Google Pixel Phones Getting 3D Touch Too

Everyone copies everyone else. Let’s just get that out of the way. You know how the home button on the iPhone 7 doesn’t “click” anymore, so it’s not really a physical home button in the traditional sense? Plenty of Android phones have been doing that for a long time already. One feature that has been mostly unique to the iPhone and iOS thus far is 3D touch, using a pressure sensitive screen for contextual tasks. And it looks like the upcoming Google Pixel and Pixel XL will play that game too.

Expected to be unveiled on October 4th, the new Google Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones (which effectively kill the existing “Nexus” branding) could get a feature very similar to 3D touch. This way, as you swipe your way around your home screens, you can hold down the shortcut to Google Calendar to quickly add new event or press down harder on the Contacts app to add a new phone number.

What’s curious is there is currently no information indicating that the Pixel and Pixel XL are equipped with pressure-sensitive screens. Without that necessary hardware, the Android-ified implementation of 3D touch will have to be slightly different. We’re already expecting the new phones to come with Android 7.1, so if that ever rolls out to other Android phones, they could get it too.

This revelation came about when the folks at Android Police started digging around the new code from Google apps. A number of app shortcuts were revealed, which are illustrated above. This way, you wouldn’t have to launch the Google Photos app and sift through the menu in order to access the “Free up space” tool, for example.

If there’s no pressure sensitive screen involved, how will this Android-ified 3D touch work? Currently, long-pressing on an app shortcut on the home screen only gets you to move that app shortcut around. Maybe a long press and an upward swipe? I guess we’ll find out in a couple of weeks.

Via Android Police