The 10 Best Smartphones
1 : OnePlus 3 review
OnePlus phones are spun out of viral marketing. Without all the social media posts and clickybaity claims, OnePlus would be nowhere.
As the result of a million bits of hyperbole compressed into a brick of phone, the OnePlus 3 should be rubbish. It should be annoying. It should be the ‘sponsored’ Facebook link you feel bad for clicking on. However, it’s not.
The OnePlus 3 is the best phone buy in the world right now, and deserves to be at the top of your list if you want a great smartphone, but can't quite afford those flagship prices. At £309, this phone deserves to cost Samsung and Apple at least a few million sales.
2 : Samsung Galaxy S7 review
The company that stuck a huge 10x zoom lens on the Galaxy S4, made seven Gear wearables in less than three years and paid Jay-Z US$5 million so that it could release his album for free? Well, those days are over.
The Galaxy S7 heralds the dawn of a new era. Welcome to the age of ‘sensible Samsung’, a smartphone maker of dependable excellence. Its latest flagship handset is the technological equivalent of a Steven Spielberg movie: the whole thing just oozes with quality.
Granted, this is not the most exciting gadget of 2016. Compared to LG’s G5, the S7 barely registers on the Richter scale of smartphone innovation. It looks almost identical to last year’s Galaxy S6, but has a better camera and has brought back the Galaxy S5’s water-resistance and microSD card slot.
If this all seems a bit boring to you, then fair enough. The S7 doesn’t offer an alternative take on Apple’s pressure-sensitive 3D Touch tech or the ability to upgrade your phone with modular wizardry. This smartphone is single-minded in its pursuit of simplicity, and it’s this lack of bloat or overreach that serves it so well.
I can’t tell you to get the Galaxy S7 because it features a revolutionary new gimmick. Remember, this is a different kind of Samsung we’re dealing with. You should get the Galaxy S7 because it’s the best smartphone you can buy.
The company that stuck a huge 10x zoom lens on the Galaxy S4, made seven Gear wearables in less than three years and paid Jay-Z US$5 million so that it could release his album for free? Well, those days are over.
The Galaxy S7 heralds the dawn of a new era. Welcome to the age of ‘sensible Samsung’, a smartphone maker of dependable excellence. Its latest flagship handset is the technological equivalent of a Steven Spielberg movie: the whole thing just oozes with quality.
Granted, this is not the most exciting gadget of 2016. Compared to LG’s G5, the S7 barely registers on the Richter scale of smartphone innovation. It looks almost identical to last year’s Galaxy S6, but has a better camera and has brought back the Galaxy S5’s water-resistance and microSD card slot.
If this all seems a bit boring to you, then fair enough. The S7 doesn’t offer an alternative take on Apple’s pressure-sensitive 3D Touch tech or the ability to upgrade your phone with modular wizardry. This smartphone is single-minded in its pursuit of simplicity, and it’s this lack of bloat or overreach that serves it so well.
I can’t tell you to get the Galaxy S7 because it features a revolutionary new gimmick. Remember, this is a different kind of Samsung we’re dealing with. You should get the Galaxy S7 because it’s the best smartphone you can buy.
THE SECRET TO S6
There’s no denying that the S7 is a dead ringer for its predecessor. There’s a good reason for this though, and it’s not just because Samsung wants to riff off the iPhone 6 for a second year running. Well, maybe there’s a little bit of that, but the main thing is that people know what the Galaxy S6 looks like and they approve.
In an impromptu ‘best smartphone design’ poll of the Stuff office the S7 and S7 Edgetrumped the competition by a landslide. Compared to the current faceless swathe of all-metal phones, its Gorilla Glass and aluminium alloy aesthetic stands out for being something different. For what it’s worth I reckon the iPhone 6s is a more handsome handset, but not by much. Either way, familiarity is a good thing for the S7.
Technically, this new Galaxy is 14g heavier and 1.1mm thicker than the old S6. You won’t notice this added heft when holding the thing though, and that’s what’s important.
Aside from the lack of silver edging round its home button, the S7’s most noticeable design tweak relates to its camera bump... or lack of one. Samsung’s shaved it right down so the phone now lays flat – a change that anyone with minor OCD will adore. So if you already appreciated the S6, Samsung’s conservatism means you’re gonna adore the S7 even more. Smart move, right?
