3d touch

10 '3d touch' stories September 2015 - May 2016

Google is postponing support for its 3D Touch-like feature for Android

Edoardo Maggio May 12 2016 - 12:15 pm PT

With the announcement of the Apple Watch‘s “Force Touch” first and the iPhone 6s‘ 3D Touch after, Apple introduced a new, intriguing way to interact with our screens, matching interesting software features with the pressure-sensitive panel behind the actual display.

Predictably, despite some devices like Huawei‘s Mate S or ZTE‘s Axon Mini already supporting some sort of similar, proprietary technologies, Google was rumored to be working on a system-wide implementation for all Android OEMs to use. However, as Recode reports, the support for such a feature seems to have been put momentarily on hold…

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3D Touch-like launcher shortcuts demoed in latest Android N Developer Preview [Video]

Abner Li Apr 15 2016 - 11:26 am PT

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One of the new features highlighted by Google in the second Android N Developer Preview were launcher shortcuts. While Google did not provide any imagery in the developer documentation, Phandroid, with the help of some developers, was able to create a working demo that reveals an iOS-like 3D Touch feature in Android N…

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Sketchy leak says that HTC is bringing 3D Touch-like features to the next Nexus

Edoardo Maggio Mar 3 2016 - 10:31 am PT

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Display technologies have experienced numerous improvements over the years, from mere augmentations in terms of resolution to more advanced processes dedicated to lamination of the panels getting closer to the actual glass, enhancements in color reproduction and all sorts of works devoted to power efficiency, brightness and the likes. Most recently, a few companies, namely Samsung and now Xiaomi, have worked on ‘2.5D’ screens that curve around the edges, but the general operating principles in regards to software have remained largely unchanged.

With the introduction of the iPhone 6s last fall, however, Apple decided to borrow the ‘Force Touch‘ technology from its own Watch and bring it to the iPhone under the name “3D Touch”, thus introducing an entirely new dimension with the Z-axis effectively becoming part of the UX; a bold move that other manufacturers, primarily in China, may see as an opportunity, and something they are apparently already working on.

A somewhat sketchy report from an industry insider on Weibo, in fact, claims that Xiaomi, Meizu, OPPO and Vivo – as well as HTC – are all hard at work to bring their pressure-sensitive panels to life…

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Feature Request: Why Android Wear needs Force Touch-like features

Cam Bunton Jan 21 2016 - 1:45 pm PT

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Feature Request is a new regular 9to5Google series where authors offer their opinion on how to improve popular hardware or software products.

I think most of us who have used it are aware that Android Wear isn’t exactly a complete platform yet. It feels a little beta-ish. And that’s okay for now. One of the best things about Google’s software efforts is that we get to go along for the ride as it publicly experiments and launches new features. It’s not a case of waiting for months, or years, for it to secretly ‘perfect’ its product before telling us we’re ready for it.

Android Wear is still young enough that there’s plenty Google could change without upsetting the apple cart too much. One feature I think should be implemented soon (this year if possible) is a Force Touch-like technology. In other words: Android Wear should have a deeply engrained system to take advantage of pressure-sensitive touchscreen displays…

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Instagram for Android (sort of) gets 3D Touch peeks in new update [Video]

Stephen Hall Dec 8 2015 - 8:20 am PT

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Update: Just like the multiple account support that disappeared mere hours after it appeared, this awesome 3D Touch feature is now gone.

Instagram for iOS has had 3D Touch features for quite a while, but it looks like the Instagram team wanted to experiment with bringing some of these to Android as well. While the latest version for Android obviously doesn’t take advantage of force sensitive hardware (which doesn’t really exist of this side of the mobile space anyway), it does add a nifty new pop up for quickly liking, commenting, and sharing posts…

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Chrome for iOS adds 3D Touch shortcuts, better hardware keyboard support

Zac Hall Dec 1 2015 - 8:53 am PT

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A few weeks ago we noticed that Google has started testing pre-release versions of Chrome through Apple’s TestFlight beta distribution service, and today the version in testing then has been released to everyone through the App Store. The latest version of Chrome for iOS takes advantage of Apple’s new pressure sensitive iPhone 6s displays and offers even more hardware keyboard shortcuts that will benefit iPad users.
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Google quietly launches Chrome beta for iOS through Apple’s TestFlight

Jordan Kahn Nov 13 2015 - 8:52 am PT

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Google has quietly launched a Chrome beta for iOS through TestFlight, the beta distribution service Apple acquired last year and integrated into its own developer services. Google has yet to make an official announcement for the beta release, but users can already sign-up and download the beta when visiting Google’s Chrome beta download page on iOS.
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Xiaomi reportedly plans to join Samsung in offering iPhone 6s-style pressure-sensitive touchscreens

Ben Lovejoy Oct 23 2015 - 7:40 am PT

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Following Synaptics’ announcement that it would be offering pressure-sensitive touchscreen controllers to allow Android manufacturers to offer features similar to 3D Touch on Apple’s latest iPhones, it appears that Xiaomi will be adopting the technology.

It has previously been suggested that Samsung plans to use the Synaptics system in next year’s flagship Galaxy handsets.

The report from a well-known Chinese tipster says that Xiaomi has patented a technology similar to 3D Touch, notes GforGames. It’s unclear whether Xiaomi plans to use the Synaptics controller or has created its own technology.

Pressure-sensitive screens coming to Android as Synaptics announces new display controller

Stephen Hall Oct 6 2015 - 12:10 pm PT

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Synaptics has today announced the ClearPad 3700 force-sensing touchscreen controller, which the company hopes will be packed inside many a 2016 flagship Android smartphone. This comes just about a month after Apple’s September 9th event, at which the Cupertino company announced the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, both packing “3D Touch” as a headline feature…
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Opinion: 3D Touch gives iPhone 6s one lead over every Android phone on the market

Stephen Hall Sep 9 2015 - 1:41 pm PT

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Apple is very rarely the first to introduce new features for features’ sake. The Apple Watch launched an entire year after the first Android Wear devices were unveiled. Touch ID came to the iPhone years after fingerprint sensors were seen on Android phones, and the company was one of the last smartphone manufacturers to offer a larger-screened phone with the release of the iPhone 6 Plus. The examples of Apple being late to the game — although some would argue, the first to do things right — are endless. But this isn’t one of those cases. While Samsung dabbles with edged screens, Apple has today introduced what I think is a game-changing new experience for developers to play with. And play they will.

I’m not an Apple fanboy at all. In fact, I own one Apple smartphone — the iPhone 6 — at the moment, alongside five or six different Android phones. The Nexus 6 is usually my daily driver, and I (kind of, sort of) use Android Wear as my smartwatch OS of choice. I’ve never owned an Apple Watch nor an Apple TV, I didn’t even own an iPhone until the iPhone 5, and I have only been in possession of an iPad for maybe 6 months — the first generation iPad mini — before I found myself never using it at all and decided to sell it on eBay. All of this said, at least one of the improvements Apple brought to the iPhone line today has very much impressed me.

And not only do I think it’s cool, but it sets the iPhone line apart from anything that Android makers offer in 2015…
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