Do you plan to switch from iPhone to Android? (2016)

[Radon87000]

Well I agree the key is in the implementation. I'm not that fussed about 3D Touch. Whilst as I said long press has been on android for years it doesn't do much more than arranging your home screen or deleting photos. Apple have more uses for a basic feature. They need to do more with it though/ app developers do.

At the moment I use it on the keyboard (trackpad), on the settings icon, to quickly check the weather and to act on notifications on the lock screen. Occasionally I use peek and pop. I always forget to use it though.

Except on Android when I do a long press I am assured it will bring a right click menu of sorts. It's all unpredictable on iOS. 3DT doesn't work in the Outlook app but does in the Mail app. I would expect 3DT to work in the control centre to bring advanced options for wifi or mobile data while a long press on Android does. Peek and pop doesn't work in Tapatalk nor does it work in Chrome. 3DT works in Apple news but doesn't work in Play News stand or Flipboard. 3DT on WhatsApp brings up an irrelevant list of contacts instead of showing me my messages. The only place where it works without issues is in Apple's apps which I don't use

All inconsistencies included make it a frustrating experience compared to Android where long press is standard everywhere even in apps .


I would be happy to trade these features for OLED and wireless charging and iris scanners as these are things I interact with the moment I unlock my phone but looking at the prices Apple doesn't seem interested in having me as a customer anymore

 

[Shanghaichica]

Except on Android when I do a long press I am assured it will bring a right click menu of sorts. It's all unpredictable on iOS. 3DT doesn't work in the Outlook app but does in the Mail app. I would expect 3DT to work in the control centre to bring advanced options for wifi or mobile data while a long press on Android does. Peek and pop doesn't work in Tapatalk nor does it work in Chrome. 3DT works in Apple news but doesn't work in Play News stand or Flipboard. 3DT on WhatsApp brings up an irrelevant list of contacts instead of showing me my messages. The only place where it works without issues is in Apple's apps which I don't use

All inconsistencies included make it a frustrating experience compared to Android where long press is standard everywhere even in apps .


I would be happy to trade these features for OLED and wireless charging and iris scanners as these are things I interact with the moment I unlock my phone but looking at the prices Apple doesn't seem interested in having me as a customer anymore

Well that's more to do with developers when it comes to It working in third party apps. My biggest gripe with the iPhone 8 is the lack of real estate on the screen and the edition mentality. It puts me in a quandary as I don't feel as though I should pay over the odds to get a substandard product (screen too small). I can get exactly what I want from other manufacturers but their phones run android and not iOS and won't play with my other Apple devices as well as an iPhone could.

 

[The Game 161]

Well that's more to do with developers when it comes to It working in third party apps. My biggest gripe with the iPhone 8 is the lack of real estate on the screen and the edition mentality. It puts me in a quandary as I don't feel as though I should pay over the odds to get a substandard product (screen too small). I can get exactly what I want from other manufacturers but their phones run android and not iOS and won't play with my other Apple devices as well as an iPhone could.

Thats the issue I have.

I'm pretty locked into apple right now

apple watch
7 plus
ipad pro
macbook pro

would be tough to drop it and move android again.

I guess we will find out more in terms of screen size for iphone 8. if it's 5.8 inch for videos/films and general apps or if 5.1 is really it.

only 5.1 inch available from 5.8 makes no sense though...other rumour says the function could be 5.5 out of 5,8 available. if it's a 5.5 inch usable display thats fine.

one concern though is the latest rumour is the new iphone OLED will not be available till november.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Thats the issue I have.

I'm pretty locked into apple right now

apple watch
7 plus
ipad pro
macbook pro

would be tough to drop it and move android again.

I guess we will find out more in terms of screen size for iphone 8. if it's 5.8 inch for videos/films and general apps or if 5.1 is really it.

only 5.1 inch available from 5.8 makes no sense though...other rumour says the function could be 5.5 out of 5,8 available. if it's a 5.5 inch usable display thats fine.

one concern though is the latest rumour is the new iphone OLED will not be available till november.

Whilst I would want it in September if it has at least 5.5 inches of usable display then I'll be willing to wait and pay the Apple tax to get it. Back in 2012 my iPhone was stolen anyway which was what pushed me to android but I wasn't that bothered about leaving the iPhone as it was just the phone and my Apple TV which I carried on using anyway as the play store didn't have TV shows and movies back then. However now it's a completely different ball game as I have far too many Apple devices. It's not even a question of the cost of replacing them it's that I like the way they all work together and I can't get the same level of integration with android.

