Exciting features coming to 3D Touch, but how will iOS users find them?

Posted on by Juan Carlos Bagnell

Ten big updates were announced for iOS during WWDC 2016, and 3D Touch was featured prominently for several demonstrations. Apple’s focus on streamlining UI navigation will rely heavily on integrating services within other apps, and providing users quick snippets and “at-a-glance” interactions. On the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, users can already “peek and pop” through specific services like the mail app.This feature is dependent on specific hardware requirements, namely the pressure sensitive screen on the current flagship iPhones, so user adoption is limited to ...

Continue reading »

The post Exciting features coming to 3D Touch, but how will iOS users find them? appeared first on Pocketnow.

ForcePhone software could make any phone pressure-sensitive sans sensors or special screens

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

3D Touch interaction was without a doubt the biggest innovation and upgrade last year’s iPhone 6s brought to the table, and it of course didn’t take long for every Android device manufacturer under the sun to reportedly begin work on similar technology.Huawei even introduced a Force Touch-capable handheld around the same time the iPhone 6s debuted, but the Mate S went largely unnoticed in ...

Continue reading »

The post ForcePhone software could make any phone pressure-sensitive sans sensors or special screens appeared first on Pocketnow.

Until we meet again: Launcher Shortcuts stays off Android

Posted on by Jules Wang

And with that, Android has suddenly lost its touch.There’s been plenty of experimentation with a string of code that makes use of Force Touch at the homescreen level. What was dubbed as “Launcher Shortcuts” took a bit of engineering from app developers to suss out, but we hoped that enough progress would be made for it to be a mentioned feature at Google I/O. Well, it didn’t get mentioned among

Continue reading »

The post Until we meet again: Launcher Shortcuts stays off Android appeared first on Pocketnow.

Launcher Shortcuts not on Android N from launch, say sources

Posted on by Jules Wang

Decent pressure-sensitive UIs on mobile devices have been hard to remember to use — namely, Apple’s 3D Touch. Microsoft has its own idea on what to do and we know that Google has an inkling as well. But ...

Continue reading »

The post Launcher Shortcuts not on Android N from launch, say sources appeared first on Pocketnow.

mNectar avails Force Touch advertisements to game developers

Posted on by Jules Wang

Ads. We love to hate them. But content providers can’t really live without them. And for those selling their wares, they have to clinch onto the attention of impatient people and appeal to them with compelling bullet points.Game developers have to be really engaging with their 30 or 15 or even five seconds’ worth of content to pop. Having that become interactive in a way to convey a sense of atmosphere and ...

Continue reading »

The post mNectar avails Force Touch advertisements to game developers appeared first on Pocketnow.

Android N Developer Preview feels the pressure with Launcher Shortcuts

Posted on by Jules Wang

It’s been a while since we’ve talked about Force Touch, right? We’ve gone and genericized Apple’s “3D Touch” to the point where we’ve forgotten it’s been around for a while. But let’s not lose sight of the features package 3D Touch brings us — added functionality. The second ...

Continue reading »

The post Android N Developer Preview feels the pressure with Launcher Shortcuts appeared first on Pocketnow.

“Shy User Interface” is Microsoft’s answer to 3D Touch

Posted on by Jules Wang

Interaction layers are a mighty headache for developers who know them from the back of their hands. We regular folk only can grade how good of a job their interface maximizes use of those features by achieving or failing to do what we want to do with them. If an app has a ton of features available, you’d probably not want to see all of them in list form — you’d want a cleaner, simpler look that you can put your fingers on and manipulate properly.Apple has tried adding feature access using

Continue reading »

The post “Shy User Interface” is Microsoft’s answer to 3D Touch appeared first on Pocketnow.

“Shy User Interface” is Microsoft’s answer to 3D Touch

Posted on by Jules Wang

Interaction layers are a mighty headache for developers who know them from the back of their hands. We regular folk only can grade how good of a job their interface maximizes use of those features by achieving or failing to do what we want to do with them. If an app has a ton of features available, you’d probably not want to see all of them in list form — you’d want a cleaner, simpler look that you can put your fingers on and manipulate properly.Apple has tried adding feature access using

Continue reading »

The post “Shy User Interface” is Microsoft’s answer to 3D Touch appeared first on Pocketnow.

