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Google’s new “firm press” for Pixel phones is like Apple’s 3D touch… but with software rather than hardware

Google has a habit of using software to do things competitors do with hardware. Apple added support for bokeh-style portraits by introducing a second camera to its phones. Google let blur the background of photos using just a single camera thanks to software algorithms. The latest iteration? Google has basically cloned Apple’s 3D Touch feature. […]

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Android N preview 2 includes hints of Force Touch support and Virtual Reality mode

Google recently launched the second developer preview of Android N with support for the Vulcan graphics API, Unicode 9 emoji (with options for emoji that look like people rather than little yellow blobs), and launcher shortcuts. But there are also a number of thing in Android N Developer Preview 2 that Google didn’t officially call attention […]

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Who needs Force Touch when you’ve got a barometer?

Smartphone makers are starting to add pressure-sensitive touchscreens to their devices, allowing the phones to tell the difference between hard and soft presses. Apple calls this 3D Touch, while most others call it Force Touch. Either way, if you don’t have a phone with a Force Touch display, you can’t use Force Touch features, right? Maybe […]

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ZTE launches Axon mini smartphone with Force Touch display

Chinese phone maker ZTE launched the 5.5 inch Axon smartphone in July, offering high-end specs at a slightly less-than-high-end price. At around the same time, the company unveiled the 5.2 inch ZTE Axon mini, but up until now it hadn’t been widely available for purchase. Now ZTE has announced that the Axon mini will be available […]

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Synaptics launches force touch solution for smartphones

Synaptics is probably best known for making the touchpads found on laptops. But the company also develops touchscreen technology for notebooks, tablets and smartphones and one of the company’s latest touch controllers offers pressure-sensitive Force Touch capabilities. The new Synaptics 3700 Series touch controller is currently in mass production, and supports Synaptics ClearForce and SideTouch (edge […]

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Huawei Mate S is the first smartphone with a Force Touch screen

Huawei’s new flagship smartphone sports an octa-core processor, a 5.5 inch full HD display, 3GB of RAM, a 13MP rear amera, and a 2700 mAh battery. But those features would hardly be enough to make a phone stand out in 2015. Here’s what’s really special about the Huawei Mate S: It’s the first phone to […]

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Is “Force Touch” coming to smartphone screens?

Touchscreens changed the way people interact with their smartphones, largely replacing keyboards and direction pads with virtual keys and support for tap, swipe, and pinch gestures. Now a new type of touchscreen technology could be coming to smartphones: Force Touch. This would allow a phone to recognize how hard you’re pressing the screen, enabling different […]