 

[apolloa]

Apples eco system is 'incredibly' locked down though. For instance Apples calendar app in iOS refuses to play with Google calendar, I can put an appointment on my android devices and it syncs everywhere even on the Outlook app on iOS, but not with Apples calender, you have to install an app on all of your android devices for it to sync the calendars with iOS! It's really frustrating and feels like blocking convenience and compatibility out of snobbery on Apples part. One of my bugbears it is.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Apples eco system is 'incredibly' locked down though. For instance Apples calendar app in iOS refuses to play with Google calendar, I can put an appointment on my android devices and it syncs everywhere even on the Outlook app on iOS, but not with Apples calender, you have to install an app on all of your android devices for it to sync the calendars with iOS! It's really frustrating and feels like blocking convenience and compatibility out of snobbery on Apples part. One of my bugbears it is.

Doesn't google Callander work with iOS anymore?

When I used Samsung phones I used to add events in the google calendar and it would show up on my iPad and vice Versa. This was back in 2014 though.

 

[apolloa]

Doesn't google Callander work with iOS anymore?

When I used Samsung phones I used to add events in the google calendar and it would show up on my iPad and vice Versa. This was back in 2014 though.

Nope, I also think it used to. But I haven't had it sync without using an extra app on android for a while which is just nuts.

 

[Oohara]

Yeah most rumors I've heard have the ip8 having the curved screen, which is disappointing but I'll withhold judgement to see how the implementation is.

I agree that 3d touch on the iPhone is useless, worse than useless really. Now I have to actually stop and carefully press down just to get a long press! It's just a glorified long press, but now you have to keep track of 2 pressures. That's why I'm hesitant to see how the function bar works out. Apple either hits it out of the park, or they invent something lame that they hype up as the next coming.

I totally agree about 3D touch.

What it does most of all is simply confuse me, since the functionality isn't uniform across apps & different situations in the OS, and as someone else said there is no 3D touch on iPad.

It also detracts from the sense of reliability of iOS, since it not only sometimes requires quite some precision to activate but also makes regular long pressing difficult like you say. Just yesterday I got really frustrated when typing because I was trying to long press to get to a particular character, but instead I ended up 3D touch-pressing and activating the cursor control. Several times in one short session...

I do enjoy the super refined haptic engine in my 7 Plus (LOVE it when the notification shade hits the bottom of the screen with that barely perceptible 'thump'!), and I get how Apple is trying to make the iPhone a kind of ultra responsive device in terms of physical sensation. This works for brief moments, and then my 7 Plus really shines. But the 99% of the time, all they've done is make the phone feel more unreliable and the OS more sloppy and confusing than before.

This in turn is really quite counterproductive of Apple - given that their carefully built up image is that of a company which focuses on just a few things, but does those really flawlessly. And the messy state of the 3D touch/haptic feedback angle makes me more than a little nervous about how slick the 8 Edition will actually be, since that sort of functionality should be all the more important on an all-screen device with no home button.

I have the feeling that if Google + Samsung and other Android OEM:s just keep working on reliability & consistency, and especially if Google gets their complete service & manufacturing package together better with the Pixel line, Apple might start to find themselves a little bit less dominant on the market. The implementation of 3D touch so far really isn't a sign of confidence or good judgement.

 

[I7guy]

I totally agree about 3D touch.

What it does most of all is simply confuse me, since the functionality isn't uniform across apps & different situations in the OS, and as someone else said there is no 3D touch on iPad.

It also detracts from the sense of reliability of iOS, since it not only sometimes requires quite some precision to activate but also makes regular long pressing difficult like you say. Just yesterday I got really frustrated when typing because I was trying to long press to get to a particular character, but instead I ended up 3D touch-pressing and activating the cursor control. Several times in one short session...

I do enjoy the super refined haptic engine in my 7 Plus (LOVE it when the notification shade hits the bottom of the screen with that barely perceptible 'thump'!), and I get how Apple is trying to make the iPhone a kind of ultra responsive device in terms of physical sensation. This works for brief moments, and then my 7 Plus really shines. But the 99% of the time, all they've done is make the phone feel more unreliable and the OS more sloppy and confusing than before.

