Android N looks to copy iOS's 3d Touch

[Lloydbm41]

Just saw this article and they even got this working on a real device. But because the display doesn't have the same sort of pressure sensitive screen as the iPhone 6S, they used a swipe down gesture instead of pressure. However, the code is there and easily utilized for any app.

I think 3d touch is capable of showing some useful info, but for the most part it will likely be forgotten more than actually utilized. I know several people with 6S's and not a single one of them used, or even knew what 3d touch was. I have the S7 Edge and use the Edge feature all the time, but I'm probably an exception. Most users probably don't use the Edge features and find it gimmicky as well.

Still, I'm calling out Google on this, just like I call Apple out on cloned Android features. Link: http://phandroid.com/2016/04/15/android-3d-touch/

 

[Mernak]

To be fair, the ability to approximate the pressure of a finger has been in Android for a while now (except they don't have the hardware support, so it basically is measuring the radius of the touch as opposed to pressure). 3D Touch is basically the Click+Hold/RightClick that some desktop applications use, just in a mobile form factor (mind you, I'm one of those "innovation" is basically refining/transferring an existing feature to make it better, not a wholly new idea)

Should be interesting to see how the usage of 3D Touch, the Edge UI, and similar features wind up progressing in the near future though.

 

[Radon87000]

That's exactly how 3D Touch works on an iPhone 6 with jailbreak except Android will be far useful with it as Google tends to give more freedom to developers than Apple

 

[mrex]

When i first saw 3DTouch i was "Oh, did Apple just show 'Air view' made by Samsung or what just happened?"

However... Im quite sure if Google is implementing this Samsung innovation, they will do it much better than Apple did. I rarely use 3DTouch feature because there isnt anything useful to do with it.

 

[The Game 161]

they copy each other....so it's hardly a surprise.

 

[I7guy]

When i first saw 3DTouch i was "Oh, did Apple just show 'Air view' made by Samsung or what just happened?"

However... Im quite sure if Google is implementing this Samsung innovation, they will do it much better than Apple did. I rarely use 3DTouch feature because there isnt anything useful to do with it.

I'm know people who don't use Touch ID surprisingly. But I find 3D Touch useful.

 

[Radon87000]

I'm know people who don't use Touch ID surprisingly. But I find 3D Touch useful.

It would be if Apple,like Android, made the feature accessible to old iPhones like jailbreakers and Google did.And in addition opened it up for devs even more.

Android N's 3D Touch doesn't need dedicated hardware

 

[I7guy]

It would be if Apple,like Android, made the feature accessible to old iPhones like jailbreakers and Google did.And in addition opened it up for devs even more.

Android N's 3D Touch doesn't need dedicated hardware

Right and it's like simulating a right click click on a one button mouse.

 

[Michael Goff]

It would be if Apple,like Android, made the feature accessible to old iPhones like jailbreakers and Google did.And in addition opened it up for devs even more.

Android N's 3D Touch doesn't need dedicated hardware

As such, it will just be a glorified right click.

 

[Radon87000]

Right and it's like simulating a right click click on a one button mouse.

As such, it will just be a glorified right click.

Thats exactly what 3D Touch is but I would guess Android will see much widespread adoption than iOS for the simple reason that almost all phones running Android N can use it while a small subset of iPhone users can actually use 3d touch.Not even the iPhone SE has it.In addition,with Google opening the APIs to support more features than Apple does,I expect 3d touch on Android to be much more useful than iOS.For example,despite owning an Apple Watch,I find Android Wear to be a much more customisable option because of so many innovative watch faces devs come up with while on AW many people like me are finding the Apple ones stale

For a near 7 month old feature though,its remarkably underwhelming considering how many apps even support it.

 

[mi7chy]

Blackberry Storm introduced the technology back in 2008 then recently Huawei Mate S reintroduced 3D touch before Apple's implementation which is called force touch. Either way it's a silly gimmick that adds extra cost, complexity of additional hardware, harder to use one handed and drains battery. Even Apple backpedaled on the force touch gimmick by implementing the traditional hold press on the iPhone 5se. Don't see the point of making a fuss over useless off-the-shelf gimmicks.

 

[I7guy]

Thats exactly what 3D Touch is but I would guess Android will see much widespread adoption than iOS for the simple reason that almost all phones running Android N can use it while a small subset of iPhone users can actually use 3d touch.Not even the iPhone SE has it.In addition,with Google opening the APIs to support more features than Apple does,I expect 3d touch on Android to be much more useful than iOS.For example,despite owning an Apple Watch,I find Android Wear to be a much more customisable option because of so many innovative watch faces devs come up with while on AW many people like me are finding the Apple ones stale

For a near 7 month old feature though,its remarkably underwhelming considering how many apps even support it.

Let's be clear about the bold, that is your opinion only. Others have disagreed across various threads.

