iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S plus with iOS 9 and iOS 10 comes with the 3d touch technology. It is one of the most exciting feature that apple has launched in its latest models. However the update is possible only if supported by both hardware and software. So anybody thinking of jail breaking your iOS 8 to upgrade to iOS 9 is not going to help. The latest apple phones have pressure sensors which support the 3D touch. This is slightly similar to the apple watch which has pressure sensitive touch under the name “Force Touch”. However the watch has only two degrees of touch- a standard touch and a harder force tap. The 6s and 6s plus comes with three degrees of touch.
This opens the phone to many interesting interface features. Also the third party app developers will be launching updates for their applications. 3D feature will be available for default in all the mobiles and users can turn off the feature in the settings.
The hardware will sense the amount of pressure on your screen and acts accordingly.
Whatsapp in 3D
The widely used application for messaging is Whatsapp and the company has decided to bring in a lot of updates for the 3D platform. Since the beginning of 2016 the app has been flooding with updates like end-to-end encryption, free for life declaration by its owners and facebook integration.
Now the 3D interface seems to be the new rage apart from this the app is soon to get vide calling facilities.
Now the application lets users peek and pop videos, links and other information received in the chat. You can have a quick preview with a slight tap on the content.
Since the company is owned by facebook now the app also has rich inline link preview similar to the feature found in the facebook messenger.
But Whatsapp has the facility to not send rich preview which is absent on the FB messenger. The setting tab too has undergone changes with options that are better streamlined and have good visual aspects.
Other applications which support 3D technology
Waze- users can now hold on the app screen icon and begin the quick actions such as navigation to places and sharing current location.
Gasbuddy and fantastical also have launched their 3D enables apps
Other popular features in the iPhone
Calendar notifications
Calendar available in the lock screen can be used with 3D touch to view the location and address
Prioritization
While downloading more than one application the downloads can be prioritized by holding one of the apps and then selecting the prioritize option.
Uber
By using 3D touch the application will show where the driver is and then send a message.
Weather details
One can now peep into the weather details and check the present and future conditions.
Contacts
The phone application in the home screen now on pressing harder will give a small pop-up menu with some useful options. It contains the facility to call the contact which you dial up frequently and adding a new contact
Messages
When opening a messaging Application or FaceTime you can press hard to see a menu for the recently contacted friend.
The users can also what appears on the pop-up menu by pressing harder on the menu.
Camera
The cam application will come with a pop menu that will provide you with the option to go straight into selfies mode or video or slo-mo.
App store
The short-cut menu here will lead the user directly into the search option and similarly for the iBook option. Itunes doesn’t have the option at present built is just a matter of time the app will be getting it.
Maps
Apple maps have a short-cut menu which will straightly get you the route for home. This feature is not available for google maps application thus giving apple a minor advantage.
Peek and pop
This was discussed and explained elaboratedly in the launch of 6. This feature lets you preview the actual content before opening. For example you view the contents of mail, documents and webpages.
In mail when you give a slight touch the mail will show the preview of contents and you can just peek into it. Now having a firmer press will give pop the entire email.
It also gives the facility to preview one application contents without leaving another app.
This feature is very comfortable for people who multi-task with applications. That is when you are working on some other app and you receive an email for the address that you require you can just peek into the contents without actually opening them.
This also the same for web pages when you receive a link you do not need to open the entire content of the page rather you can just have a glance over the page.
The preview option will be made available to all apple applications and other apps too in the near future.
Keyboard
By pressing harder on the keyboard, the user can move into anywhere within the screen while the keys just grey out.
App switcher
By holding to the left hand side of the home screen or most of the other applications one can switch between the previous apps and the present app.
This slightly easier than double tapping the home button
One of the spaces where 3D can create lot of creativity is drawing apps
The users can now create art forms of various designs with the difference in the touch the give.
Imagine if you draw a line with less force you can automatically get a straight line and when you add more force a natural line that you draw. This would be more exciting on an iPad which is more naturally used by artists. However 3D is expected to take more time to be available on iPads.
Gaming
The gaming industry will have the biggest booms by bringing in multiple game controls without cluttering the game screen or the pace of the game.
AG drive at present offers pressure sensitive accelerator buttons which will give the users a normal speed for soft touch and higher speed for harder touch.
But developing applications for the sake of 3D will alienate themselves from other users so it will take time for developers to design two version for the same app.
Zoom view
For users with visual issues the iPhone can now get them the easier ways to zoom the icons which of course is not new to the iPhone but 3d will make it more easier and comfortable. The zoom feature should be activated on the phone in the settings menu.
A double tap will give you a zoomed in view of the screen any time.
Wall papers
The wallpapers are set to become livelier with various degrees of touch. So when you touch the fish swimming through you home screen you can play with by giving different degrees of pressure.
Conclusion
So all the new iPhone users will have something exciting to share with their friends.