This in turn is really quite counterproductive of Apple - given that their carefully built up image is that of a company which focuses on just a few things, but does those really flawlessly. And the messy state of the 3D touch/haptic feedback angle makes me more than a little nervous about how slick the 8 Edition will actually be, since that sort of functionality should be all the more important on an all-screen device with no home button.

I have the feeling that if Google + Samsung and other Android OEM:s just keep working on reliability & consistency, and especially if Google gets their complete service & manufacturing package together better with the Pixel line, Apple might start to find themselves a little bit less dominant on the market. The implementation of 3D touch so far really isn't a sign of confidence or good judgement.

Unreliable or sloppy is not my impression of 3dt at all on 6s or 7. While there is always room for improvement in everything, for what I use it for, it works well and fast and I think one of the best innovations in touch screens(acknowledging other android manufacturers had experimented with it). No doubt apple will keep raising the bar on how this integrates into IOS in the future.

But if it's unreliable to you, why don't you turn it off?

 

[Oohara]

I'm happy the major Android OEMs aren't rushing to jump onto pressure sensitive screens. As you said, a regular long press does more or less the same thing and is simpler. And also less costly since 3D Touch requires special screen tech.

Also, I still don't fully understand why Apple won't implement gesture typing in their native keyboard. Even if 3D Touch on the keyboard is used for gesturing the cursor for editing, why can't a non-pressure gesture allow for typing? Isn't the pressure sensitive screen subtle enough to tell the difference? Typing with one hand is dreadfully slow with an iPhone. And the iPad would benefit greatly from gesture typing too.

Too true. Gboard being quick enough on my 7 Plus is what makes this phone acceptable to me. But it's still frustratingly inferior to Swype on Android (which is total crap on the iPhone), with its slick quick copy/paste and text selection functions. And the Swype experience was that good already on my Note 2....five years ago!!

I really, really don't get why Apple isn't making more of an effort with this. Typing is such a central part of the UI experience. Gesture typing should be standard at this point - at least as an option, still of course leaving it possible to peck at the letters for those who prefer that.

And, even though gesture typing is quite sublime on Android, there are still myriads of ways in which it could be improved. This is something Apple could stand to benefit from - stop being so ****ing stubborn, embrace gesture typing, and make it better than anyone else has so far!

 

[Shanghaichica]

Unreliable or sloppy is not my impression of 3dt at all on 6s or 7. While there is always room for improvement in everything, for what I use it for, it works well and fast and I think one of the best innovations in touch screens(acknowledging other android manufacturers had experimented with it). No doubt apple will keep raising the bar on how this integrates into IOS in the future.

But if it's unreliable to you, why don't you turn it off?

I wouldn't call it sloppy or unreliable but it needs to do more. It seems as though they are adding features for features sake at times and then nothing more is done with them. How long have we had third party keyboards and they are still a mess. Widgets whilst ok are not what they were touted to be when they were first announced. I remember at the keynote they said things like you could bid directly on a YouTube item right there in th widget without neededing to enter the app. Or watch live sports games in the widget. We don't have anything like this yet and it's been a while.

 

[epicrayban]

Too true. Gboard being quick enough on my 7 Plus is what makes this phone acceptable to me. But it's still frustratingly inferior to Swype on Android (which is total crap on the iPhone), with its slick quick copy/paste and text selection functions. And the Swype experience was that good already on my Note 2....five years ago!!

I really, really don't get why Apple isn't making more of an effort with this. Typing is such a central part of the UI experience. Gesture typing should be standard at this point - at least as an option, still of course leaving it possible to peck at the letters for those who prefer that.

And, even though gesture typing is quite sublime on Android, there are still myriads of ways in which it could be improved. This is something Apple could stand to benefit from - stop being so ****ing stubborn, embrace gesture typing, and make it better than anyone else has so far!

I've been saying similar things about the iOS keyboard for years.

I try to type as little as possible on my iPhone. The few times I have to thumb tap one handed... torturously slow. Especially knowing how easy it is to gesture type on my android.

 

[Oohara]

Unreliable or sloppy is not my impression of 3dt at all on 6s or 7. While there is always room for improvement in everything, for what I use it for, it works well and fast and I think one of the best innovations in touch screens(acknowledging other android manufacturers had experimented with it). No doubt apple will keep raising the bar on how this integrates into IOS in the future.

But if it's unreliable to you, why don't you turn it off?

