Apple focuses on 3D Touch, Live Photos in latest iPhone 6s ads

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in iPhone edited February 2016
Apple on Wednesday released a pair of iPhone commercials touting the time-saving benefits of 3D Touch and the new Live Photos image format, two features exclusive to the company's latest generation iPhone 6s handsets.




The first 30-second spot, titled "Less Time," positions the company's force-sensing 3D Touch display technology as a time saver. Instead of opening and switching between apps, users can press firmly on compatible links and content to preview pictures, video, Web links and more.

In a series of quick cuts users are seen performing Quick Actions from the iOS home screen, Peek and Pop gestures on photos and video and app-specific content previews.

Apple continues to enlist the help of celebrities, with today's ad featuring a cameo from Aubrey Plaza, who is seen "peeking and popping" flight information.



Related to 3D Touch, at least on iPhone 6s, is Apple's new Live Photos image format, which the company's second ad says are "more than just photos." Introduced with iPhone 6s, the half-still, half-moving images capture brief snippets of audio and video for playback on iOS and Mac machines.



Along with its television ads, Apple is advertising iPhone's photo taking capabilities in the recently renewed "Shot on iPhone" billboard campaign. The company is also pushing iPhone as part of the Start something new initiative targeting digital creatives.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    el3v3ntyel3v3nty Posts: 20member
    Anyone see this as Apple expecting samsung's g7 launching with similar feature so public knows apple is the one who first came up with this tech? could be just me... considering there have been similarly themed 3d touch ads
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  • Reply 2 of 8
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    A friend of mine sent me some photos via iMessage recently from their new iPhone 6s+, and when I got the pictures, I noticed a small icon on them that I hadn't seen before, so when I held my finger on the photos, sure enough, they moved.

    I asked my friend, why are you sending me live photos? I actually asked, why are you sending me short videos, because I was pretty sure that my friend had no clue as to what live photos meant.

    They did indeed have no idea what I was talking about, so I showed my friend the live photos that they'd sent, and my friend was both shocked and surprised. I guess that live photos is enabled by default.
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  • Reply 3 of 8
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    el3v3nty said:
    Anyone see this as Apple expecting samsung's g7 launching with similar feature so public knows apple is the one who first came up with this tech? could be just me... considering there have been similarly themed 3d touch ads
    If its Samsung, it will half assed, like almost everything they do. But, yeah, probably reminding them how it's supposed to work before the piggybacker co tries to peddle their inferior wares under the same umbrella.
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  • Reply 4 of 8
    dreyfus2dreyfus2 Posts: 1,072member

    These are both nice features and quite well implemented. But honestly, having a 6s Plus since day one, I really do not use either of them. Sending Live Photos (with their substantial overhead) around, while only a few people will actually see them (the fraction of current device users even knowing about them) is a bit too much. And 3D Touch with its spotty support by third party apps and no visual indication whatsoever where it is supported... is something that I just stopped using after a few days - 90% of the time I pressed the screen nothing happened. And peeking into e.g. emails while the finger covers the screen is pretty much pointless - it is seeing as little as before, but with a vibration. This will eventually be useful down the line, but for now, as on the Watch and the newer Trackpads, it does mainly add to the confusion.
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  • Reply 5 of 8
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    The voiceover in these ads is terrible.

    Lake Bell comes off as smart-ass,, obnoxious and self-obsessed with her ugly vocal fry. But Apple is supposed to be upholding standards of good taste and user experience, in this case listener experience. They've even got the Aubrey Plaza character in the ad who redoubles the Kardashianese, the "I'm so urbane" raspy, petulant voice. 

    I hate to see Apple unthinkingly, maybe cynically, caving in to this speech fad. It's not going to last any more than the mindless dumb-blonde speech of movie gangster molls, the vacuous spaced-out speech of hippie acid heads, or the baby speech of Betty Boop flapper types. Lake Bells take note: you're going to sound very stupid in a few years. And completely exploited.
    edited February 2016
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  • Reply 6 of 8
    Mintzmintz Posts: 18member
    3D touch is nice - but as mentioned above, there's no visual indication of where 3D touch is available.
    It's like hunting for it.
    The worst is In-App 3D touch - there's absolutely no way to know where 3D touch is available and to remember that is another thing...

    I think Microsoft Windows visual cue of Dialog Box was ellipsis (...) and that always told the user that button or menu is going to launch dialog box.

    Similar to that affect, Apple should add some indicator - perhaps (single dot on top right) of every icon or menu that leads to 3D touch functionality

    edited February 2016
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  • Reply 7 of 8
    xmhillxxmhillx Posts: 112member
    I use 3D Touch all the time when on the home screen. I don't know why people wouldn't use it that way. Sure, within apps I haven't seen it be too useful (e.g. peek at a photo, peek at a link while you wait for it to load). But c'mon it's completely useful on the apps themselves. For example, I want to call someone and I 3d touch the phone icon and swipe to the contact; bam instant call. For safari, 3d touch to open a new window with the cursor and keyboard ready to go (as opposed to opening the app, opening a new window, touching the address bar to search). Same thing for searching App Store, which I do often enough. Music app. Messages app. For Ultimate Guitar Tabs app, it's got the search tab and most recent guitar tab from the 3d touch on home screen. A bunch of apps from the home screen have useful 3d touch links. I honestly don't understand why people haven't exploited them. From the comments above, it sounds like those people want the convenience within the app as opposed to from the home screen.
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  • Reply 8 of 8
    xmhillxxmhillx Posts: 112member
    Also, the use of 3D Touch on the home screen as shown in the commercial is ridiculous. The most efficient way is press to Touch 3D, swipe and release. The people in the commercial press, lift their finger, then touch. I'm surprised why they'd show the lift-and-touch on the commercial. They should exploit the most efficient way of using 3D touch. Drives me crazy... just like the Apple Pay demonstration videos on YouTube.
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