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iPhone 6S New Feature: Force Touch

Posted by timothy on from the new-britney-spears-song dept.

New submitter WarJolt writes: Apple is adding Force Touch to their iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. I'm not sure if Force Touch enough to convince an Android user like myself to switch, but there are definitely some interesting possibilities for app developers. A challenge for App developers will be to make apps compatible with both Force Touch iPhones and non-force touch iPhones. (Here's the Bloomberg report Forbes draws from.)

6 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. What is it? by ArchieBunker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hey janitors that run this site, don't link to Wikipedia or anything to tell us what "force touch" is.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  2. Re:It has this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Well, I consider the ability to sideload/modify my device an important part of the contract when I buy it, so I don't understand why I should be happy to pay extra for the 'privilege'. I am not getting any additional security from this 'feature', just another hassle. And if you think that a random 'private detective' can't sideload shite on you iphone because it's an iphone, I have bad news for you - you're wrong, and it isn't all that hard or expensive. Thankfully, not even your wife would have cared where you went with that small dick of yours, so you're totally safe.

  3. Pointless gimmick by kuzb · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The order of the day seems to be trying to invent solutions for problems that don't exist.

    --
    BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
  4. Re:It has this. by phantomfive · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Yes. Not being able to own the device is the only reason I haven't bought an iPhone.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  5. Re:Congratulations Apple! by jo_ham · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You have finally realized that your touchscreen controller actually provides a pressure strength and are able to hype it up like it's revolutionary.

    Not even if we realize the limitations of pressure sensing of a standard capacitive controller and add additional sensors to make the detection less granular is this something new. I don't know how long Synaptics (touchpad manufacturer) have had their capacitive+force sensor combination available but it is at least two years, but even ignoring that the idea and implementation isn't anything new.

    Bah.

    Err, no.

    Apple's implementation of force touch on the Macbook Pro trackpad (where it is current used, not counting this rumour that it will be on the iPhone) uses a set of strain gauges to measure the applied pressure. It doesn't use the touchscreen controller.

    You might want to actually look up how it works before trying to score a "sick burn" (is that what the kids call it these days?) from your armchair quarterback position.

    I also don't see where Apple are hyping it up to make it seem like a revolution. They are advertising that the MBPr and MB have it, but I fail to see how their advertising materials claim it's revolutionary. Unless you think the term "whole new way to experience a trackpad" means that, and not "this trackpad works differently than the old ones due to the numerous new ways you can use it due to the force sensors"

    Apple is frequently guilty of hyperbole when it comes to advertising, but on the force touch it's pretty understated. Did you just assume they would claim it was a revolution that had never been seen before? Given that you don't understand how Apple's implementation works I have to assume you've done zero research on it. Google (a popular search engine) can tell you quite a lot about it if you're interested.

  6. Re:It has this. by thegarbz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How about we turn this around: Other than pirating commercial software or installing spyware, what do you lose by an inability to side-load without a jailbreak?

    Really? That is a question? Is that how far we've fallen down the dumb consumer hole?
    How about being able to create and share programs on phones without the blessing of some magical corporate entity, or without someone having to fork over money for a developers license?

    This isn't some pie in the sky ideal either. Writing programs and giving them to others is something people actually do. I was asked to write a simple program that did a few tasks for the local astronomy club and I happily obliged and gave people the resulting APK without getting on my knees and fellating some corporate 3rd party.

    I mean shit I expect a comment like yours from some mindless hipster drone, but this is Slashdot for fucks sake.