Good question actually, thanks for pointing that out! I guess it just hadn't occurred to me that I could do that, also I've just been hoping for updates to come which would make it worthwhile to have there. But at this point I think the honeymoon is over in that regard. I'll switch it off, and see if I end up missing anything.
[doublepost=1489246120][/doublepost]

I wouldn't call it sloppy or unreliable but it needs to do more. It seems as though they are adding features for features sake at times and then nothing more is done with them. How long have we had third party keyboards and they are still a mess. Widgets whilst ok are not what they were touted to be when they were first announced. I remember at the keynote they said things like you could bid directly on a YouTube item right there in th widget without neededing to enter the app. Or watch live sports games in the widget. We don't have anything like this yet and it's been a while.

IOS widgets could be great.

Proper (i.e. more versatile) widgets available upon 3D touching an icon for example would be very cool.

I would also love to be able to have an icon expand into a persistent widget on the home screen. I CBA to find it now but there's that old YouTube vid where someone had made a concept demo of that.

Lastly widgets need to be slimmed down on the widget screen. That bloated rounded framing of them just gets confusing and forces one to scroll more than needed.

Hoping to see more of this sort in iOS 11.

 

[Radon87000]

Unreliable or sloppy is not my impression of 3dt at all on 6s or 7. While there is always room for improvement in everything, for what I use it for, it works well and fast and I think one of the best innovations in touch screens(acknowledging other android manufacturers had experimented with it). No doubt apple will keep raising the bar on how this integrates into IOS in the future.

But if it's unreliable to you, why don't you turn it off?

I would turn it off if it weren't for the fact that it also turns off they keyboard trackpad because thats my only use case for it

Literally the only place where it works properly are Apple's apps. Out of all the apps I have on my phone not one supports it in any useful way. 3D Touch on WhatsApp gives me a list of contacts.Snapchat doesn't even support it. No peek and pop on either Chrome or Outlook or Inbox. It's been 2 years and yet no one supports it
[doublepost=1489247342][/doublepost]

I've been saying similar things about the iOS keyboard for years.

I try to type as little as possible on my iPhone. The few times I have to thumb tap one handed... torturously slow. Especially knowing how easy it is to gesture type on my android.

Microsoft's Wordflow keyboard has one of the best one handed keyboard applications on iOS. Unfortunately all third party apps arent stable on ios. Sometimes there is a slight lag or no animation and sometimes it switches to the default keyboard randomly which makes using their compelling functionality a lacklustre experience. I sometimes think Apple doesnt try to fix it on purpose so people are forced to use their own keyboard where the word prediction or auto correct is nowhere near as reliable as Swiftkey or Skype

 

[I7guy]

I would turn it off if it weren't for the fact that it also turns off they keyboard trackpad because thats my only use case for it

Literally the only place where it works properly are Apple's apps. Out of all the apps I have on my phone not one supports it in any useful way. 3D Touch on WhatsApp gives me a list of contacts.Snapchat doesn't even support it. No peek and pop on either Chrome or Outlook or Inbox. It's been 2 years and yet no one supports it

Everybody's use case is different. You have to contact the app developer for deep integration with 3dt. This is the same a windows, the program has to support the actions on a right click.

On my iphone, fitbit, amex, gmail, youtube, wsj, whatsapp and a number of others support useful shortcuts using 3dt. Whatsapp has more than a list of contacts. Long press still has to support whatever the app programming allows for.

 

[Oohara]

I would turn it off if it weren't for the fact that it also turns off they keyboard trackpad because thats my only use case for it

I don't even use it for that since Gboard's version of the keyboard trackpad only works sideways. The only function I've used consistently is to open Wifi or Bluetooth directly from the Settings icon. But even that has been hazardous, since...

...my main problem with 3D touch is that half of the time, especially when using the phone one handed, my finger doesn't come in at a perfect downward angle and so a scroll is initiated instead of the 3D touch. If I then let my finger slide back to where the scroll began, and let it stay on the screen, I get a long press activation. There have been moments when I wanted to throw my 7 Plus at the wall with full force (3D throw...? )

Literally the only place where it works properly are Apple's apps. Out of all the apps I have on my phone not one supports it in any useful way. 3D Touch on WhatsApp gives me a list of contacts.Snapchat doesn't even support it. No peek and pop on either Chrome or Outlook or Inbox. It's been 2 years and yet no one supports it

[doublepost=1489247342][/doublepost]

I don't even use it in Apple's apps, given the problem described above. Besides, it's never seemed very intuitive to me even in their own apps.