There’s no denying that the S7 is a dead ringer for its predecessor. There’s a good reason for this though, and it’s not just because Samsung wants to riff off the iPhone 6 for a second year running. Well, maybe there’s a little bit of that, but the main thing is that people know what the Galaxy S6 looks like and they approve.
In an impromptu ‘best smartphone design’ poll of the Stuff office the S7 and S7 Edgetrumped the competition by a landslide. Compared to the current faceless swathe of all-metal phones, its Gorilla Glass and aluminium alloy aesthetic stands out for being something different. For what it’s worth I reckon the iPhone 6s is a more handsome handset, but not by much. Either way, familiarity is a good thing for the S7.
Technically, this new Galaxy is 14g heavier and 1.1mm thicker than the old S6. You won’t notice this added heft when holding the thing though, and that’s what’s important.
Aside from the lack of silver edging round its home button, the S7’s most noticeable design tweak relates to its camera bump... or lack of one. Samsung’s shaved it right down so the phone now lays flat – a change that anyone with minor OCD will adore. So if you already appreciated the S6, Samsung’s conservatism means you’re gonna adore the S7 even more. Smart move, right?
3 : Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge review
Samsung’s Galaxy S6 Edge was a masterclass in desirability. What did its curved screen do? Not a lot. How much extra would you have to pay for it? Around £100 on contract. Did we want one? Absolutely.
The same goes for Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge. As the successor to our Gadget Of The Year 2015, its core concept remains unchanged: it’s basically the Galaxy S7 for really, really, ridiculously good looking people. Sure, there’s more to life than aesthetics but not much more.
To that end, the S7 Edge is bigger and bolder than ever before. It takes the best smartphone you can buy and dolls it up that bit extra. This flagship Galaxy is rocking a larger screen and battery than its cheaper cousin, and you can do even more with its audacious curves.
If you’ve got the cash to burn, then this Samsung is a smartphone worth flaunting.
LESS BONO, MORE EDGE
Last year’s S6 Edge suffered a little from sidekick syndrome. It was the Givenchy-clad Chewbacca to the S6’s populist Han Solo.
That’s why the S7 Edge is more of its own beast this time around. For starters, it’s got a 5.5-inch display compared to the S6 Edge’s 5.1in version, which lends the handset a greater feeling of luxury. Whether you’re slumping into a late-night Netflix session or browsing the Forbes Billionaires List, this phablet-sized touchscreen lures in your eyes like a retina-attracting magnet.
It’s got the same 1440x2560 pixels resolution as the standard Galaxy S7, which technically means fewer pixels per inch – you get a ‘mere’ 534 ppi compared to 577 ppi. Unless you’re obsessed with screen fidelity, you’re unlikely to notice the difference: La Liga YouTube highlights of Getafe vs Sevilla looked impressively bright and detailed, while text on this website is sharp and easy to read.
If you prefer your colours on the ‘natural’, then the S7’s thirst for vivid shades may be off-putting – so it’s worth switching between ‘Basic’ and ‘Adaptive display’ screen modes in the phone’s settings.
4 : HTC 10 review
Everyone loves a comeback. Whether it’s the story of Leicester City or Star Wars after George Lucas, there’s something undeniable about a triumph against adversity.
Apply this theory to HTC and, on first glance, it’s not quite so rousing. For starters, this is a multibillion pound company we’re talking about. More importantly, the smartphone manufacturer is in a hole of entirely its own making. Last year’s One M9 fell some way behind the flagship pace thanks to a shonky camera, while its One A9 cousin was a cynical attempt to ape the iPhone 6’s design.
It’s at this point in any self-respecting blockbuster that a hero arrives to save the day. So here it is: the HTC 10. Far from being draped in Lycra, bulging muscles and a bleach-white grin, this handset is as unassuming as you could expect for something priced just shy of £600.
You see the HTC 10 is a phone without a central innovation – or gimmick, depending on your point of view. That means it lacks waterproofing, an always-on display, a wide-angle camera, 3D Touch-like screen technology and any kind of concessions to modular build. Name a recent trick from the Samsung Galaxy S7, LG G5 or iPhone 6s and the chances are this competing device doesn’t offer an equivalent.
Nevertheless, it’s still a great smartphone. Combining thoughtful design with a top all-round performance, the HTC 10 shows what’s possible when you polish your tech fundamentals until they gleam. Don’t call it a comeb… Oh, go on then.
HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION
Everything that’s good about the HTC 10 starts with its design. Blending the single laudable feature of last year’s One A9 - namely a ridiculously quick fingerprint scanner - with a refined iteration of the aluminium unibody design HTC been pedalling since the original HTC One, this phone is genuinely enjoyable to hold. Weighing 161g and with a max thickness of 9mm, it’s noticeably more chunky than most flagship smartphones, but this added heft really plays to its advantage.
The HTC 10’s chamfered edges neatly glide between your fingers, making it easy to get a firm grip on the handset, while its heaviness next to a device such as the iPhone 6s means you never feel as though it’s about to be blown out of your hand by a stray gust of wind. Few manufacturers have managed to create a big, desirable blower, so the HTC 10 ranks as a welcome alternative to the usual super-thin fare from Apple, Huawei and the like.
As for that fingerprint scanner, it really is slick. Lay a digit on it and you’ll unlock the 10 in an instant. Unlike Apple’s Touch ID and the majority of phones with fingerprint tech, the scanner doesn’t require you to press down a button to activate your phone.
Nope, HTC’s effort is slapped right beneath the 10’s touchscreen for maximum utility and it works straight off the bat. That’s the kind of phone we’re dealing with here. One that prizes practicality above all else.
5 : Apple iPhone 6s review
The iPhone 6s is the Sir Alex Ferguson of smartphones. It is Superman once the world’s been purged of kryptonite. It is a kebab you drunkenly ordered at 3am.
In other words: it is a surefire winner.
For Apple’s latest handset to not shift by the bucketload, Tim Cook would have had to have pledged allegiance to ISIS while unveiling it two weeks ago. The iPhone 6 was the world’s best-selling smartphone. As was the iPhone 5s.
So why innovate with the 6s? Apple doesn’t need to push smartphone tech forwards to make an obscene amount of money.
And yet Apple claims it has innovated, adding 3D Touch, a new 12-megapixel camera and the faster than ever A9 processor to what is already a supremely capable phone. With the iPhone 6s, Jony Ive and co say they’ve finessed every aspect of an already great product. Not sat on their laurels or chased the bandwagon in a never-ending specs war.
On first glance, the 6s looks near-on identical to its predecessor. On every glance, in fact, little seems to have changed from the iPhone 6. Even when you get right up close and even inside its svelte aluminium casing you’ll find a screen with the same resolution and as little as 16GB internal storage.
Where does the truth lie? We’ve got the answer.
IT’S JUST, AH! A 3D TOUCH, AH!
Let's get straight into it, the headline feature - 3D Touch. Practically every tweak that's been made has been so with the aim of cramming in the pressure-sensing tech.
3D Touch, or Force Touch as it's been previously known on the MacBook and Apple Watch, works by sensing extra pressure on the screen to activate extra features. And it rewards you with haptic feedback, so you receive helpful vibrations under your thumb or finger as the phone registers the increased force. The feature has evolved to become more than just the fancy right click it is on the new MacBook, too. It completely changes the way you interact with your phone by giving you options where you didn’t previously have any.
Take snapping a selfie, for example. Where previously you needed to tap two different icons with intermittent loading times, this action has now been shortened to one firm press of the Photo app icon. Then you can leap right into triggering the shot. Instagram obsessives, rejoice!
3D Touch also has some supremely convenient uses with other native apps - the ones Apple makes itself. You can can jump directly into a new email in Mail and open a new tab straightaway in Safari - shaving seconds off your smartphone navigation. That may seem small change in writing, but over the course of the months and years you may spend in the iPhone 6s' company it will equate to a snappier, more satisfying user experience.
In addition to skipping straight into everyday tasks, 3D Touch also offers up the ability to preview messages and emails, and even links within them. All you have to do is press down on them to read, and should you need to take further action, apply a little more pressure and you get transported into the task itself.
Apple terms the first glance as Peek and the full open as Pop, and they’re a prime example of what the iPhone 6s is all about: subtle changes that you have to feel for yourself. And unless you’ve somehow managed to get hold of a limited edition 128GB Huawei Mate S, you won’t find these features in any Android phone.
3D Touch is a typically Apple innovation then, right up to how you customise it: you can’t.
Even if you take Time-Lapse videos more often than you do Slow-Mo, the 3D Touch shortcut choice has been made for you.
Potentially, this feature will be even better when third-party app functionality kicks in. Imagine applying pressure in Real Racing 3 to speed up, just like you would gun the accelerator in real life.
6 : LG G5 review
Smartphones are enjoying a mid-life crisis at the moment: the trouble is they’re all too good.
