Editorial: Did Apple give up on Force Touch?
- s
- sa11oum
- 0kI
- 22 Mar 2016
I get that the SE doesn't get 3D Touch, it's sort of a 'midrange' iPhone. And I can also understand not putting it into the Pro 9.7: it would just destroy the Pro 12.9 if it had 3D Touch. The 9.7 is already better than the 12.9 in a lot of ways and 3D Touch would have just murdered 12.9 sales. I don't think Apple has given up on it. At all. It should be a very prominent feature of the iPhone 7.
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- AnonD-263286
- 3rx
- 22 Mar 2016
The 1MP Selfi camera says it all. Cheap stuff for cheap people. At least this is what Tim Cock thinks.
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- AnonD-500788
- Nug
- 22 Mar 2016
The force touch was and always be a gimmick
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- AnonD-152638
- mhA
- 22 Mar 2016
Anonymous, 22 Mar 2016Well, Samsung have started doing it so it must be okay huh? ;)many tech companies do. But sometimes it's because they feel that ceratain new functions, could probably be implemented better if they wait a year. Or implemented cheaper. It's not always about securing sales of the next generation device.
If you are talking about SD card reader. There were reasons for Samsung to leave it out on the S6 adn Note 5. They are not all resolved. The memory controller they used in the S6 did not support SD storage. If the new one does, or they put an additonal in there, I don't know.
However, they have not solved the speed issue. Where the internal memory is quicker than the SD writer/reader (plus about just every card you could put in there). That means that even if you just use the card for your photos, the gallery will have longer load times. But it could have an impact on number of frames dropped in 4K recording and for how long the burst mode goes on.
But 32GB of memory was a bit cheap. The S6 and Note 5 should have come with at least 64GB minimum. If it had, there would probably have been a lot less upset costumers and tech reporters and forum writers.
And perhaps Samsung should have introduced a NFC enabled USB storage with wifi, for back-ups. Or microSD or SD card reader, with NFC and wifi, for the same functionality. And really pushed this as the future of back-ing up your devices.
I do think that re-introduction of SD reader is due to consumer feedback, and not holding a feature off.
And it could probably be done somewhat cheaper than actually expanding the memory in the base version.
The IP rating.
Most makers today try to reduce the risk of waterdamage. Water damage results in a lot of bad-will for a company. And a device should not get damages just because you got caught by the rain, or because of condence.
Beeing able to achive a weather and particle protection that you can have IP68 certified means that you have made a device that should survive any normal accident or enviromental factor, by a pretty margin. Dropping the phone in a pool or the ocean could still destroy it, but that is not a common issue.
The iPhone does not get destroyed by single drop of water. That could happend to even the most expensive phones just a few years ago.
Nokia and Samsung has for a long time done testing where devices are exposed to humidity and heat (Nokia probably did it longer).
But to get an IP rating you used to have to plug every connector.
The S5 had to have a flap on the USB-port. But back then they had solved it for headphone jacks at least.
Sony then started getting IP ratings even with exposed USB ports. (Some others as well)
Having a flap over the USB-port that by many are used daily, is impratical (personally I dont surf that much so my phones, that I've chosen partly because their batterylife with good talktimes and standby, usually gets me 3-4 or more, so for me such a solution would be ok).
A lot of devices were probably still water damaged because the ports werent properly plugged. Or the plugs broke. So there was probably a lot of bad-will still, and probably even angrier customers, as those were told that the device should be able to handle water.
Probably more users were bothered with those plugs, than actually had their phone survive a situation it would not survive otherwise.
But as tech has moved on, now samsung can do phones without plugging the ports, and still have IP68 protection.
The iPhones for example could porbably achive some level of IP protection if Apple wanted. But not high enough so that they can claim you can actually drop it in water an feel safe.
So I think the re-introduction of the IP rating probably has more with technology than beeing a feature left out.
Keep in mind that the Note series never got IP-rating despite beeing more expensive than the S series.
- V
- Vic
- 35k
- 22 Mar 2016
In my opinion, it's just nice to have feature. It means - nice to have it on phone but not something mandatory or that important. Probably Apple decided that supporting and development of 3D Touch doesn't worth all efforts and cost increase associated with it.
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- Anonymous
- QAL
- 22 Mar 2016
LOL @ people sayin 3d touch adds weight and thickness.
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- AnonD-190634
- HIk
- 22 Mar 2016
It's stupid, I said that when it came out! It makes phones look like an old non functioning stupid phone and it takes lonfer then holding the screen and feels terrible. I hope they replace everything that force touch uses with battery or something!