Let's be clear about this as well, a long press is simulating a right click. As opposed to doing the right click directly; which is what 3d touch is. You can try to turn it around, but it's not the same thing. It's like simulating a right click by holding the left mouse button down. Not quite the same thing as an instant response.

 

[Michael Goff]

Thats exactly what 3D Touch is but I would guess Android will see much widespread adoption than iOS for the simple reason that almost all phones running Android N can use it while a small subset of iPhone users can actually use 3d touch.Not even the iPhone SE has it.In addition,with Google opening the APIs to support more features than Apple does,I expect 3d touch on Android to be much more useful than iOS.For example,despite owning an Apple Watch,I find Android Wear to be a much more customisable option because of so many innovative watch faces devs come up with while on AW many people like me are finding the Apple ones stale

For a near 7 month old feature though,its remarkably underwhelming considering how many apps even support it.

And that's where you're probably wrong. Most developers will target what version most people use. That won't be N for a few years after it comes out. I wouldn't be surprised if a majority of apps don't use Doze.

 

[I7guy]

Blackberry Storm introduced the technology back in 2008 then recently Huawei Mate S reintroduced 3D touch before Apple's implementation which is called force touch. Either way it's a silly gimmick that adds extra cost, complexity of additional hardware, harder to use one handed and drains battery. Even Apple backpedaled on the force touch gimmick by implementing the traditional hold press on the iPhone 5se. Don't see the point of making a fuss over useless off-the-shelf gimmicks.

I used a Blackberry Storm II for 4 years; they blew it with underwhelming hardware. A long press is not the same thing, it's a way of simulating something. So I guess Android is backpedaling also? Apple didn't include it, imo, to keep the cost down, and they didn't include a barometer also? More backpedaling? It's a good thing apple doesn't take it's feature advice from on-line forums.

And as a fellow poster said above, android N does not require additional hardware, the same situation as the 5se.

 

[Lloydbm41]

And that's where you're probably wrong. Most developers will target what version most people use. That won't be N for a few years after it comes out. I wouldn't be surprised if a majority of apps don't use Doze.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but Doze is at the OS level and supersedes apps, unless specified differently by the user?
3D touch on the other hand can't happen at all without the developer of an app coding for it. So, like you said, it probably won't be used very much at all for a while.

 

[tbayrgs]

An awful lot of "it's not a worthwhile feature when someone else does it but once it's on my device of choice, it's terrific" going on here. Where have we heard that before?

 

[Michael Goff]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but Doze is at the OS level and supersedes apps, unless specified differently by the user?
3D touch on the other hand can't happen at all without the developer of an app coding for it. So, like you said, it probably won't be used very much at all for a while.

Looked into it a little more. The thing works by default, but might not work right on apps that haven't been updated to it. According to Google, most apps shouldn't have to do anything.

My bad.

Point still stands, though. New features take a while because of a lack of updates to the latest API.

 

[Lloydbm41]

An awful lot of "it's not a worthwhile feature when someone else does it but once it's on my device of choice, it's terrific" going on here. Where have we heard that before?

Don't think I am reading the same posts as you? Not seeing anyone saying 3d touch is great or going to be great. I see people saying that Google will probably have better implementation, but I haven't seen one person claim it is going to be some awesome feature. Even I said that there could be some useful info provided by 3d touch, but I doubt most people will ever actually use the feature unless Google creates something out of it that makes it the greatest thing since copy and paste.

 

[Radon87000]

Let's be clear about the bold, that is your opinion only. Others have disagreed across various threads.

Let's be clear about this as well, a long press is simulating a right click. As opposed to doing the right click directly; which is what 3d touch is. You can try to turn it around, but it's not the same thing. It's like simulating a right click by holding the left mouse button down. Not quite the same thing as an instant response.

Even Apple's control centre and Music App don't fully support 3D touch.There is a reason why it didn't make it on the iPhone SE.If it was a game changing feature including it on the Budget SE would have increased adoption and consequently developer support

Again we are not talking about a long press.On Android I just need to swipe across the icon to activate the right click.Sounds like a dedicated right click button without requiring dedicated hardware to me.
Since Google doesn't make both hardware and software,they would always try and build the best possible software as they don't need to force old customers to upgrade.With Apple,alienating old customers by intentionally requiring them to have dedicated hardware for 3D touch results in their old phones being obsolete.This increases sales of the 6S

 

[lowendlinux]

What do you use 3d touch/long press for?

 

[I7guy]

Even Apple's control centre and Music App don't fully support 3D touch.There is a reason why it didn't make it on the iPhone SE.If it was a game changing feature including it on the Budget SE would have increased adoption and consequently developer support

Again we are not talking about a long press.On Android I just need to swipe across the icon to activate the right click.Sounds like a dedicated right click button without requiring dedicated hardware to me.
Since Google doesn't make both hardware and software,they would always try and build the best possible software as they don't need to force old customers to upgrade.With Apple,alienating old customers by intentionally requiring them to have dedicated hardware for 3D touch results in their old phones being obsolete.This increases sales of the 6S

Your logic is patently incorrect; here is what Apple did. The 5se is a budget phone, Apple is not putting 3D Touch in budget phone that is also missing a barometer.

