Wolverton: New iPhones a touch better than last year's

Apple's catch line for its new iPhones is, "The only thing that's changed is everything."

But you'd be hard pressed to tell how the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus differ from last year's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus by just looking at them or casually interacting with them. The changes are more subtle than the revamped design and jumbo screens that came with last year's versions.

Indeed, the highlight feature of the new models is something you don't see right away -- but it could soon change the mobile experience in ways everybody will notice: It's called 3D Touch, and it gives a new dimension to touch-screen devices by allowing them to sense how hard users are pressing on the screen. The power of this new technology is apparent only after you interact with the new phones for a while, which I did Friday as Apple released its latest phones for sale.

With 3D Touch, the phones allow you to do different things -- view shortcuts to popular features or get quick glimpses of photos, emails and apps -- depending on the pressure you exert.

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It's a great addition to the touch-screen interface, and Apple and other software developers are just beginning to explore how to tap into it.

One way Apple is using the new technology is to simulate a right mouse click on a computer. If you press down hard enough on certain app icons on your home screen, you'll get a short menu of things to do, rather than simply launch the app. These menus, which Apple calls Quick Actions, generally serve as shortcuts to particular features within those apps.

So, for example, press down hard enough on the Maps app icon, and you will have the option to get directions to your house or to search for retailers or points of interest nearby. If you do the same on the Camera app's icon, you can quickly snap a selfie or record a slow-motion video.

Apple has opened up the new feature to outside developers and some are already starting to use it. Dropbox's Quick Actions include opening recently added files and uploading photos. Pinterest allows you to search through pins or create new boards using 3D Touch.

3D Touch also allows you to take a quick glance at emails, delete messages and even start responses -- without leaving your inbox.

These types of uses for 3D Touch have the potential to save time or make it easier to perform routine actions. But what I find more exciting are what developers will do with the technology in the future. Already there are some tantalizing hints.

Apple is using it in conjunction with the new drawing features in its Notes app. Press harder as you are drawing and you'll get a darker line. Meanwhile, a new game called "Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade" allows users to change weapons by pressing down on the screen. You'll likely see more games and other apps that take advantage of the feature in the future.

Besides 3D Touch, the next most significant changes involve the cameras in the new models. The new phones sport 5-megapixel front and 12-megapixel rear cameras, up from 1.2 megapixels and 8 megapixels in the older models.

The new cameras allow you to print larger photos or zoom in closer on your subject, but I wasn't super impressed with the quality of the photos they took. In some cases, the colors were more lifelike than in pictures I took with an iPhone 6, but they weren't that much better. And in some cases, the pictures I took looked worse; when I zoomed in, the pictures I took on the iPhone 6S were less sharp than those I took on last year's iPhone 6.

But the cameras do more than just offer higher resolutions. The neatest of their new features is something called Live Photos, which essentially records short videos as you snap pictures. The Live Photos look like regular pictures, except that when you press on the screen, you can see -- and hear -- what happened about a second and a half before and after the snapshot. I had fun taking Live Photos of my kids and dog, and I can see them being an enjoyable way to remember special moments in the future.

In addition to Live Photos, the new cameras will also shoot 4K, or ultrahigh-definition, video. This is the new standard for video that's already begun to make its way into televisions.

Another cool trick the iPhones can do is allow you to activate Siri without touching the home button first, even if they're not plugged in. All you have to do is say, "Hey, Siri." It's a nice feature to have because it allows you to access information when it's inconvenient or dangerous to pick up your phone, like when you're cooking or driving.

The other changes the new phones bring are much less obvious. They have more powerful processors than last year's models, which makes them slightly snappier and allows them to more rapidly recognize your fingerprint when you attempt to log in that way, but the differences aren't dramatic.

They also support speedier versions of Wi-Fi and LTE, the wireless technology used by the mobile carriers. But unless you've upgraded your router or your carrier has put the new technology in place in the cell towers in your area, you won't see much difference.

Finally, Apple is using a different, sturdier kind of aluminum in the iPhone's cases. That should make the jumbo iPhone 6S Plus more resistant to butt-bending when you put it in your back pocket, a problem that plagued last year's model, at least in terms of bad PR.

But the biggest change is 3D Touch. It's not a big enough change to swap last year's model for the new one, at least not yet. But if you're trading in an older iPhone or thinking about switching from an Android device, you'll find it makes things more than a touch better than before.

Contact Troy Wolverton at 408-840-4285 or twolverton@mercurynews.com. Follow him at www.mercurynews.com/troy-wolverton or Twitter.com/troywolv.

Troy's Quick Take

What: Apple iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus smartphonesLikes: 3D Touch feature provides new capabilities to touch screens; Live Photos feature takes short videos while shooting snapshots; allows users to activate Siri hands-free; slightly faster than last year's modelsDislikes: Base models offer only 16gigabytes of storage; new cameras offer higher resolutions, but pictures aren't markedly improvedPrice: iPhone 6S starts at $650 without a contract for 16-gigabyte model; iPhone 6S Plus starts at $750 without a contract for 16-gigabyte modelWeb: www.apple.com

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