How Apple made the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus ready for one-handed use
Rumors were confirmed on Tuesday when Apple launched the new iPhone lineup, with the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus landing squarely in "phablet" territory. But the company included some special user interface tweaks to make the added real estate manageable.
When Apple first moved away from the original 3.5-inch iPhone screen size with the iPhone 5's 4-inch display, the company made sure to keep the device narrow enough to facilitate one-handed use. Now, with 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch models set to release next week, sheer physics called for compromises, but with a bit of hardware and software modification, Apple was able to keep the larger iPhones fairly user friendly.
The most obvious tweak is a relocated sleep/wake button, which has moved from the top right of the device to the right-hand edge. By shifting the button further down the phone's body and closer to the user's thumb, it can be reached without forcing a change in grip.
As presented onstage by Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus also have special gesture support in iOS 8 called Reachability. Adding to the "swipe-left, swipe-right" gestures already available in iOS 7, Reachability's trick is a double-tap on the Touch ID-equipped home button, which drops the user interface down closer to the thumb.
As seen in AppleInsider's exclusive first look at the new iPhones, tapping -- not pressing -- twice on Touch ID pulls the active display area closer to a user's hand, allowing them to reach the top of webpage panes, icons and other graphical assets.
Apple's Touch ID fingerprint sensing technology incorporates a high-density pixel-based sensor, meaning it can be used for more than just reading biometrics. Movement, presses and taps can all be recognized by the home button, as is the case with Reachability.
Reachability is built into iOS 8, meaning the feature works with third-party apps just as well as it does Apple's own software.
In the same vein of adjusting for size, Apple has also included what it calls a "desktop scaler" to correctly render webpages and other on-screen content without requiring intervention from developers. Schiller showed off the handset's scaling capabilities by displaying an unoptimized The Wall Street Journal's webpage on the iPhone 5s, 6 and 6 Plus, which sized up well on each device.
When Apple first moved away from the original 3.5-inch iPhone screen size with the iPhone 5's 4-inch display, the company made sure to keep the device narrow enough to facilitate one-handed use. Now, with 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch models set to release next week, sheer physics called for compromises, but with a bit of hardware and software modification, Apple was able to keep the larger iPhones fairly user friendly.
The most obvious tweak is a relocated sleep/wake button, which has moved from the top right of the device to the right-hand edge. By shifting the button further down the phone's body and closer to the user's thumb, it can be reached without forcing a change in grip.
As presented onstage by Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus also have special gesture support in iOS 8 called Reachability. Adding to the "swipe-left, swipe-right" gestures already available in iOS 7, Reachability's trick is a double-tap on the Touch ID-equipped home button, which drops the user interface down closer to the thumb.
As seen in AppleInsider's exclusive first look at the new iPhones, tapping -- not pressing -- twice on Touch ID pulls the active display area closer to a user's hand, allowing them to reach the top of webpage panes, icons and other graphical assets.
Apple's Touch ID fingerprint sensing technology incorporates a high-density pixel-based sensor, meaning it can be used for more than just reading biometrics. Movement, presses and taps can all be recognized by the home button, as is the case with Reachability.
Reachability is built into iOS 8, meaning the feature works with third-party apps just as well as it does Apple's own software.
In the same vein of adjusting for size, Apple has also included what it calls a "desktop scaler" to correctly render webpages and other on-screen content without requiring intervention from developers. Schiller showed off the handset's scaling capabilities by displaying an unoptimized The Wall Street Journal's webpage on the iPhone 5s, 6 and 6 Plus, which sized up well on each device.
Comments
Where are all the complaints and people telling everyone how they know better than Apple and how because they don't like something or it doesn't work for them then Apple should not do it?
They are on a lunch brake.. paid trolling is tiring work man..
Thats not one handed use. Its stupid. I wish that they'd just maintained a 4 inch iPhone 6. Wouldn't have been tat hard and would have pleased a lot of people.
Nothing wrong with introducing a 4.7 and 5.5 iPhone, some people don't care about one handed use. However, there are still many who do.
One handed use was never that important for me. Whenever I watch videos or spend more than a few seconds to check weather, a score, or similar I always hold my 55 in landscape. Many apps now are landscape mode only and won't even work in portrait mode at all. This is especially true of games. I couldn't care less about one handed use. I am just so happy to finally have the iPhone I have been waiting for. 64GB iPhone 6 plus for me.
Well done Apple.
My guess is that next year, when the 5S is two years old and therefore in need of refreshing as the 4" representative in the line up, they will refresh it and maybe give it the same body design as these larger ones. You heard it here first; nobody will beat me to that prediction.
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My guess is that next year, when the 5S is two years old and therefore in need of refreshing as the 4" representative in the line up, they will refresh it and maybe give it the same body design as these larger ones. You heard it here first; nobody will beat me to that prediction.
I truly hope so... I was really just hoping for a spec bumped 5S this time around.
My guess is that next year, when the 5S is two years old and therefore in need of refreshing as the 4" representative in the line up, they will refresh it and maybe give it the same body design as these larger ones. You heard it here first; nobody will beat me to that prediction.
I got you beat by a few days.
http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/182024/alleged-iphone-6-nfc-chip-and-working-hardware-shown-in-latest-leaks/40#post_2586837
Why h hasn't Apple improved the facetime camera for selfies especially without that new screen?
It's basically the same as the 5C's.
Do you get paid double for telling the same lies in two different threads?
I guess I'll stick to my 4s.
Didin't see anything to make me get any newer version
Where are all the complaints and people telling everyone how they know better than Apple and how because they don't like something or it doesn't work for them then Apple should not do it?
They spent a LOT of time and energy posting on the New York Times website! One heroic guy who sees no use for cell phones and doesn't have one...is posting about the newest edition. Go figure!
Over the next year Apple will likely keep a close watch on what sizes sell where and in what volumes and offer whatever what even the market demands. If you see a 4" phone a year from now, you were right. .. and then it will certainly sport NFC as well.
For some reason Reachability sounds dirty.