Could Samsung or maybe another Android manufacturer bring something like Apple’s 3D Touch to its smartphones?

[Nineshadow]

The latest iPhones have been making headlines everywhere since their announcement last month, and Apple’s new 3D Touch feature is being singled out as one of the best things about the devices. Earlier this week, Synaptics announced that it was working on a similar technology called ClearForce, which will enable a smartphone to offer various functionality based on the force applied on the display. Synaptics said that it is working with leading OEMs for sampling ClearForce, and it’s possible we will see something 3D Touch on Samsung’s future smartphones.

Synaptics and Samsung have a history of working closely on new technologies, such as the touch-based fingerprint sensor that debuted on the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge. 3D Touch – or Force Touch as it was initially called – is being heralded as an intuitive method of smartphone interaction (though the consumers will decide how intuitive it really is), and we all know Samsung has never been shy of taking popular elements of its biggest competitor for its own smartphones.

Apple isn’t exactly the first to think of this technology; OEMs were working on fingerprint sensors before Apple introduced them on the iPhones and made them popular, and it’s clear that Synaptics’ version of 3D Touch has been in the works for some time. Samsung was forced to wait for more than a year before it was able to bring touch-based fingerprint scanners to the Galaxy line, and the Korean giant probably wouldn’t want to wait as long with ClearForce.

What do you think? Could the Galaxy S7 or other future Samsung phones feature displays with support for ClearForce?

 

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Ah Synaptics. Let's see how your ClearForce will come about.

Here's a picture I found :

[Glenwing]

Was anyone expecting Samsung NOT to copy-paste a new Apple feature onto their own phones?

[Prysin]

Was anyone expecting Samsung NOT to copy-paste a new Apple feature onto their own phones?

Was anyone expecting thist NOT being in the pipeline of every other company at the same time?

[Nineshadow]

Was anyone expecting Samsung NOT to copy-paste a new Apple feature onto their own phones?

It's not exactly Samsung though... Synaptics are making it, and they could have been working on it before Apple did.

[Mr_Troll]

i dont need 3D touch in my life tbh.... kinda useless for me...

[carolkarine]

Uhhh, Huawei already has (badly, but it's in the Mate S iirc)

[vanished]

Could someone explain all the hype about this?  So it's pressure sensitive and the harder press does a different action than the light tap... how is that really any different than androids "press and hold" for what is basically a right click?

[Snickerzz]

Was anyone expecting Samsung NOT to copy-paste a new Apple feature onto their own phones?

if something is done correctly, why wouldn't you make your own version?

[vanished]

if something is done correctly, why wouldn't you make your own version?

patent war

[Alurit]

i dont need 3D touch in my life tbh.... kinda useless for me...

How is right click useless? well on a phone that is designed in a way so it is not necessary, but it does make doing things faster if you are used to it

[Mr_Troll]

How is right click useless? well on a phone that is designed in a way so it is not necessary, but it does make doing things faster if you are used to it

it probably makes the phone more expensive... and if that is the case... i dont want it... can live without it

[Castdeath97]

it probably makes the phone more expensive... and if that is the case... i dont want it... can live without it

I don't think it's a very expensive technology, Apple had no trouble putting it and still getting significant margins at the same price.

[Mr_Troll]

I don't think it's a very expensive technology, Apple had no trouble putting it and still getting significant margins at the same price.

base model of the Iphone 6s cost almost 800 euros where i live.... f u c k that price... the phone itself cost probably only 350... the apple logo cost another 450... it seems to me..... can get similar device for way cheaper... better specs and everything....

[Castdeath97]

base model of the Iphone 6s cost almost 800 euros where i live.... f u c k that price... the phone itself cost probably only 350... the apple logo cost another 500... it seems to me..... can get similar device for way cheaper... better specs and everything....

That's what everybody is doing by the way, even Samsung to some extent. Samsung phones cost as much as their equivalent iPhones where I live. Only motorola is trying to cut their margins thin.

[Nineshadow]

That's what everybody is doing by the way, even Samsung to some extent. Samsung phones cost as much as their equivalent iPhones where I live. Only motorola is trying to cut their margins thin.

And LG

[Bsmith]

I'm wondering if it also gives that smooth, satisfying vibration when pressing

 

ohh....

 

nevermind, that's force touch.

 

Will see how this packs out, should be good if OEMS like samshit implent it properly.

[DaRk0]

Didn't Huawei release 3D touch capable phone like 1 week before Apple?

[jaggysnake57]

i dont need 3D touch in my life tbh.... kinda useless for me...

  

Oh the amount of times that I have said this.....i don't need a mechanical keyboard, I don't need a gaming mouse, don't knock it till you have tried it

Could someone explain all the hype about this?  So it's pressure sensitive and the harder press does a different action than the light tap... how is that really any different than androids "press and hold" for what is basically a right click?

It's more than just right click. A lot of its power will come from devs

[Doobeedoo]

Was anyone expecting Samsung NOT to copy-paste a new Apple feature onto their own phones?

"New Apple feature"

[s3ns3]

Could someone explain all the hype about this?

are you kidding its the next major improment since retina display. while others are fighting in the stupid specs race going with 1440p and 4k panels apple brings an actual usefull thing that changes how we interact with phones 

[Neemil]

Didn't Huawei release 3D touch capable phone like 1 week before Apple?

I remember they did but isn't only available in the Mate S luxury edition with the 128GB storage. I don't think force touch is really a necessity in the smartphone today just seems like another feature to use what is already precious battery life. Once a phone developer creates a new and improved battery technology then i'll be amazed.

[Marvzl1357]

Wait wait wait, has nobody turned on the "pointer location" option in developer options on android and noticed that there's a "prs" gauge?

Although that just measures the size of the contact object by surface area, it still works as a pressure sensor since pressing a soft object against a hard surface will make it squish more when more pressure is applied.

[Legion]

Didn't Huawei release 3D touch capable phone like 1 week before Apple?

 

be quiet you.. only Apple have original ideas.

[jrfox87]

I am confident Android manufacturers will add something like it in upcoming devices. It will not take off as quickly on Android though for obvious reasons.

[Builder]

Of course they'll try. The important question though is whether it won't be shit, the answer to which is no.

 

Apple spent four years developing 3D Touch, and it's harder than it sounds. It involves accelerometer data and gyroscopy as well to cancel out the effects of gravity at different angles. Furthermore, the force sensing isn't really the hard part. The hard part is the haptic feedback, which in the iPhones 6s is a large metal box inside the phone containing a linear actuator. The really hard part is designing the interaction model so that it makes sense and aids instead of impedes usage.