If anyone can walk into a phone store and pick up a fantastic handset at random, then how is one device meant to stand out above the fray? Sure, you can make a better phone than last year’s model with the best screen, the most powerful processor and the longest battery life, but that’s all a bit boring. Isn’t it? Splashing out on a second-hand Porsche never cured male-pattern baldness and jazzing up a camera sensor won’t fundamentally change how a smartphone looks or works.
That’s why LG’s G5 has undergone a full-on metaphorical hair transplant. Compared to its chief rival – Samsung’s Galaxy S7 – the G5 is pretty much identical on first impressions. Both devices can make calls, send texts and indulge your narcissism via the magic of social media.
Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find the two devices are radically different. That’s because LG’s new flagship phone is modular, allowing you to swap out its parts for improved ones, such as a bigger battery, physical camera controls and Bang & Olufsen audio tech. Now that’s what we call innovation.
So much so that it’s easy to get carried away with what the G5 is capable of: the ability to customise a phone so that it’s even more suited to you. Amazing stuff, but what about the here and now? All that tech wizardry counts for nothing if the G5 isn’t much cop to start off with. No pressure then. We’re only talking about reinventing the smartphone as we know it.
PULL UP TO THE BUMPER
Considering its revolutionary potential, the LG G5 is a thoroughly unassuming phone. In a world stuffed full of aluminium unibody handsets, the LG G5 is simply another aluminium unibody handset. One that’s lacking the ‘wow factor’ of Samsung’s bourgeois glass and metal offerings.
If it weren’t for its dual camera sensor, the G5 could easily pass for last year’s Nexus 6P in an identity parade. Both phones have svelte backsides with a quick-sharp fingerprint scanner – even when you’ve got wet fingers – slapped in the middle of them. Sure, the LG’s scanner also passes for a power button, but you get the drift.
There's really nothing wrong with it looks-wise, but it's also fair to say that aesthetics aren't the G5's biggest selling point. After all, its greatest design feature is a button that’ll allow you to rip out its bottom.
Seriously: press down on its lower left-hand edge and you’ll be able to detach the handset’s rear end from its display. Why? So you can lock in LG’s new modular widgets, of course. Until you own one of these gizmos, this mechanism mainly serves as both a crumb magnet and the thing that makes the G5 impossible to waterproof. You see, there’s a very slight gap between the phone’s posterior and the rest of its body that’s prone to collecting any debris you happen to be carrying in your pockets.
Don’t panic - there’s little chance of actually damaging your G5 like this unless you use it in an apocalyptic downpour, and once you get the phone in your hand you’ll be reassured of its quality. At 159g this handset is as light as you’d want it to be, while its curved back is a delight to clasp on to. The G5 sits impeccably well between your fingers and with a thickness of 7.7 mm, it’s ever so slightly thinner than the Samsung Galaxy S7.
So, while the G5 may not exactly be a stunner, I’d happily sign up to live with it for two years. And compared to the LG G4’s cheap leather look, it’s pretty much the Mona Lisa.
7 : Google Nexus 6P review
Android isn’t an elitist system. But it still has a pure-breed strain. We’re talking about the Nexus family, the official ambassadors of Google’s mobile republic. Phones like the Nexus 6P aren’t made in Google labs by Google robots, though.
The Nexus 6P is made by Huawei, which has clawed its way up from making budget phones, often for other companies, to produce this. And it is one of the lead Android phones, regardless of brand.
After the Nexus 6, which not everyone loves, the Nexus 6P sees the series get back on track. Starting at £449 it’s a bit cheaper than the ‘intended’ prices of the other flagships, and really aces a lot of phone side attractions as well as the main events, like the speakers, battery, fingerprint scanner and selfie camera.
It’s one of the best all-round phones money can buy.
THE COOL, HARD STUFF
Huawei used to make pretty awkward-looking phones. Like a teenage boy trying to grow out his hair, there were some questionable moments in its design history. Before it starting coming up with stunners like the Mate S. The Nexus 6P is perhaps not quite as much a beauty as that phone, but it’s certainly smart-looking.
The Nexus 6P has a slim aluminium body and ours features a dark grey finish that takes the edge off the often-sparkly look of anodised aluminium. There’s a little raised lip at the top, a phone-wide bar covered by glass that makes the 6P appear a bit less of a stunner than something like the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. However, we’ll take it. It lets the rest of the body stay a trim 7.3mm thick.