And it puzzles me that they haven't been able to come up with any one of the long, long list of obviously useful no-brainer functions that 3D touch could have. For example: 3D touch ANYWHERE in a Safari window to bring up a little 'quick menu', letting one open a new tab, bookmark or share the page, etc., then slide your thumb to the chosen operation. As it stands, to open a new tab for example, you have to 1) scroll down a little to reveal the menu bar at the bottom, then 2) hit the tabs icon, which sits way down in an uncomfortable spot on at least the 7 Plus, then 3) hit the plus to actually create the tab. Using 3D touch, this could be one swift operation.

Microsoft's Wordflow keyboard has one of the best one handed keyboard applications on iOS. Unfortunately all third party apps arent stable on ios. Sometimes there is a slight lag or no animation and sometimes it switches to the default keyboard randomly which makes using their compelling functionality a lacklustre experience. I sometimes think Apple doesnt try to fix it on purpose so people are forced to use their own keyboard where the word prediction or auto correct is nowhere near as reliable as Swiftkey or Skype

Gboard is actually pretty decent. It very seldom cancels out on me or totally fails to show up like for example Swype does. The gesture typing is OK, though nowhere near as good as Swype on Android. And I'm actually ok with it being replaced by Apple's own keyboard for password and certain form situations etc, where I tend to 'peck' to make sure I'm getting a password right etc.

It could still be way, way better though. And my main frustration is that I constantly have to switch manually between keyboards for different languages as I deal with frequent international conversations, and Gboard only allows three languages. Swype on Android let me type in both English and Swedish quite flawlessly without even having to slide-switch between languages, and that was already in 2012...

And back to the main point - Apple should provide gesture typing on their own, end of.

I too have had the thought that they're keeping 3d party keyboards limited in order to force people to use their own. But why then withhold gesture typing, which is the prime reason for getting a 3d party keyboard in the first place?

Bah. The more I talk about these things, the more I want an Android phone again

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I use 3D Touch on both the iPhone and watch and it's pretty much second nature now. It's a nice little feature I think but hey, if you don't use it then that's great too.

 

[spinedoc77]

I totally agree about 3D touch.

What it does most of all is simply confuse me, since the functionality isn't uniform across apps & different situations in the OS, and as someone else said there is no 3D touch on iPad.

It also detracts from the sense of reliability of iOS, since it not only sometimes requires quite some precision to activate but also makes regular long pressing difficult like you say. Just yesterday I got really frustrated when typing because I was trying to long press to get to a particular character, but instead I ended up 3D touch-pressing and activating the cursor control. Several times in one short session...

I do enjoy the super refined haptic engine in my 7 Plus (LOVE it when the notification shade hits the bottom of the screen with that barely perceptible 'thump'!), and I get how Apple is trying to make the iPhone a kind of ultra responsive device in terms of physical sensation. This works for brief moments, and then my 7 Plus really shines. But the 99% of the time, all they've done is make the phone feel more unreliable and the OS more sloppy and confusing than before.

This in turn is really quite counterproductive of Apple - given that their carefully built up image is that of a company which focuses on just a few things, but does those really flawlessly. And the messy state of the 3D touch/haptic feedback angle makes me more than a little nervous about how slick the 8 Edition will actually be, since that sort of functionality should be all the more important on an all-screen device with no home button.

I have the feeling that if Google + Samsung and other Android OEM:s just keep working on reliability & consistency, and especially if Google gets their complete service & manufacturing package together better with the Pixel line, Apple might start to find themselves a little bit less dominant on the market. The implementation of 3D touch so far really isn't a sign of confidence or good judgement.

Yes that's exactly how I feel about 3d touch. It's just sloppy in implementation, it's difficult to tell when you are force touching and when you are just long pressing. I've played around with the different force touch levels, but I still find it confusing and I'm not sure at times which function belongs to which touch method. It definitely detracts from the OS as a whole and just has that feel of hype without substance. Anything that slows down my flow is a negative, and 3dtouch definitely slows me down.
[doublepost=1489256067][/doublepost]

I wouldn't call it sloppy or unreliable but it needs to do more. It seems as though they are adding features for features sake at times and then nothing more is done with them. How long have we had third party keyboards and they are still a mess. Widgets whilst ok are not what they were touted to be when they were first announced. I remember at the keynote they said things like you could bid directly on a YouTube item right there in th widget without neededing to enter the app. Or watch live sports games in the widget. We don't have anything like this yet and it's been a while.

