iPhone 6s

Apple posts hilarious new iPhone 6s ad with actor Bill Hader

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 3, 2016

Apple on Tuesday posted a new iPhone 6s commercial, highlighting the hands-free capabilities of the just-released smartphone. The ad stars Bill Hader, the long-time Saturday Night Live actor who appeared in Apple's "Backstage" video at WWDC this year.

The spot demonstrates how users can tap Siri to read and respond to emails using voice commands, with a bit involving the well-known "foreign prince wants to help you get rich" scam. As you can imagine, it's pretty entertaining. Watch the 30-second clip below.

Astropad Mini goes free, now with pressure-sensitive drawing on iPhone 6s via 3D Touch

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 27, 2015

Astropad Mini, a cool application by former Apple engineers which turns your iPhone into a graphics tablet for the Mac, has been refreshed on the App Store today with support for 3D Touch.

The new version lets iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus owners apply varying degrees of pressure when drawing on the handset screen with their finger.

In addition, the app has gone free, lowering barrier to entry to zero bucks. Astropad Mini has been especially popular with artists and photographers.

Since its February 2015 debut, customers have bought more than 200,000 copies of the iPhone app. “We expect this new version with 3D Touch to be even more popular,“ developers told me via email.

Apple reveals new ‘Half Court’ iPhone 6s ad to show off Live Photos

Jeff Benjamin ∙ October 26, 2015

Apple has posted a brand new ad to its YouTube channel to bring attention to the iPhone 6s' Live Photos feature. The 15 second spot, entitled Half Court, features NBA star Stephen Curry of the World Champion Golden State Warriors.

In the ad, Curry takes a difficult to make half court shot and immediately turns to look at the camera before he sees if the shot is successful. Right after the shot, the cameraman takes a photo using his iPhone 6s.

The spot then cuts to the cameraman, the just-taken shot on his iPhone, using 3D Touch to review the Live Photo. Given Curry's "in the gym" range when it comes to shooting, you can probably guess what happens next...

Scosche reVOLT car charger packs a 12-watt punch

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

Car chargers can be hit-or-miss when it comes to how fast you can get juiced up before your drive is over. Ideally, a high powered charger will get you up to speed, at least as fast as your stock iPhone 6s wall charger would.

Scosche's reVOLT is a dual port car charger that connects to your vehicle's power accessory outlet (otherwise known as the cigarette lighter). It packs 12 watts of power for 2.4 amps per port, so you can charge your most power hungry devices fast.

New television commercials highlight iPhone 6s camera upgrades and hands-free Siri

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 25, 2015

Less than two weeks following its iPhone 6s commercial that focused on 3D Touch, Apple's begun rolling some new ads for the handset.

Adopting the dynamic and to-the-point format inaugurated by the previous ad, a trio of new commercials—titled “Crush,” “The Camera” and “Flip a Coin” and all starring actor and singer Jamie Foxx—showcase other iPhone 6s capabilities, like hands-free 'Hey Siri' and a variety of camera features.

Using the iPhone 6s 3D Touch display to weigh items [Video]

Jeff Benjamin ∙ October 24, 2015

A new app called allows iPhone 6s users to use the device's 3D Touch input for providing relative weight comparisons between objects. Don't throw out your digital scales, because this app doesn't provide precise weights for the objects placed on the iPhone 6s' screen, but it can be handy for comparing two or more objects at once to see which one weighs the most.

Aptly titled Plum-O-Meter, which is named after the fruit that is weighed during a demonstration video, the open source app uses the iPhone 6s's 3D touch to display the weights of plums relative to the the phone's maximum possible force. Of course, you don't have to use plums, you can use apples, oranges, fingers, or any other object weighing enough that's capable of being picked up by the capacitive touch screen.

iPhone 6s conserves power by disabling untethered ‘Hey Siri’ when face down or in your pocket

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 23, 2015

Apple's iPhone 6s has introduced an untethered 'Hey Siri' feature which allows for always-listening functionality even when the device isn't charging, by utilizing the power-efficient M9 motion coprocessor to always listen for voice commands.

But as AppleInsider finds out, the handset automatically switches off untethered 'Hey Siri' when it's in your pocket or face down on a table.

This is another trick in Apple's arsenal of technologies to extend battery life.

Apple posts new iPhone 6s ad highlighting 3D Touch

Cody Lee ∙ October 15, 2015

Apple on Thursday posted a new iPhone 6s commercial, with a special focus on its new 3D Touch feature. During the ad, you hear a voiceover explain how Peek and Pop work, followed by a list of several things you can do with them.

In typical Apple fashion, most of the tasks covered by the voiceover are demonstrated by users on-screen. At one point we even see actor/singer Jamie Foxx, who uses 3D Touch in the Music app to access his just-released R&B album.

Badland, one of the best mobile games, has been updated with 3D Touch support

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 14, 2015

Badland by indie developer Frogmind, is one of the best survival games on any platform. In Badland, the player flies around a little black creature named Clony through the surreal, beautifully rendered woods.

Starting today, you can use 3D Touch gestures on your iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus to quickly access the built-in editor or continue playing the single player campaign right from the Home screen. In addition, 3D Touch allows a brand new kind of puzzles and gameplay with all-new force objets.

Tweetbot gains 3D Touch Home screen shortcuts, Peek and Pop support in the timeline

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

Following its launch of the major Tweetbot 4 update, now a universal app for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, developer Tapbots today issued a timely update focused on 3D Touch.

If you own an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus, you can now press Tweetbot's icon on the Home screen firmly to access the following handy shortcuts: Show Activity, Tweet Last Photo and Tweet.

If you have unread notifications sitting in Tweetbot, this menu will provide additional options to reply to a mention or reply via a Direct Message. In addition, Tweetbot now supports Peek and Pop gestures in the timeline.

Examining iPhone 6s’s 3D Touch panel in detail

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 14, 2015

The new iPhones have a pressure-sensitive screen that provides quick access to app-specific shortcuts from the Home screen while enabling a pair of new gestures within apps: Peek and Pop.

Teardown experts over at iFixit have now taken a closer look at how 3D Touch has been implemented on the new devices, here are your key takeaways.

Why I switched to the smaller iPhone

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

As many of you readers know, I’ve been in the midst of a serious mental debate involving the new iPhones.

As an iPhone 6 Plus user for the last year, I'm intimately familiar with all of the things that make the larger-sized iPhones so desirable. This generation, however, I decided to forgo the added luxury brought on by the Plus model, and rolled with the "regular" sized iPhone instead.

This decision, as you can probably imagine, didn’t come easy to me. If you’ve followed any of my recent blog posts or tuned into our recent podcasts, then you know how much I’ve waffled on this subject.

Why did I end up going with the iPhone 6s, when I was initially set on re-upping with the iPhone 6s Plus? In the end, it all boiled down to one particular reason...