Siri and 3D Touch combine for this contacts- and photos-revealing iPhone lockscreen attack

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Smartphone security is all about balance, finding ways to deliver the functionality and convenience we desire while taking reasonable steps to keep our data secure: go too nuts with the security precautions and the phone becomes a pain to use (or maybe worse, only performs the most basic operations), but dial things back too far and you’ve got a wide-open phone that’s not doing enough to keep private information private. Apple’s long struggled with how to deliver the convenience of Siri voice control while still enforcing device security, and

Continue reading »

The post Siri and 3D Touch combine for this contacts- and photos-revealing iPhone lockscreen attack appeared first on Pocketnow.

Meizu PRO 6 prototype leaked with possible Force Touch support

Posted on by Jules Wang

“You have your PRO 5, I have my PRO 6.”So starts the tale of a Meizu forums user who apparently struck gold while out to dinner. Apparently after striking up a conversation with a young man, that man decided to sell something that would seem to be a Meizu PRO 6 prototype for about $15.

Continue reading »

The post Meizu PRO 6 prototype leaked with possible Force Touch support appeared first on Pocketnow.

The three best smartphone features (that haven’t taken off)

Posted on by Michael Fisher

Despite their creeping commoditization, smartphones are still some of the most exciting pieces of technology you can buy today. The old joke about using such a powerful device mainly for watching cat videos is a good one, but I find myself identifying more strongly with its setup than its punchline, the bit about carrying a device “capable of accessing the entirety of knowledge known to man.”Knowledge is useless, though, without a fast ...

Continue reading »

The post The three best smartphone features (that haven’t taken off) appeared first on Pocketnow.

3 Microsoft Office apps and OneNote get 3D Touch, Apple Pencil functionality

Posted on by Jules Wang

Microsoft seems to be a diligent player in another company’s walled garden. With the introduction of the iPhone 6s and the iPad Pro, two new iOS interaction methods have changed up what it means to be an app on an Apple device. And ...

Continue reading »

The post 3 Microsoft Office apps and OneNote get 3D Touch, Apple Pencil functionality appeared first on Pocketnow.

More features to 3D Touch on iOS 9.3

Posted on by Jules Wang

If you want to take a stab at doing more on your phone in 2016, make sure you have an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus, first of all. It has 3D Touch. Rimshot aside, iOS is getting another point upgrade and we now know more about what goodies are going into the bump.Since we mentioned it first, 3D Touch menus will be available for the Weather, Settings, Compass, Health (“Don’t worry, I’m a medic”), App ...

Continue reading »

The post More features to 3D Touch on iOS 9.3 appeared first on Pocketnow.

3D Touch should still be coming to the iPad, even if it skips the iPad Air 3

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Apple refreshed its tablet lineup in a big way this year (no pun intended), bringing us not just a new iPad mini, but also the inaugural iPad Pro, the company’s first slate to crack the 10-inch barrier. While especially the latter there was great to see launch, this lineup only helped draw attention to the tablet we didn’t get: an iPad Air 3. Yesterday we checked out a rumor that attempted to reassure us that a new iPad Air was still on its way, and that we could look forward to it in the ...

Continue reading »

The post 3D Touch should still be coming to the iPad, even if it skips the iPad Air 3 appeared first on Pocketnow.

Apple iPad Air 3 rumors look to first-half-2016 launch, but no 3D Touch

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

It’s been a long time since we talked about Apple’s plans for a new iPad Air tablet. With the first-gen model launching in fall 2013, and the iPad Air 2 in fall 2014, the smart money might have been on us seeing an iPad Air 3 this past October, but as early as mid-summer, we were hearing rumors that the tablet might sit this year out in favor of what we ultimately got: the iPad Pro and iPad mini 4. But ...

Continue reading »

The post Apple iPad Air 3 rumors look to first-half-2016 launch, but no 3D Touch appeared first on Pocketnow.