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iPhone SE

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Re: iPhone SE

#341
post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Phone companies copy the best features from each other. You didn't see apple implementing Samsung's "show your face to unlock your phone" feature because it was kinda slow and dumb. Likewise, I don't see any Android phones with 3D touch. Yet when front-facing cameras came out, EVERYONE jumped on that feature, now your phone is dead in the water without it. It was left to the history books the moment other manufacture…

To be fair, some apps have implemented '3d' touch on android which is basically just a glorified long press, so you can at least access the same kind of ux purely through software.

Pretty sure that UI feature predates 3d touch many years.

Re: iPhone SE

#342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although 3D touch is not widely supported (even by Apple's apps) the "trackpad" on the keyboard alone is worth it.

This is going a little off topic: But Microsoft's on-screen keyboard has the best trackpoint for doing that. Doesn't require 3D touch and works wonderfully. Looks like this: https://i.imgur.com/eX2bfHp.jpg The blue dot is always there, but the four way arrows only appear after you press it, and you can drag further away to move faster, or closer to move slower. It is one of these things that after you use it you wond…

Wow. I wish something like this was available on Windows 10 for tablets/convertibles.

Re: iPhone SE

#343
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't say 3D touch is entirely a bad feature. I agree with the argument that 3D touch features are usually hard to discover (took me a while to realize you could press the keyboard to get a "trackpad"). Some of the features you get from it are nice little quality-of-life things though, like quick app switching. It will be tough getting app developers to decide to implement 3D touch features when it isn't support…

> I wouldn't say 3D touch is entirely a bad feature. I agree with the argument that 3D touch features are usually hard to discover That doesn't make them bad -- just hard to discover. Once you find out about them, they are dead easy. Not all UIs have to be immediately apparent, UI design is also about teaching users new idioms. Pointing with a mouse was alien once too...

But that's kinda the thing; how do you end up finding out about them? Unlike buttons which appear on-screen, 3D touch interfaces aren't immediately visible and require special onboarding, which isn't always great even with conventional features.

Another example, a great feature in Google Maps on mobile is the ability to zoom with one hand. You double tap and drag (tap, tap-and-hold, drag), but I only figured this out because some blog talked about it. From what I can tell there are no instructions in the app that tell you about this feature, and I see this as being in the same vein as 3D touch. Sure it's great, but if people don't know about it or can't learn about it easily, they won't reap the benefits.

Re: iPhone SE

#344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's because Apple has realised 3D touch is bad and it's also a very expensive feature to add to a phone. The real question is if they will admit it was a misstep by removing it from their flagship model or just keep pretending and keep it in. Companies really hate admitting they were wrong so my bet is that they are stuck with it for the forseeable future.

Although 3D touch is not widely supported (even by Apple's apps) the "trackpad" on the keyboard alone is worth it.

It's great when it works, but it's a shame that it barely works. There is clearly some state machine with lots of states that don't let you activate the trackpad.

Re: iPhone SE

#345

Only Apple would launch a new phone that looked physically almost identical to one that has been out for two and a half years. Similar to keeping the design language of the MacBook family the same across generations of the product, it's a reaffirmation of Massimo Vignelli's famous quote "Styles come and go. Good design is a language, not a style."

I still kind of wish they'd bring back the iPhone 4 industrial design; as far as I'm concerned it was their high point. The 5/5S is a close second, though.

Re: iPhone SE

#346
post #285

WTF. €609 in Europe vs $499 in the US for the 64GB model. I will not let them get away with this pricing model. Keeping my trusted Nokia 2700 :)

US price is $499 for 64GB, but that's without tax. NL price is €588 inc 21% VAT.

Re: iPhone SE

#347

No 3D touch is a very odd fragmentation. You'd think they'd want to shore up their devices to be completely compatible with this across the spectrum to motivate developers to use it as a key part of their UX. Now when only X So your apps have to optionally use 3D Touch, Pencil, adaptive layout, fingerprint, and several other interactions that only cover fractions of their hardware line.

I haven't tried it, but this library claims to emulate 3D touch on non-3D touch devices by checking UITouch's majorRadius value.

https://github.com/marmelroy/PeekPop

Re: iPhone SE

#348
post #335
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See it go? I'd wait for the iPhone 7 event to see if 3D Touch is left to the history books.

As far as I'm aware, Apple has never removed hardware functionality on a future generation of that iOS device. I would expect the iPhone 7, 7S, 8, etc to all have 3D Touch. Now, whether they continue to integrate it into more places in the OS will remain to be seen.

except headphone jacks

Re: iPhone SE

#349

Why the exact same shape as the iPhone 5S? I feel like a significant reason people buy new iPhones is the idea that people will notice you have the newest model. With SE, it will just appear like you have an out of date iPhone 5. Why not round the edges like the iPhone 6?

The iPhone 5/5S was arguably their best industrial design (I prefer the look and feel of the 4, but the glass back posed a practical problem, as did the external antenna). It's very popular. I'm considering getting this to replace my 5S, because I really don't like the 6/6S design and size very much.

Re: iPhone SE

#350
I haven't looked at an iPhone in a while but doesn't the SE look a lot thicker than people would like in 2016? Is that because of bigger battery or Apple wanted to differentiate on thickness?

It's good to see they are making a $399 model available - but I am not sure it had to be this small and this thick. A 1080p 4.7" model would have been the sweet spot at this price point.

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