As far as your preference for swiping-Your still swiping. With 3D Touch settings/battery in. Trackpad on, new mail press, etc much better than another confusing screen gesture. Of course if that's what you prefer, you are within your rights, as not to use Touch ID and enter your password every time saying it's better. 3D Touch is a great feature.

 

[jamezr]

Even Apple's control centre and Music App don't fully support 3D touch.There is a reason why it didn't make it on the iPhone SE.If it was a game changing feature including it on the Budget SE would have increased adoption and consequently developer support

Again we are not talking about a long press.On Android I just need to swipe across the icon to activate the right click.Sounds like a dedicated right click button without requiring dedicated hardware to me.
Since Google doesn't make both hardware and software,they would always try and build the best possible software as they don't need to force old customers to upgrade.With Apple,alienating old customers by intentionally requiring them to have dedicated hardware for 3D touch results in their old phones being obsolete.This increases sales of the 6S

3DT is a real hit and miss for me. When it works it very nice. But it adds a layer of complexity to the OS imho.
Previewing emails is nice using 3DT...but that is where to usefulness stops for me.

The biggest problem when using 3DT is you don't know when it is going to be useful and when it is going to be a dud.
You don't know which app is optimised for 3DT and which one is not optimised for 3DT. Then if an app is optimised.....that doesn't mean it will give you useful information.
Then the long press is also used to reorganize home screen icons and to delete apps. So you really have to get it right or you end up with the wrong outcome.
Not all of Apple's own in house apps will return useful information.

 

[Radon87000]

Your logic is patently incorrect; here is what Apple did. The 5se is a budget phone, Apple is not putting 3D Touch in budget phone that is also missing a barometer.

As far as your preference for swiping-Your still swiping. With 3D Touch settings/battery in. Trackpad on, new mail press, etc much better than another confusing screen gesture. Of course if that's what you prefer, you are within your rights, as not to use Touch ID and enter your password every time saying it's better. 3D Touch is a great feature.

And here lies the difference between Google and Apple.Apple enabled 3D Touch to ONLY be utilised on latest hardware.Google enabled it on ALL phones including budget ones NOT having dedicated hardware as they are not tied to the sales of any device in particular as long as people use Google apps and services

There are already 5 gestures on the homescreen which do different things which some people like my Dad still have trouble remembering.I had no idea that pulling up the scrubber in Apple Music actually openeed up the advance control.In comparison a diagonal swipe across the icons to enable the right click seems nothing in comparison
[doublepost=1461002504][/doublepost]

3DT is a real hit and miss for me. When it works it very nice. But it adds a layer of complexity to the OS imho.
Previewing emails is nice using 3DT...but that is where to usefulness stops for me.

The biggest problem when using 3DT is you don't know when it is going to be useful and when it is going to be a dud.
You don't know which app is optimised for 3DT and which one is not optimised for 3DT. Then if an app is optimised.....that doesn't mean it will give you useful information.
Then the long press is also used to reorganize home screen icons and to delete apps. So you really have to get it right or you end up with the wrong outcome.
Not all of Apple's own in house apps will return useful information.

3D Touch would have been adopted more widely if Apple just like in the jailbreaks enabled the swipe method for 3D Touch on all iPhones.In fact this would have been even more helpful on iPads which already have a ton of screen real estate.Even the budget iPhone SE doesnt have it and it would have been the best way to make 3D Touch available to budget buyers and even increase adoption.

 

[I7guy]

And here lies the difference between Google and Apple.Apple enabled 3D Touch to ONLY be utilised on latest hardware.Google enabled it on ALL phones including budget ones NOT having dedicated hardware as they are not tied to the sales of any device in particular as long as people use Google apps and services

There are already 5 gestures on the homescreen which do different things which some people like my Dad still have trouble remembering.I had no idea that pulling up the scrubber in Apple Music actually openeed up the advance control.In comparison a diagonal swipe across the icons to enable the right click seems nothing in comparison

Pressing is better than swiping is my point and much more cognitive than a swipe or long press which is just yet one more screen gesture to be remembered. But if you like it better ; more power to you. I don't.

 

[jamezr]

3D Touch would have been adopted more widely if Apple just like in the jailbreaks enabled the swipe method for 3D Touch on all iPhones.In fact this would have been even more helpful on iPads which already have a ton of screen real estate.Even the budget iPhone SE doesnt have it and it would have been the best way to make 3D Touch available to budget buyers and even increase adoption.

For me anyway swiping is more intuitive and functional than pressing. We are all accustomed to swiping already. We swipe for all of our apps home screens and the like. We swipe within apps to get to more data and features. Features are great and I welcome them. But they should fill a need and not just add complexity