IMO it is sloppy in that most of the time there is a clear ambiguity whether you force touched or long pressed. I hate every time I have to rearrange icons or delete an app. Yeah I know I should just turn force touch off, but I am still experimenting with it and trying to force myself to like it.
[doublepost=1489256187][/doublepost]

Good question actually, thanks for pointing that out! I guess it just hadn't occurred to me that I could do that, also I've just been hoping for updates to come which would make it worthwhile to have there. But at this point I think the honeymoon is over in that regard. I'll switch it off, and see if I end up missing anything.
[doublepost=1489246120][/doublepost]
IOS widgets could be great.

Proper (i.e. more versatile) widgets available upon 3D touching an icon for example would be very cool.

I would also love to be able to have an icon expand into a persistent widget on the home screen. I CBA to find it now but there's that old YouTube vid where someone had made a concept demo of that.

Lastly widgets need to be slimmed down on the widget screen. That bloated rounded framing of them just gets confusing and forces one to scroll more than needed.

Hoping to see more of this sort in iOS 11.

Apple dropped the ball on widgets so much. I do appreciate that they made an effort, and hey something is better than nothing. But they are a complete joke next to the incredible stuff you can do in Android, no comparison at all. I'm really hoping Apple will expand widgets in the near future, I kind of like that they have their own drawer and Apple could really do a lot here.

 

[epicrayban]

Anything that slows down my flow is a negative, and 3dtouch definitely slows me down.

I dislike 3D Touch for many of the same reasons already discussed, but particularly for what you've just said here.

It's also why I criticize heavily iOS' lack of consistency, with the back navigation being the biggest offender. It precisely slows down the flow of everyday navigating around your iPhone. There are other culprits of inconsistency that drive me crazy too. They interrupt my expectations. What you describe is completely on point.

This is why I'm so excited about the gesture bar. Too bad it might only come to one iPhone model this year.

 

[I7guy]

I use 3D Touch on both the iPhone and watch and it's pretty much second nature now. It's a nice little feature I think but hey, if you don't use it then that's great too.

Agreed, I find 3D Touch to be a time saver or actually click saver. But if the feature doesn't suit you, turn it off.

There are many useful and varied shortcuts 3rd party apps have these. Especially in the mail app, 3D Touch, start new email.

Everybody has their use case and what they find acceptable and unacceptable about their phones' operating systems and hardware.

 

[tbayrgs]

Apples eco system is 'incredibly' locked down though. For instance Apples calendar app in iOS refuses to play with Google calendar, I can put an appointment on my android devices and it syncs everywhere even on the Outlook app on iOS, but not with Apples calender, you have to install an app on all of your android devices for it to sync the calendars with iOS! It's really frustrating and feels like blocking convenience and compatibility out of snobbery on Apples part. One of my bugbears it is.

Doesn't google Callander work with iOS anymore?

When I used Samsung phones I used to add events in the google calendar and it would show up on my iPad and vice Versa. This was back in 2014 though.

Nope, I also think it used to. But I haven't had it sync without using an extra app on android for a while which is just nuts.

@apolloa, this must be a device/app/settings issue on your end because I don't have any such problem and I've been using Android and iOS for years. In fact, to test it, I just set up a recurring week long appointment on my Nexus 6P in the Google Calendar app, checked my iPhone 30 sec later and there it was in the iOS Calendar. I'm using the same Google account I've used for years, been using any number of calendar apps on both Android and iOS and don't have any additional 3rd party apps installed to make this happen.
[doublepost=1489264276][/doublepost]

I don't even use it for that since Gboard's version of the keyboard trackpad only works sideways. The only function I've used consistently is to open Wifi or Bluetooth directly from the Settings icon. But even that has been hazardous, since...

...my main problem with 3D touch is that half of the time, especially when using the phone one handed, my finger doesn't come in at a perfect downward angle and so a scroll is initiated instead of the 3D touch. If I then let my finger slide back to where the scroll began, and let it stay on the screen, I get a long press activation. There have been moments when I wanted to throw my 7 Plus at the wall with full force (3D throw...? )


[doublepost=1489247342][/doublepost]

I don't even use it in Apple's apps, given the problem described above. Besides, it's never seemed very intuitive to me even in their own apps.

