Apple users aren’t so impressed with the iPhone’s new feature
3D Touch, the pressure-sensitive screen on the iPhone 6s, was pitched as the feature that would change the way we interact with our devices, TechInsider report.
But seven months later, even the Apple press, which is generally positive on Apple products, aren’t finding it to be the breakthrough feature they had hoped.
Writing for MacWorld, Jason Snell pointed out how 3D Touch actions are often redundant and don’t add much value beyond how we’ve been using the iPhone since the beginning:
…most of the time I don’t see any benefit to using 3D Touch to reveal content in apps over just tapping to reveal that content the usual way. It’s a solution to a problem we didn’t have. And this says a lot about the problem with the way Apple has deployed 3D Touch in iOS.
And John Gruber, one of the most prolific and pro-Apple writers out there, agreed with Snell’s take on the “Peek and Pop” feature of 3D Touch, which lets you preview content from a link in a pop-up window:
The gimmicky nature of peek/pop is alarming …It’s a demo feature, not a real feature, and I find that deeply worrisome.
A lot of this echoes what my colleague Dave Smith wrote a few months ago:
In theory, all of this sounds useful. Everyone loves shortcuts! But in practice, 3D Touch is only saving you one or two taps at best. It doesn’t do anything your phone can’t already do, it just does it a bit quicker.
There’s been more criticism of 3D Touch recently, but that should give you a good idea where we’re at.
Even though I’ve been using a 6s since the day it came out, I can’t find a good everyday use for it. Sometimes I’ll use the shortcut on the Phone app icon to call someone in my favorites list. Sometimes I’ll use the handy trackpad feature on the keyboard that lets you move the text cursor around. (That one is actually really great, and it should serve as a model for making 3D Touch more useful in the future.) But for the most part, I’ve ignored 3D Touch on my iPhone.
Seven months later, it’s clear now that a lot of people feel the same way. At a system-wide level, 3D Touch has never been as natural as tapping, swiping, or any of the other gestures we’re already used to. Part of that is because 3D Touch still isn’t ubiquitous across iOS. Some apps have it. Others don’t. Meanwhile, features like Peek and Pop feel redundant to a traditional tap or swipe.
When I tested the iPhone SE a few weeks ago, I didn’t realize it was missing 3D Touch at first. I started using it as my primary phone after six months with the 6s, and felt like nothing significant changed but the screen size. By the time I wrote my review, 3D Touch’s absence didn’t matter. I called the iPhone SE the best value of any smartphone out there because it had all the excellent high-end features you find in the 6s for $250 cheaper. 3D Touch didn’t even make my list of those features. A lot of other reviewers felt the same way.
0 Comments