Phones don’t get points just for being slim, but a giant-screen phone like this needs to lose bulk wherever it can. One of the big problems with the original Nexus 6 is that the thing just feels huge.
By slimming down the frame and reducing the screen size a bit, the Nexus 6P is far more manageable. I found its size makes both hands gravitate towards the screen rather than just the one, but it’s not the thumb workout the Nexus 6 is. It’s more a Samsung Galaxy Note 5-a-like. You’ll need to treat it pretty nice, though. After accidentally keeping it in a pocket with my keys for about 45 seconds, it had already scraped off some of the outer dark finish. Oops.
This is just the nature of dark-coloured aluminium devices, though. So if you don’t fancy treating your Nexus 6P like a newborn you might want to consider the lighter silver and Frost white versions. All three look great.
8 : Lenovo Moto G4 review
We’re bored of recommending the Moto G. It feels like we’ve been doing so for years because, well, we have. You don’t come across as much of a phone expert when you blab on about the same phone to everyone, for ever.
The Moto G4 seemed like a good place for Motorola to jump the shark. Motorola has been bought by Lenovo, the phone’s way bigger and the design substantially altered.
Don’t wait for the drum roll, though, because the Moto G4 is still infuriatingly value-packed. It’s a brilliant phone, and an easy pick for anyone looking to spend under £200.
As long as you don’t want a tiny mobile, anyway.
THE BIG AND BEAUTIFUL
The Moto G phones’ designs have always come across better in person than they do on paper. They’re all pretty thick, chunky things, but their palm-hugging curves make that a non-issue.
Motorola couldn’t afford to try the same trick here though. Thanks to its 5.5in screen the Moto G4 is a flat-out big phone. To compensate, the classic Moto curve on the rear has been flattened, making the phone 9.8mm thick rather than 11.6mm. It’s no waif, but if it hadn’t trimmed down it’d feel like holding a baby hippo. Sort of.
Design standards have been tweaked too. It’s not made of aluminium and unicorn tears, but there’s now a metal-effect trim around the camera and the style of the back cover has been switched from pretty plain plastic to a plastic with a cross-hatched rubberised texture. Like chocolate with salt in it, not everyone’s going to like it from the off, but most will in the end.
That said, there’s one bit I’m not 100 percent sure about: the fake bling. The 'metal' band around the sides of the G4 is actually plastic. In the old Moto G the plastic bits looked like plastic and the metal bits like metal. I liked that. But it does look a bit better.
9 : Vodafone Smart Prime 7 review
Who makes the best cheap phones?
Those in the know might talk about the Moto G dynasty, but our favourite budget phone of the past 12 months was the Vodafone Smart Prime 6, a handset that gave you a wheelbarrow’s worth of phone for just a handful of notes.
All too often a company goes and blows it with their ‘difficult second album’ phone, cashing in their cred to earn a few extra quid at our expense. But the Vodafone Smart Prime 7 is yet another cheapo smash. While it could be a lick faster, this is by a large margin the sweetest £75 phone you’ll find on the high street right now.
A BUDGET MAKEOVER
Last year I took a look at a couple of last-wave Vodafone cheap-a-phones, the Smart Ultraand the Smart Prime 6. Both are great, but they aren’t half bland.
A few buyers must have let Vodafone know too, because despite being cheaper than either of those, the Vodafone Smart Prime 7 looks and feels fancier this time around. There’s no magic to this. The phone still uses a pull-off plastic cover, but it now has an almost carbon-fibre-like textured finish rather than an ultra-plain plastic one.
This little tweak turns this from what might be an obvious no-frills phone into one you could easily mistake for a mid-ranger from one of the big names. It’s slim, it’s light and it’s not at all bad-looking.
There’s more to the design upgrade than just the cover, though. Vodafone also wants the Prime 7 to look good on close inspection. Check out the little camera lens ring, for example: it’s real metal. Real metal! On a £75 phone! Is that a flock of pigs I spy overhead?
The extreme edge of the screen is ever-so-slightly curved too, and the screen surround does a pretty good job of convincing you that it curves around smoothly into the sides. There are seams and contours on the Prime 7, but not a single hard edge in sight. Vodafone has new moves, and I like them.
The Smart Prime 7 also has light-up soft keys. You got these in the Prime 6, too, but they’ve been trimmed down a bit to look less like they belong on a toy for 1-3 year olds. Rarely does it seem quite as much like a phone maker has actually read all the criticisms of its phones, and then put the needed fixes in place.
