longer than that, be able to 'pop' into the email? Why would you need to register the depth of touch to accomplish these tasks? With previous iPhones, if you currently select an icon/app and hold for a second longer, you can then cause it to wiggle and can then move it around the screen. It seems to me that 3D Touch wouldn't be necessary to accomplish these things that were heavily touted during the presentation on Wed.

-Also---if you simply held your finger down on the left edge of the screen, you should be able to then switch between apps without the need for 3D touch, again a new feature that was demonstrated.

-same with LIVE PHOTOS: simply select and hold a photo for a second longer and you should be able to activate this feature on non 6s phones.

I don't see any reason why they shouldn't allow these functions on ios9.1 for non6s phones.

The lag in Apple's videos I think was meant as a visual display of the haptic engine feedback. The whole point of 3DTouch is to save time. It's not about the length of the press but the depth of it. What you're suggesting would be sluggish and slooooooow in all the scenarios.

 

[VSMacOne]

It just looks to me as if iOS isn't designed for force touch. Looks bolted on

I didn't get that sense from the video. On the contrary it makes sense to me on iOS and it looked very fluid and logical. I've been wanting it on my iPhone ever since I first got my Apple Watch.

 

[CodeSpyder]

We'll get used to it and then won't be able to live without it.

 

[maflynn]

But is 3D Touch really necessary to accomplish some of the tasks it's meant to accomplish?

Short answer no, of course not.

Long answer, we've been able to live without such gestures this long, I'd say they're not necessary at all, but may prove to be nice to have.

Personally, I'm not that jazzed up over the force touch in the phone. I think its kind of cool, but I think its one of those gee whiz features that you play with when you unbox the phone, and then forget about it.

 

[aristobrat]

-same with LIVE PHOTOS: simply select and hold a photo for a second longer and you should be able to activate this feature on non 6s phones.

I don't see any reason why they shouldn't allow these functions on ios9.1 for non6s phones.

To me, 3D touch is essentially "right-click for iOS".

Imagine using your computer where there was no right-click, and you had to hold a regular left-click for an extended period of time.

That's essentially what you're asking for.

Sounds like a huge PITA, IMO.

 

[nickchallis92]

To me, 3D touch is essentially "right-click for iOS".

Imagine using your computer where there was no right-click, and you had to hold a regular left-click for an extended period of time.

That's essentially what you're asking for.

Sounds like a huge PITA, IMO.

Isn't that basically how it works on OSX?

 

[HEK]

Short answer no, of course not.

Long answer, we've been able to live without such gestures this long, I'd say they're not necessary at all, but may prove to be nice to have.

Personally, I'm not that jazzed up over the force touch in the phone. I think its kind of cool, but I think its one of those gee whiz features that you play with when you unbox the phone, and then forget about it.

We were able to live with buttons, physical keyboards prior to multi touch. I suspect this will be same. In short while won't enjoy without it, will become second nature.

 

[Roller]

I think that it's premature to say how useful 3D Touch will be until the new iPhones get into more hands and full reviews appear. However, based on what I've read on tech sites, I'm optimistic. For example, here's part of what anandtech.com had to say based on limited experience at the intro:

"In practice, 3D Touch means that you can do the equivalent of a long press on various app icons to expose options hidden behind a long press menu. However, instead of a long press, you just push slightly harder on the display to activate it so it happens as fast as you want it to be. The use of the Taptic Engine is actually quite helpful here as well, because it gives very obvious feedback as to what you can do with a force touch. If the app on a homescreen doesn’t support any options with 3D Touch, there’s a distinct double-tap to indicate this instead of a lot of pressing and wondering why nothing is happening. The speed at which you can do a force touch on the display means that 3D Touch gestures are just much faster and more user friendly than a traditional long-press.

In the other case previously described, 3D Touch is actually impressive because of how well it effectively eliminates a lot of the user experience inefficiencies that come with traditional multi-touch. Some of the key demos shown include peeking at emails with a medium-press, and opening them with a hard-press. In the case of the medium-press, you can look at an email with a single press quickly instead of tapping on the email, quickly reading it, then marking it unread and swiping back to the inbox. A hard-press opens the email completely so it isn’t necessary to release the finger and then do a light tap. In practice, this is actually a fluent gesture to make and I didn’t have any trouble with strange activation pressures. As far as I can tell though the pressure levels aren’t relative, so it’s fully possible to make a force touch equal to a light tap if you’re aggressive enough with the force touch gesture."

 

[nickchallis92]

With regards to email, force touch definitely helps overcomes iOS's lack of a proper back button. People might prefer to peek into an email than have to enter it, stretch to the top left and go back, especially if you're trying to find one specific email.

 

[satchmo]

3D touch could improve usability when searching for apps buried in folders.

While you still won't be able to customize home screens in iOS (placing icons in a specific spot), 3D touch will allow you to quickly drill down and take a peek.

 

[bigmikeyp]

The use of 3D Touch in some of the stock apps looks to solve, or at least vastly improve, some of my major gripes with having to switch between apps, or take extra steps, to do simple tasks.

Personally, I'm looking forward to it from day one, and even more so once in the hands of developers, and beyond as it matures.

 

[C DM]

Isn't that basically how it works on OSX?

Well, there's right click support there.

 

[doboy]

Did Apple release an API for force touch? I didn't seem to see anything about them saying they did but they did demo a few apps with force touch so I didn't know if it was just hypothetical what apps could do or if the force touch api was released to devs.

Yes. It was mentioned during keynote and mentioned in iMore article.

 

[ApplePhy]

I think that it's premature to say how useful 3D Touch will be until the new iPhones get into more hands and full reviews appear. However, based on what I've read on tech sites, I'm optimistic. For example, here's part of what anandtech.com had to say based on limited experience at the intro:

"In practice, 3D Touch means that you can do the equivalent of a long press on various app icons to expose options hidden behind a long press menu. However, instead of a long press, you just push slightly harder on the display to activate it so it happens as fast as you want it to be. The use of the Taptic Engine is actually quite helpful here as well, because it gives very obvious feedback as to what you can do with a force touch. If the app on a homescreen doesn’t support any options with 3D Touch, there’s a distinct double-tap to indicate this instead of a lot of pressing and wondering why nothing is happening. The speed at which you can do a force touch on the display means that 3D Touch gestures are just much faster and more user friendly than a traditional long-press.

In the other case previously described, 3D Touch is actually impressive because of how well it effectively eliminates a lot of the user experience inefficiencies that come with traditional multi-touch. Some of the key demos shown include peeking at emails with a medium-press, and opening them with a hard-press. In the case of the medium-press, you can look at an email with a single press quickly instead of tapping on the email, quickly reading it, then marking it unread and swiping back to the inbox. A hard-press opens the email completely so it isn’t necessary to release the finger and then do a light tap. In practice, this is actually a fluent gesture to make and I didn’t have any trouble with strange activation pressures. As far as I can tell though the pressure levels aren’t relative, so it’s fully possible to make a force touch equal to a light tap if you’re aggressive enough with the force touch gesture."

Thanks for this. I love Anandtech's meticulous , insightful dissection of the products that he reviews.