And it puzzles me that they haven't been able to come up with any one of the long, long list of obviously useful no-brainer functions that 3D touch could have. For example: 3D touch ANYWHERE in a Safari window to bring up a little 'quick menu', letting one open a new tab, bookmark or share the page, etc., then slide your thumb to the chosen operation. As it stands, to open a new tab for example, you have to 1) scroll down a little to reveal the menu bar at the bottom, then 2) hit the tabs icon, which sits way down in an uncomfortable spot on at least the 7 Plus, then 3) hit the plus to actually create the tab. Using 3D touch, this could be one swift operation.

Agree about the inconsistent implementation of 3DT. I also just wanted to share a little shortcut here to save you one step in opening a new tab while in Safari. Instead of touching the tabs icon at the bottom, long press it (yup...a long press instead of a 3D Touch. Way to go Apple ) and a menu will pop up allowing you to select 'New Tab' or 'Close X Tabs'.

I probably use 3DT more than most iPhone users and like many ways it can be used (cursor navigation, clearing all notifications, fast app switching, quick preview of links/photos/etc in Messages, order online from Starbucks, to name a few) but even I find it's implementation often unintuitive or just lackluster in general. One area Apple promotes its use most is with quick actions from app icons on the home screen but where see this failing is that I have most of my apps withing folders, else I'd have endless pages of apps. If I have to touch a folder, then find the icon, I'm already a couple actions in and just don't see 3D Touch saving me time. In fact, because of Apple's archaic springboard system, I use a 3rd party app called Launcher to quick launch my most frequent apps/actions. I use the app's widget which gives me the ability to swipe down from anywhere on the phone to quickly launch apps/actions but while I could use 3DT to get a handful of shortcuts if I hunted down the app on a home screen, I can't use 3DT in the widget.

And as mentioned, Control Center is a logical location to have 3DT actions but Apple restrict it to only the bottom 4 icons on the first screen. Why on Earth not implement it for things like wifi, BT, audio output?

I used to defend 3DT against the classic argument of 'why not just implement a long press version instead?' as I thought 3DT added a valuable 3 layer after short press and long press. However, after seeing how Google implemented it just fine in Nougat on their device simply using long press, I think the technology needed for 3DT is now just a limiting factor in hardware development. We're only now getting OLED because as 3DT is implemented now, it requires a LCD display. And I'm guessing we don't have it on iPads yet because using the same technique is problematic on larger displays/devices. So instead of a uniform 'long press' solution across all iOS devices, we only see it on iPhone. And now, were going to see further fragmentation in iOS with this 'functional' area (I'm calling it an iPhone touchbar) only available able to a select few iPhone owners.

Sorry for the rant...didn't intend for it to be so long but whenever I think about this nonsense lately with Apple just gets my blood starting to boil.

 

[apolloa]

@apolloa, this must be a device/app/settings issue on your end because I don't have any such problem and I've been using Android and iOS for years. In fact, to test it, I just set up a recurring week long appointment on my Nexus 6P in the Google Calendar app, checked my iPhone 30 sec later and there it was in the iOS Calendar. I'm using the same Google account I've used for years, been using any number of calendar apps on both Android and iOS and don't have any additional 3rd party apps installed to make this happen.
[doublepost=1489264276][/doublepost]

Agree about the inconsistent implementation of 3DT. I also just wanted to share a little shortcut here to save you one step in opening a new tab while in Safari. Instead of touching the tabs icon at the bottom, long press it (yup...a long press instead of a 3D Touch. Way to go Apple ) and a menu will pop up allowing you to select 'New Tab' or 'Close X Tabs'.

I probably use 3DT more than most iPhone users and like many ways it can be used (cursor navigation, clearing all notifications, fast app switching, quick preview of links/photos/etc in Messages, order online from Starbucks, to name a few) but even I find it's implementation often unintuitive or just lackluster in general. One area Apple promotes its use most is with quick actions from app icons on the home screen but where see this failing is that I have most of my apps withing folders, else I'd have endless pages of apps. If I have to touch a folder, then find the icon, I'm already a couple actions in and just don't see 3D Touch saving me time. In fact, because of Apple's archaic springboard system, I use a 3rd party app called Launcher to quick launch my most frequent apps/actions. I use the app's widget which gives me the ability to swipe down from anywhere on the phone to quickly launch apps/actions but while I could use 3DT to get a handful of shortcuts if I hunted down the app on a home screen, I can't use 3DT in the widget.