10 : Apple iPhone SE review
The iPhone SE is an apology in the shape of a smartphone.
Remember the iPhone 5c? Apple’s first ‘cheap’ handset was as close as it’s ever come to a dud. Well, in the last decade at least. Too expensive for the folks it was aimed at and too underpowered compared to any other handset at the same price, the 5c never really caught on and was effectively nixed within a year of its launch.
So here’s the SE, Apple’s second crack at the ‘affordable smartphone’ whip. And do you know what? It’s an absolute banger.
The cheapest iPhone ever made packs pretty much all the power of the iPhone 6s into the 4-inch aluminium shell of the iPhone 5s. Get ahold of the thing and it feels like value for money, rather than a step backwards for 5s owners who just wanted to stick with a smaller handset.
For a phone of such slight stature, the SE is uncompromisingly current.
RETRO CHIC
Just like Donald Trump, I’m afflicted by small hands syndrome. This means the 4in iPhone 5s has always been the perfect size for me. Moving up to the new 4.7-in iPhone 6s meant learning to stretch my thumb in new opposable directions.
And as for the 5.5in 6s Plus? I can’t hold that thing one-handed without suffering from a near-constant anxiety attack. Sure, I might not be tall but it’s still a long way to travel from my digits to the pavement.
Having become accustomed to the more portly iPhone 6s, I kind of expected using the SE to feel like a step backwards. That using it would force my muscle memory to take a time warp into the past. Thankfully, my hands took to it as naturally as Mr Trump does to douchebaggery.
Returning to the power button at the top took a little bit of mental recalibration, but I’ve always preferred that placement: it makes your phone that little bit more secure to grasp on to.
At just 113g in weight, the iPhone SE barely registers in my hand either. I can nimbly flip the phone into landscape mode to take a photo, then revert back to answering a message without missing a beat, all with one hand. That’s something I’ve really missed since big iPhones became a thing.
SE NO EVIL?
Thankfully, dropping down to the iPhone SE doesn’t condemn you to a loss in screen quality. Remember, it’s only been two years since 4in handsets were the norm for most iOS fans. The SE retains the 326ppi of the iPhone 6s’ Retina display, so reading emails and text onscreen is no trouble at all. Despite my myopic vision.
Don’t ache for the days before ‘phablet’ was a word? Then the SE probably isn’t your bag. It’s an acquired taste, like caviar, liquorice and Michael Bay movies. Hopping from the iPhone 6s to its diddy cousin is a drag when you’re used to luxuriating in that extra display real estate.
The sheer quantity of video we watch nowadays means having a bigger iPhone to hand makes for a significantly more immersive viewing experience. Even if you are just hoovering through episodes of Rick and Morty on your morning commute.
For anyone who likes the idea of an iPhone that’ll easily squeak into a jeans pocket, then the SE will prove a perfect fit. Apple’s displays have always offered magnificent amounts of detail and contrast, and that’s certainly the case here. Footage from Dark Souls III looked suitably austere and gruesome, while the LEGO Batman Movie trailer was bristling with colour and levity.
Compare to the glossy, saturated tones you get from many Android phones, the iPhone SE offers a more natural take on screen tech. Personally, that’s my preference, but there’s certainly a place in the world for brash Samsung and LG displays too.
PROTECT PHONE IN STYLE
INVISIBLE TOUCH
Surprisingly, what I’ve missed about swapping from the 6s to SE is 3D Touch. You know, the pressure-sensitive tech that allows you to preview photos and web pages, and (effectively) right-click on app icons for a list of shortcuts.
That’s useful stuff in its own right, but hardly essential: in the words of one Stuff staffer, “I only use 3D Touch by accident.”
Where it really comes in handy, though, is when you use it to transform your iPhone’s keyboard into a trackpad. It’s especially useful if you make a lot of typos, and my return to a 4in screen and its cramped keyboard has caused dozens of these. I’ve been inviting my friends to “gang out” instead of “hang out” and talked unnecessarily about “fates” instead of “dates”.
A lack of 3D Touch has meant jabbing at the same spot on the iPhone SE three times in a row and still missing the point. Apple has clearly deemed 3D Touch to be a ‘premium feature’, which is why it’s only available on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus for now, at least. But I’m not convinced this is a great strategy.
For its keyboard skills alone, 3D Touch would sit right at home on a smaller iPhone and get more people interacting with it.
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