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- AnonD-152638
- mhA
- 22 Mar 2016
AnonD-517631, 22 Mar 2016Well, it was over a year from when we saw Touch ID for the ... moreBut 3D touch, is an example of a new tech, that you don't want to hold back.
Staying with the old camera sensor. Would have made more sense.
Using the old fingerprint sensor, is another bad move.
Using the old selfie cam was a really bad move, considering how popular selfies are, that could actually hurt sales, more than staying with the old sensor on the back would.
Fingerprint recognition and 3D touch are featuers that Apple needs users to take to.
The touch-id to make it natural so people accept is as a way to sign payments. Having a slower sensor, less accurate sensor means that people will have their doubts about the tech.
3D touch needs to be implemented, so that developers makes full use of it. Leaving it out, will make some developers less keen to implement it in their software. And users that mix devices will never feel that it's natural if it's only on some devices. iPhone SE could be a good device to use as a back up, or as a 2nd number device. Or to give to the children in the family. If you are often thrown between different ways to interact, you will have a hard time taking on new ways ot interact. Or you will get very frustrated using the devices that lack that interaction, so frustrated that even if you used a device without it for years, in that moment you simply forget how it used to be done, leading to more frustaration.
So if Apple thought, lets save that for the next itteration, they did so with the wrong features.
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- AnonD-491921
- uum
- 22 Mar 2016
AnonD-152638, 22 Mar 2016The tech works in such a way that the bigger the display, t... morepeek and pop has a lot of potential.They better not give up on this 3D touch
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- AnonD-152638
- mhA
- 22 Mar 2016
The tech works in such a way that the bigger the display, the more weight it adds. It's not a single sensor for the whole screen.
So it would add too much weight in the iPad Pro 9.7".
And it does add thickness and cost, so them leaving it out of the iPhone SE, also makes sense.
However, that does not change the matter, if Apple wants people to get used to that way of interacting with their devices, they need it to be built in to every device running the same OS.
And actually it would be beneficial for Apple if other makers used it as well, so it would feel natural.
Like pinch-to-zoom, it was a pretty smart way to zoom, although it pretty much requires two hand operation, of a handheld device, which is ironically, since Apple stayed the longest with one hand operation format, and also now reintroduced it. But had google stayed with another soultion, it would have been confusing for consumers.
They might go back on it, this time around, simply because todays tech isn't mature enough. It adds too much weight.
But if so, it will probably make a comeback in a few years time.
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- AnonD-442781
- pKP
- 22 Mar 2016
I can't imagine them giving it up to be honest. And while it is nothing but a gimmick now, it does have potential years down the line. However that potential can only be utilised if all devices start to have it. For the latest iPhone to not have it isn't exactly helping.
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- Anonymous
- nGR
- 22 Mar 2016
AnonD-517631, 22 Mar 2016Well, it was over a year from when we saw Touch ID for the ... moreWell, Samsung have started doing it so it must be okay huh? ;)
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- AnonD-517631
- x4}
- 22 Mar 2016
Well, it was over a year from when we saw Touch ID for the first time on the iPhone 5s, before we saw it on the iPad Air 2. The original iPad Air was released after the 5s with Touch ID absent. Forgive me but I'm very sceptical of Apple. At yesterdays launch we were still told how amazing the aluminium build and chamfered edges of the iPhone SE are. My guess would be they've just held back features for a release in the next editions.
- d
- dukaki
- 0Zt
- 22 Mar 2016
Maybe they didn't add 3D touch to iPads because of the size of the digitiser. The added cost/weight/thickness wouldn't be worth it.
The omission on SE is definitely cost-cutting. Perhaps it will be added on future generations.
- T
- Think wisely
- w0W
- 22 Mar 2016
iPads never had 3D touch. Apple never brought this tech to iPad line up. Yes, even the top of the line iPad pro 12.7 inch doesn't have it. Plus, we all know iPhone SE is essentially the iPhone 5S with updated innards. It was never going to be a flagship phone with all latest bells and whistles. Apple will definitely carry forward 3D touch on iPhone 7. So, it's clear from where these useless ideas are coming on the blog.
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- AnonD-5197
- QDj
- 22 Mar 2016
Issues like adding inconsistency to UI and not enough depth in usability makes this an unsuccessful feature. This is exactly the same reason "hover over screen" is considered just a gimmick. There just isn't enough places where this extra layer of input would be useful.
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- Anonymous
- QAL
- 22 Mar 2016
Even Apple know it is useless.
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- AnonD-506458
- uC8
- 22 Mar 2016
They better give up!!!! It's boring.