Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

This 3D Touch-style tech could mean Android phones will get pressure-sensitive screens

David Curry
By

Apple iPhone 3D touch
Jeffrey Van Camp/Digital Trends
Apple has popularized the use of variable pressure touch on a touchscreen smartphone with the iPhone 6S, and although Huawei has demonstrated something similar with the Mate S recently, Android fans aren’t able to enjoy the same tech at the moment. However, the announcement of ClearForce by interface experts Synaptics may change that.

ClearForce works similar to 3D Touch (known as Force Touch on the Apple Watch, at first) on the iPhone, it can sense different levels of pressure when touching the screen, and the phone can be programmed to react in different ways depending on the degree of force. Synaptics claims ClearForce will offer different interfaces for speed scrolling, zoom, gaming, and text or photo editing. The technology works with a finger or stylus, making it suitable for use on both smartphones and tablets.

Recommended Videos

On the iPhone, 3D Touch is used primarily as a pseudo right-click, letting the user open contextual menus and more control on mobile games. We suspect it’ll be used in a similar way on Android, though Google may need to approve the technology. Art is another area where ClearForce could provide deeper functionality, where varying pressure may affect the thickness of a drawn line. Apple demonstrated something like this with the Apple Pencil on the iPad Pro.

Related

Huawei’s pressure sensitive system on the Mate S was little more than a gimmick when we tried it out recently, but the company has calling for developers and even fans to submit ideas on how to use the tech in other ways, proving it intends to exploit the system further. Whether it’s Synaptics behind Huawei’s screen tech isn’t known.

Synaptics says it’s working with various manufacturers to bring ClearForce-enabled smartphones to the market by early 2016. They didn’t provide any names, but the technology crosses paths with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 launch, meaning we could see a few premium phones with both technologies inside.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
David Curry
David Curry
Former Digital Trends Contributor
David has been writing about technology for several years, following the latest trends and covering the largest events. He is…
Ceramic ink could let doctors 3D print bones directly into a patient’s body
ceramic ink 3d printed bones bioprinting australia 2

Scientists use a novel ink to 3D print ‘bone’ with living cells

The term 3D bioprinting refers to the use of 3D printing technology to fabricate biomedical parts that, eventually, could be used to create replacement organs or other body parts as required. While we’re not at that point just yet, a number of big advances have been made toward this dream over the past couple of decades.

Read more
Qualcomm’s long-awaited second-gen 3D Sonic fingerprint sensor is 50% faster
qualcomm 3d sonic sensor second generation ces 2021 2nd gen

Qualcomm wants to make its in-display fingerprint sensor a little bit more seamless. Its first-generation Sonic Sensor was introduced a few years ago, and at the time offered a decent experience -- but since then, has been overtaken in terms of speed and performance by competing optical sensors. Now, Qualcomm has finally launched a new, second-generation 3D Sonic sensor with big improvements.

The new sensor is 77% larger than Qualcomm's original 3D Sonic Sensor, measuring in at 8mm square, compared to the original's 4mm by 9mm. In other words, you'll be able to place your finger on a larger portion of the screen, making the overall experience a little more seamless.

Read more
Printable wood biopaste could be the sustainable future of 3D printing
Biopaste 3D printing

Researchers at Germany’s University of Freiburg may have found a way to make 3D printing a bit more environmentally friendly -- by printing with a new material best described as a wood-based biopaste. After all, who needs boring, unsustainable plastics when you’ve got an alternative that works impressively well, made out of wood biopolymers cellulose and lignin?

Marie-Pierre Laborie, the lead researcher on the project, told Digital Trends that creating the printable material is straightforward. “We put each component, a cellulose-based derivative and lignin, into [a] solution and blend the two … to form a sort of paste of high-solid content,” Laborie said. “At [a] particular solid content and composition, we retain the lyotropic liquid crystalline behavior of the cellulose derivative. This facilitates the processing of the paste. The paste then solidifies thanks to the stabilizing effect of the lignin upon 3D printing.”

Read more