And as mentioned, Control Center is a logical location to have 3DT actions but Apple restrict it to only the bottom 4 icons on the first screen. Why on Earth not implement it for things like wifi, BT, audio output?

I used to defend 3DT against the classic argument of 'why not just implement a long press version instead?' as I thought 3DT added a valuable 3 layer after short press and long press. However, after seeing how Google implemented it just fine in Nougat on their device simply using long press, I think the technology needed for 3DT is now just a limiting factor in hardware development. We're only now getting OLED because as 3DT is implemented now, it requires a LCD display. And I'm guessing we don't have it on iPads yet because using the same technique is problematic on larger displays/devices. So instead of a uniform 'long press' solution across all iOS devices, we only see it on iPhone. And now, were going to see further fragmentation in iOS with this 'functional' area (I'm calling it an iPhone touchbar) only available able to a select few iPhone owners.

Sorry for the rant...didn't intend for it to be so long but think about this nonsense lately with Apple just gets my blood starting to boil.

Nope, if I enter an entry into iOS it will sync, if I enter one into my Nexus 5 it will not sync to iOS.

 

[tbayrgs]

Nope, if I enter an entry into iOS it will sync, if I enter one into my Nexus 5 it will not sync to iOS.

Have you enabled the sync settings for iOS at Google Calendars? My regular calendars are enabled by default but whenever I subscribe to a new 3rd party calendar, or create a new Google Calendar, I have to check it on those sync settings before it shows up on iOS.

 

[I7guy]

@apolloa, this must be a device/app/settings issue on your end because I don't have any such problem and I've been using Android and iOS for years. In fact, to test it, I just set up a recurring week long appointment on my Nexus 6P in the Google Calendar app, checked my iPhone 30 sec later and there it was in the iOS Calendar. I'm using the same Google account I've used for years, been using any number of calendar apps on both Android and iOS and don't have any additional 3rd party apps installed to make this happen.
[doublepost=1489264276][/doublepost]

Agree about the inconsistent implementation of 3DT. I also just wanted to share a little shortcut here to save you one step in opening a new tab while in Safari. Instead of touching the tabs icon at the bottom, long press it (yup...a long press instead of a 3D Touch. Way to go Apple ) and a menu will pop up allowing you to select 'New Tab' or 'Close X Tabs'.

I probably use 3DT more than most iPhone users and like many ways it can be used (cursor navigation, clearing all notifications, fast app switching, quick preview of links/photos/etc in Messages, order online from Starbucks, to name a few) but even I find it's implementation often unintuitive or just lackluster in general. One area Apple promotes its use most is with quick actions from app icons on the home screen but where see this failing is that I have most of my apps withing folders, else I'd have endless pages of apps. If I have to touch a folder, then find the icon, I'm already a couple actions in and just don't see 3D Touch saving me time. In fact, because of Apple's archaic springboard system, I use a 3rd party app called Launcher to quick launch my most frequent apps/actions. I use the app's widget which gives me the ability to swipe down from anywhere on the phone to quickly launch apps/actions but while I could use 3DT to get a handful of shortcuts if I hunted down the app on a home screen, I can't use 3DT in the widget.

And as mentioned, Control Center is a logical location to have 3DT actions but Apple restrict it to only the bottom 4 icons on the first screen. Why on Earth not implement it for things like wifi, BT, audio output?

I used to defend 3DT against the classic argument of 'why not just implement a long press version instead?' as I thought 3DT added a valuable 3 layer after short press and long press. However, after seeing how Google implemented it just fine in Nougat on their device simply using long press, I think the technology needed for 3DT is now just a limiting factor in hardware development. We're only now getting OLED because as 3DT is implemented now, it requires a LCD display. And I'm guessing we don't have it on iPads yet because using the same technique is problematic on larger displays/devices. So instead of a uniform 'long press' solution across all iOS devices, we only see it on iPhone. And now, were going to see further fragmentation in iOS with this 'functional' area (I'm calling it an iPhone touchbar) only available able to a select few iPhone owners.

Sorry for the rant...didn't intend for it to be so long but think about this nonsense lately with Apple just gets my blood starting to boil.

Fragmentation has been part of the Apple landscape for while and now it seems on flagships. It is what it is.

 

[tbayrgs]

Fragmentation has been part of the Apple landscape for while and now it seems on flagships. It is what it is.

Yup, it is. And it's a part of the reason why this longtime Apple fan and is no longer as much of a fan.